How do cancer cells become metastatic?
Metastasis is a complex, multi-step process in which cancer cells disseminate from primary sites of tumor initiation. It is the leading cause of death in cancer patients. But despite a wealth of knowledge about the molecular processes that drive tumorigenesis, we know comparatively little about what triggers metastasis.
Our lab is very interested in uncovering the molecular and cellular details of how cancer cells become metastatic and malignant during the course of disease progression. Using single molecule tracking (SMT) and other physical approaches, we recently discovered an unprecedented, biophysical mechanism of how epithelial cancer cells break away from their surroundings. This finding suggests that biophysical changes at the cellular level may play an important role in enabling metastasis. We aim to further investigate the biophysical and related cell biological processes that are involved in cancer metastasis. Understanding the basis of this process will aid in the development of an innovative class of anti-metastasis therapeutics.
To this end, we will continue to use and develop various biophysical modalities and sophisticated statistical methods, based on the single molecule tracking (SMT) and super-resolution imaging techniques, such as structured illumination microscopy (SIM), which we believe will reveal new information about disease processes.