Mammary Development and Cancer Biology
The overreaching focus of our research is to define breast cancer signaling events involving epithelial mesenchymal transitions (EMT) and the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that drives tumor initiation, proliferation and metastasis. The primary goals of our research involve 1) mammary gland development, 2) evaluation of ECM remodeling and the effects of EMT during breast cancer progression, and 3) investigating the occurrence of invasive breast cancer by analyzing ancestry dependent variations.