We pursue three main aims in our work:
Understanding the (brain) cancer connectome(s) on a molecular, cellular and physiological level
Developing and adapting methodologies across scales to study Cancer Neuroscience in model systems and human tissue
Establishing neuroscience-instructed cancer therapies as a novel pillar in oncology
Research
Our group is dedicated to advancing therapies of yet incurable brain cancers by investigating neural mechanisms of glioblastoma. We have found that cancer cells can organize and communicate in functional, multicellular networks. Specifically, our investigations have unveiled the presence of direct glutamatergic, synaptic contacts on brain tumor cells. These contacts act as the driving force behind the propagation and invasion of cancer cells in every model system and patient-derived human tissue we have studied to this point. This insight into such intricate mechanisms has paved the way for innovative strategies to tackle cancers more broadly, chiefly by impeding their capacity to integrate electrically into the neural network.
Neuroscience of Cancers: From Decoding Brain Tumor Networks To Novel Therapies