www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-...

What if a cell’s shape was determined not just by its genes, but by the stress it's under?

What if the same stress that helps a cell survive also changes its internal scaffolding, making it more rigid, polarized, and more likely to invade?

And what if a single kinase was orchestrating all of this?

A #metastatic #melanoma cancer cell invading a #Collagen matrix. This particular cell is making a number of large protrusions to search its environment

In parallel, we have a long-standing collaboration with Pantelis Georgiou to develop CMOS biochip sensors to measure bioelectric activity across tissues – setting the stage for diagnostics
https://buff.ly/4fQkohU

I can’t decide if in 2024 we have come a long way – or really not so far! Working with Amanda Foust and Mustafa Djamgoz at Imperial College London we have been imaging voltage using new microscopy in cancer.
https://buff.ly/4i9Rafp

Galvani also invented the #galvanoscope as a way to measure bioelectricity in frog legs.

In the late 1700s, Luigi Galvani showed how he could make the legs of a frog twitch when touched by an electric current – starting the field of #bioelectricity. In one experiment Galvani tried to reproduce this observation by wiring a frog to a lighting rod.

Dynamical Cell Systems inFocus 2024:

This year Vicky Bousgouni defended her PhD! Vicky performed colllagen hydrogel based screens ever to identify genes that regulate #melanoma invasion. She identified ARHGEF9 which is essential for melanoma to change #cellshape in 3D. https://buff.ly/4ieynjg

In May we published in #CellReports describing our study using high-throughput #lightsheet microscopy to investigate the #3D morphogenesis of melanoma cells during invasion, a process critical to #metastasis.

Part of the Dynamical Cell Systems Team in-focus 2024.

https://buff.ly/415jwBn

Why is Biles a great gymnast? Messi the best football player? Jagger an amazing lead singer? Just by looking at still photos of them it would be impossible to figure it out. Similarly, you couldn't find the NEXT Biles, Messi, or Jagger by looking through still pictures.

These are Melanoma cells invading 3D Collagen Hydrogel. We think this is similar to how they move in a patient's body. If we can stop these #cellshape changes, we hope to stop #cancers from spreading.

#filipodiafriday

In our latest work, Reed Naidoo developed #SurvivMIL, a multimodal, multiple-instance learning model designed to improve survival predictions for #neuroblastoma patients by combining Whole Slide Images (WSIs) with simple patient health data (age, sex, MYCN status).
openreview.net/forum?id=7o2...

I am a #Professor at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, UK.
My research aims to understand how #cancer cells change their shape to drive disease.
In particular we are interested in the connection between shape, Cancer, and #inflammation. To study #cellshape we use advanced imaging and #AI.