My lab's focus is on the role of the organ-specific microvasculature in the development of metastatic disease.

Over 90% of cancer-associated mortality is due to cancer dissemination from its primary origin to distant sites.

We have demonstrated in models of breast cancer metastasis to the lung that changes in endothelial cell behaviour alone can significantly change disease outcome. 

We wish to understand not only how the microvasculature interacts with cancer cells themselves, but also how endothelial cells mediate organ predisposition and vulnerability (or resistance) to metastatic colonization.

We use a combination of animal models and primary endothelial cells to assess physiological, cellular, molecular and metabolic parameters that can influence vascular function and tissue remodeling during cancer progression and treatment.