DATE:

Friday, July 10, 2020

TIME:

3:00 PM

LOCATION:

Virtual Zoom Conference

SPEAKER:

Dr. Parag Katira, Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

Experiments have shown that most adherent cells, including cancer cells, can sense the stiffness of their environments and tend to migrate towards regions of high stiffness when a stiffness gradient is present. This migration of cells up a stiffness gradient is called durotaxis. However, in most solid tumors, such as those of the lungs, pancreas, breast, ovaries, kidneys and so on, the tissue environment immediately surrounding a tumor is stiffer compared to the healthier tissue further away. One would expect this would make it harder for tumor cells to escape the primary tumor to migrate into healthier tissue and form secondary metastasis. And yet, this is a common occurrence in aggressive cancers. What, then, drives the migration of metastatic cancer cells against a stiffness gradient?

HOST:

Jose Castillo

VIDEO: