Protein domain dynamics
Cancer kills when it goes metastatic. Pieces of a primary tumor fly around in the body and start up lots of other tumors. If you could stop the pieces from flying around you could cure 80 percent of cancers. Cells are held together by things like the adherens junction. There is only one way to observe their dynamics, neutron spin echo spectroscopy. My laboratory is the only one in the world that can do that. #scicomm #lablife #womeninstem #stem #futureofscience
Cancer metastasis accounts for the majority of cancer-related deaths because it involves the spread of tumor cells from the primary site to other parts of the body. A key factor in this process is the ability of cancer cells to break away and travel through the bloodstream or lymphatic system. One of the crucial molecular structures that help keep cells anchored together are adherens junctions, which maintain cell-to-cell adhesion and tissue integrity. What I find fascinating is that these junctions are made up of proteins whose domains undergo dynamic movements, allowing cells to respond and adapt to various signals. Observing these protein domain dynamics in real-time is incredibly challenging, but neutron spin echo spectroscopy offers a unique and powerful approach. This advanced technique provides insights at the nanosecond and nanometer scales, revealing how protein segments fluctuate during cellular adhesion. In my experience, having access to specialized instruments like neutron spin echo spectrometers opens avenues to understanding the physical principles behind cellular cohesion and metastasis. By decoding how protein domains in adherens junctions move and interact, researchers can identify potential targets to strengthen cell adhesion or prevent cancer cells from detaching. This approach could ultimately inform the development of therapies designed to 'hold tumor pieces together' and stop them from dispersing. It’s striking that such a microscopic process at the protein level could have massive implications — potentially curing up to 80 percent of cancers by halting metastasis. The journey toward this goal is multidisciplinary, combining biophysics, molecular biology, and clinical research. Moreover, conducting this work in a lab equipped with the world’s only neutron spin echo spectroscopy capability for this purpose is an incredible privilege, advancing science that could change cancer treatment paradigms. For anyone interested in cancer biology or biophysical methods, diving into protein domain dynamics offers exciting opportunities to contribute to groundbreaking discoveries. The future of cancer therapy could very well hinge on understanding these subtle molecular motions and translating them into effective interventions.
