MRC DTP in Precision Medicine

Revealing Vulnerabilities and Preventive Strategies for Restraining Liver Metastasis through Integrated Computational and Experimental Approaches

Supervisors

Dr Xiao Fu, School of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow
Prof Marco Gerling, Karolinska Institutet
Prof Owen Sansom, School of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow

Summary

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with cancer. Distinct histopathological growth patterns of liver metastasis correlate with patient outcomes. With the advances in single-cell and spatial multi-omics, patterns of tumor growth and cellular organization in liver metastasis are beginning to be characterised at unprecedented resolutions. However, how competitive dynamics between early metastatic growth and liver reparation give rise to distinct growth patterns of overt liver metastasis is less well understood.

Elucidating molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin aggressive metastatic outgrowth can reveal novel vulnerabilities to (1) exploit for restraining micro-metastasis and (2) to inhibit the growth of established metastases. Importantly, exploring correlations between the mechanistic pathways, cancer genetics, and patient lifestyle factors will have implications for risk prediction and patient stratification.

The overarching aim of this project is to identify novel vulnerabilities in the crosstalk between cancer cells and hepatic microenvironments for enhancing liver reparation and restraining metastatic outgrowth.

This project brings together multidisciplinary expertise and resources in supervisors’ teams across institutions, integrating AI and mathematical modelling approaches with pre-clinical mouse experiments and patient datasets.

The student will work with a diverse and multidisciplinary community of researchers, in highly collaborative and dynamic environments at the CRUK Scotland Institute and the Karolinska Institute.