Chris Madsen

Project summary

Cancer cell movement in healthy and diseased tissue

Many cancer deaths occur because the disease spreads from its original site to other organs. By changing the way they move, cancer cells are able to adapt to the tissues they invade. Chris Madsen’s research aims to map how these cells move in both healthy and diseased tissue.

 

Metastasis – the spread of cancer from its original site to other organs – causes 90 per cent of all cancer deaths. To spread, cancer cells must alter their patterns of movement in order to adapt to tissues in different parts of the body.

 

Chris Madsen studies a recently discovered protein complex called STRIPAK, which plays an important role in regulating changes in cell movement. The complex is significant not only in cancer but also during embryonic development. This suggests that cancer cells may “hijack” a developmental process in order to spread. The aim is to determine how cancer cells move through healthy and diseased tissue. Based on these findings, Chris Madsen’s research group will also develop a test that can be used to determine how aggressive a cancer patient’s treatment needs to be.