Organization Overview

Cancer remains a daunting problem despite decades of active research into its molecular causes. Such studies have predominantly focused on the earliest stages of cancer progression, such as the formation of a cancer or genes involved in the growth of the primary tumor. In humans afflicted by cancer, the primary tumor is typically surgically resected or eliminated by radiation. Vast numbers of patients, nonetheless, die of cancer as a result of metastasis or the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor site to distal organs. This process is, in fact, the overwhelming cause of death from cancer, and its occurrence changes a patient's prognosis to incurable. Despite its vast clinical significance and inherently fascinating underlying biology, the metastatic program is poorly understood both at the molecular level and at the cellular/tissue micro-environment levels. Our laboratory employs a multi-disciplinary approach involving molecular, biochemical, co...