Current Projects

CTC-EC interaction during extravasation

Metastasis is an inefficient yet a deadly process responsible for majority of cancer related deaths. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) must interact with endothelial cells of target organs to slow down and subsequently infiltrate the target organs. We are studying this temporal phenomenon in an in vitro setting utilizing microfluidic devices to identify molecules involved in organotropic metastatic behavior of breast cancer cells.
 

Trans-endothelial migration of cells

Migration of motile cells such as leukocytes and malignant cancer cells is fundamentally involved in most innate immune responses as well as metastasis. These cells not only penetrate the underlying endothelium via migration through cell-cell junctions (trans-endothelial migration or TEM) but also through the cellular body (trans-cellular migration). We are developing microscale assays to monitor and analyze these migration events both spatially and temporally at the single cell level.

High concentration of neutrophil population is found in many tumor microenvironments such a breast cancer, glioblastoma etc. The reactive oxygen species released by these neutrophils cause brain swelling and acute pain in glioblastoma patients. Utilizing the microfluidic devices and understanding how neutrophils undergo TEM, we aiming towards developing novel strategies to inhibit neutrophil accumulation at the glioblastoma sites.
 

Microfluidic model of hypoxia

Angiogenesis, a consequence of tumor growth, results in uneven and often insufficient oxygen concentration throughout the tumor microenvironment. Metastatic cancer cells originating from tumors with inadequate oxygen concentrations are far more likely to display aggressive phenotypes and develop resistance to conventional chemotherapies. Our work with microfluidic oxygenator systems aims to simulate this hypoxic microenvironment to elucidate the cell processes affected by oxygen concentration.