Support for Investigations into the Physics of Cancer

Guillaume Salbreux and Axel Behrens, group leaders from the Crick along with Chris Dunsby of Imperial College London have been awarded £2m from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), to build on their knowledge and skill sets in studies of cancer cells.

They will combine Axel’s expertise in stem cell biology, Chris’ know-how in microscope engineering and Guillaume’s background in theoretical physics to analyse the fundamental cellular processes that underlie how normal and breast cancer organoids (3D masses of cells grown in the lab from stem cells) self-organise. 

Their work will look at how cell fate decisions – how a particular cell ‘decides’ to become one tissue type and not another – combine with the forces generated by cells as they grow to control the establishment and maintenance of both normal and cancerous tissue shapes. 

Upon hearing about the successful outcome of their application, Guillaume Salbreux said: “The award from the EPSRC is a fantastic opportunity that will allow Axel and me to bring the collaboration we started a few years ago, bringing together physics and quantitative analysis with the biology of cancer, in a new direction. Thanks to the new light sheet fluorescence microscopy setup that will be developed by Chris Dunsby, we will be able to progress our understanding of 3D tissue growth in health and disease.”