The Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Monica Burdick of Ohio University, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering on “Functional Selectin Ligands in Cancer Cell Transit and Transition” on Friday, September 9, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Monica Burdick
Abstract: Metastasis, or the spread of cancer from the site of origin to secondary organs, remains a major barrier against efforts to cure cancer. In order to establish distant metastatic colonies, cancer cells separate from the primary mass, break through blood vessel walls into the vasculature, transit throughout the body as circulating tumor cells, and once more pass through the vessel to seed distant organs. To enable these steps, cancer cells undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as well as mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET), processes that regulate cell growth rate, motility, adhesion, and mechanical properties. The Burdick lab is currently investigating whether these transitions regulate selectin ligands, a class of force-dependent adhesion molecules expressed on metastasizing cancer cells, and how to target selectin ligands for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. An overview of the lab’s research will be presented.
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