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Program in Cancer Biology

Barbara Fingleton, Ph.D.

Director, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Associate Professor of Surgery

The main focus of our research is the process of metastasis or cancer spread.  In many types of cancer, for example the colon and breast cancers that we predominantly study, cancer that has not metastasized has excellent prognosis.  However, once there is metastatic disease present, patient survival rates reduce dramatically.  We want to understand what makes cancers spread where and when they do? How do cancerous breast or colon cells survive in different tissue environments such as lung or liver? And, most critically, how can we find and treat metastatic disease? Overall, our goal is to impact the metastatic process so that the outlook for cancer patients can be improved.