Research

Advanced fluorescence imaging of tissues, single cell sequencing, and other single-cell approaches have provided incredible insight into the earliest events in the metastatic cascade, including the growth of the primary tumor and invasion of single cells or cell clusters into adjacent tissues. In contrast, the molecular and cellular processes that enable colonization of a remote tissue are poorly understood and data are scarce. As a result, our understanding of colonization remains limited and treatment is challenging: more than 90% of cancer deaths are the consequence of metastasis.

Even fundamental aspects of metastatic colonization remain poorly understood. For example, it is not known whether the tissue-specific colonization of melanoma (e.g., to the liver or the lungs) results from differences in an ability to extravasate, adhere, survive, or proliferate in these tissues. Similarly, little is known about the metabolic demands placed upon metastases as they encounter diverse microenvironmental niches with distinct mechanics, extracellular matrix compositions, paracrine signaling, and immune surveillance.

The overarching goal of the Dean Lab is to identify the molecular mechanisms that enable cancer cells to colonize and populate a distant tissue. To achieve this, we must first establish methods for identifying rare metastatic colonization events in large tissue volumes, with molecular specificity and high resolution.