The aim of this research project is to uncovered for the first time how tissue stiffness determines cancer cell proliferation, drug sensitivity and dissemination of malignant cancer cells especially in breast cancer. This will be a collaborative effort lead by cell biologists from the University of Turku, jointly with international multidisciplinary collaborators. Each cell in our body has it specific task and carefully determined position with in a tissue. In cancer this regulation is disrupted and immune cells and stromal protein secreting cells accumulate to the tumor microenvironment inducing tissue rigidity. Cells can probe and sense their environment and increased rigidity is considered pro-tumorigenic. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood and effective therapies are lacking. We employ computational modelling, cancer cell biology, biophysical methods and analyses of patient samples and expect to uncover mechanism of rigidity induced cancer progression.

2026

2031