Erik Sahai

Tumour Cell Biology Laboratory

Tumour cells are able to move through 3D environments in several different ways^1&2 and it is now clear that studies using 2D environments may not accurately reflect the behaviour of cells in vivo. We use intravital multiphoton microscopy to study how cells move within a living tumour³ and also use artificially generated three-dimensional matrices that closely resemble those found in tumours. The goal of our research is to understand how tumour cells move and how this relates to the metastatic process.

Potential projects are:

1. Analyzing the role of contractile force generated by ROCK kinases⁴ in tumour cell invasion and ECM remodelling.
2. Using intravital microscopy to investigate the dynamics and regulation of cell-ECM contacts in vivo.
3. Monitoring gene expression of motile cells in vivo.

References

1. Friedl and Wolf (2003). Nat Rev Cancer. 3; p362.
2. Sahai and Marshall (2003). Nat Cell Biol. 5; p711.
3. Segall and Condeelis (2003). Nature Reviews Cancer. 3; p921-30.
4. Reinto and Ridley (2003). Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 4; p446.