Welcome to the Laboratory for the Study of Metastatic Microenvironments (LSM²)

Directed by Prof. Cyrus Ghajar, the mission of our laboratory is to develop strategies to prevent and treat breast cancer metastases by understanding the biology of disseminated tumor cells and their microenvironments. To do so, we employ a variety of approaches spanning organotypic culture, intravital imaging and interrogation of patient-derived specimens. While neither is perfect on their own, we believe consistent results across models will allow us to translate our findings effectively to help patients.

We are focused on a number of problems related to disseminated tumor cell biology: how they are put to ‘sleep,’ what wakes them up, and how to get rid of them — with existing therapies or with new ones.