During cancer progression, epithelial organisation is lost as cells lose contacts with their neighbours and become more motile and invasive. This change from an epithelial-to-mesenchymal morphology (EMT) is associated with poor prognosis. It is therefore highly relevant to study processes that regulate epithelial integrity and to identify regulators of this process.

 

I did my PhD in the laboratory of Harald Stenmark in Oslo, Norway, working on identifying novel components and pathways involved in the regulation of cell migration and epithelial polarity, both of which are processes highly dysregulated in cancer. My interests currently still lie in the field of epithelial polarity and tumorigenesis, and I have obtained a postdoc stipend to further some of the results obtained during my PhD, but this time in the wonderful model organism zebrafish, Danio rerio. 

 

By combining in vitro results obtained using epithelial cysts cultured in matrigel as well as in vivo work in zebrafish, I hope to elucidate the role of specific tumor suppressors in development and in cancer.