Jess Hebert, PhD

Metastasis is the spreading of a cancer from where it first develops to other parts of the body. Metastatic cancer is very difficult to treat because metastases can be very small and disperse all throughout the body, which means that they cannot all be surgically removed. As a result, metastatic cancer must be treated with drugs, which are currently not very effective. Indeed, metastasis causes the majority of all cancer deaths, including lung cancer. Accordingly, there is a great need to develop a better understanding of metastatic cancer to enable the development of new therapies to treat cancers once they have metastasized. Our research has shown that the gene Cdkn2a normally helps to suppress metastasis. We will study exactly how the loss of Cdkn2a enables a cancer to spread aggressively. This knowledge could be critical for the development of future therapies to prevent the spread of cancer or eliminate metastatic cancer anywhere.