How Cancer Spreads

Presented by Robert A. Weinberg, Founding Member, Whitehead Institute; Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research, MIT;  Member, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. Moderated by Tobiloba Oni, Valhalla Fellow, Whitehead Institute

For two decades, we have understood how normal human cells can be converted in cancer cells and form primary tumors. But it has been unclear what mechanisms allow primary tumors to become actively malignant and life-threatening. Recently, though, insights into cellular programs that operate during embryo formation and wound healing have yielded clues to how primary cancer cells learn to invade nearby tissues and spread throughout the body. This webinar will focus on the next, challenging question: How do cancer cells arising in one tissue learn to adapt and proliferate in tissues to which they have spread through metastasis?