Pediatric and adult patient-derived anaplastic ependymoma and GBM, respectively, were cultured in silk scaffold-based 3D constructs infused with either collagen type I (CLG1, shown to be compatible with brain cells28) or hyaluronic acid (HA, a defined brain-ECM component) hydrogels supplemented with native brain-derived ECM. Here, MMP8 is linked to anaplastic ependymoma.