Assistant Professor
NCI-Designated Cancer Center
I want to understand how cells adapt to different environments.
This may seem like a simple question, but cells use a complex network of interconnected sensors to determine where they are and what to do. They physically interact with their surroundings through a tactile language and interpretation of this language is how a stem cell generates distinct organs or how a circulating immune cell adapts its functions to the varied organs it enters.
I have chosen to focus on metastatic cancers because the lethality of cancer is largely tied to its metastatic potential. That is, the capacity of cancer cells to spread from a primary tumor to other parts of the body. Metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
For cancer to metastasize, cancer cells must interpret and adapt their functions to new environments. If we learn to decipher and understand how cancer cells interpret and adapt to new environments, we can preclude these cells from colonizing secondary sites without negatively impacting normal cells that are where they are supposed to be.
