Fig. 1

a Workflow of isolation of primary breast cancer cells. Breast cancer tissue sections were collected after consenting patient and cut into small 1-2 mm slices. These slices were cultured in supplemented advanced DMEM for several weeks until small organoids were visible in the vicinity of the slices. Outgrowth of fibroblast- and epithelial-like cells was visible from the organoids within 2–3 weeks of culture (Scale bar = 200 μm). b Primary tumor epithelial cells (KAIMRC1) making dome like colonies in-vitro. Nucleus is stained with HOECHST (Blue) and Cytoplasm is stained with cell tracker (Green). In normal cell culture conditions these cells showed capability of growing both in monolayer as well as in 3-D conformation