Embryonic stem cells actively shape their microenvironment and dynamically alter their own state to form organized tissue patterns. Cancer cells bear resemblance to stem cells in their plasticity and ability to adapt to new tissue compositions during metastasis. In contrast, this fundamental property is lost in differentiated cells, which stably maintain their committed state, guided by pre-existing tissue architecture. In collaboration with the Wickström and Mäkitie groups we have launched an exciting new dimension to our research to understand which factors allow cancer cells to bypass established cell-state and tissue barriers, and to explore the possibility to drive cancerous, stem-like states towards normal morphogenesis to limit disease progression.
This area of our research is supported by Academy of Finland. Funded research program: Molecular Regulatory Networks of Life (R’Life) 2020-2023. Nucleomechanical regulation of cell states – from pluripotency to cancer (NucleoMech)