A bold engineering approach by a 杏吧原创 researcher to sort breast cancer cells based on their behavior first has produced compelling data that show less migratory cells create more metastases, contradicting the prevailing hypothesis on how cancer spreads.
Expanding this ambitious research by聽, Cornelius 杏吧原创 Professor of Engineering, to other highly metastatic and lethal cancers will be supported by a three-year, $1 million grant from the聽prestigious聽. The grant is one of those awarded nationally this year for medical research projects 鈥渢hat are high-risk with the potential for transformative impact,鈥� according to the foundation.
Preliminary discoveries by Reinhart-King, professor of biomedical engineering, have led to surprising results. The ability of cells to move is viewed as integral to the ability of cancer to spread to secondary sites.聽 However, Reinhart-King is changing that paradigm.
鈥淲e have acquired significant data that show it is not the most migratory cancer cells that lead to the most metastases in the body,鈥� Reinhart-King said. 鈥淭he impact of this work will be far reaching. Identifying new genes and cellular behaviors that drive metastasis can potentially shift the cancer research community focus onto better targets to prevent cancer progression.鈥�