Cancer

Cancerous tumors are diverse communities of cells, which in addition to cancer cells may contain vascular cells, immune cells, and connective tissue-generating fibroblasts. Cancer cells can manipulate other cell types to help the cancer grow and spread, while cancer therapies can manipulate other cell types to prevent cancer growth or even kill cancer cells. As researchers learn more about how cancer cells interact with other cell types and components of the tumor microenvironment, they not only learn more about how cancer progresses, but also discover new opportunities to treat cancer.

Sunny Das is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Robert Weinberg’s lab studying how breast cancer metastasizes or spreads to other tissues. We sat down with Sunny to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Researchers in Whitehead Institute Member Robert Weinberg’s lab identified two molecules active in cancer stem cells that control whether the cells can form new tumors.

New research from the lab of Whitehead Institute Founding Member Robert Weinberg shows that cells change in diverse ways through the actions of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which can influence whether cells are able to form new tumors after they spread.