About us

Our lab researches the mechanism of cancer metastasis, the major cause of cancer-related death. Distant metastasis is mostly initiated by tumor cells shed from the primary tumor into the blood circulation, known as circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are  carried to distant organs where metastatic tumors eventually arise. By studying CTCs isolated from breast cancer patients and mouse models, using approaches of molecular and cellular biology, single cell tracing, and modeling in animals, we strive to gain a better understanding of the metastasis-initiating properties in CTCs and obtain novel insights on how to target those rare populations.