Cancer doesn't kill primarily through the initial tumor; it's metastasis—the spread of cancer cells to distant organs—that's responsible for over 90% of cancer-related deaths. Yet, the complex mechanisms that drive metastasis – the factors that allow cancer cells to break away, travel, and thrive in new environments – are still not fully understood. Understanding metastasis is crucial because it's the key to dramatically improving cancer survival rates. By decoding this process, we can:
How does cancer spread, and why can it come back?
At the Drivers and Biomarkers of Metastasis Lab, we study how tumour cells disseminate, survive in distant tissues and contribute to relapse. Our aim is to understand metastatic progression and identify biological signals that may help anticipate risk and inform more durable therapeutic strategies.
We focus mainly on melanoma and breast cancer, two diseases in which distant spread remains a major clinical challenge.
Why can cancer come back? Outreach video
What questions do we ask?
- How do tissues change before tumour cells arrive?
- How do the lymphatic and vascular systems influence cancer dissemination and the surrounding response?
- How do disseminated tumour cells persist, remain dormant and start growing again?
- Which biological signals may help us anticipate metastatic progression and treatment resistance?
How do we work?
We combine cellular models, clinical samples, experimental models, molecular and metabolic analyses, advanced imaging and clinical collaborations. This combination allows us to study metastasis from the biology of individual cells to the environment around them.
Our research themes
- Pre-metastatic niches: we study how tissues can acquire features that favour or limit tumour colonisation.
- Lymphatic and vascular biology: we investigate how lymphatic and vascular networks participate in dissemination and shape the tumour environment.
- Dormancy and relapse: we explore how disseminated tumour cells can persist for long periods and what accompanies their reactivation.
- Biomarkers, metabolism and therapy resistance: we examine broad biological signals and vulnerabilities that may help explain metastatic progression and treatment response.
Join the lab
Would you like to learn how metastasis is investigated and contribute to an important biomedical question? We welcome students interested in undergraduate or Master's projects, internships and PhD training, as well as researchers and collaborators from different disciplines. If you are curious, motivated and eager to learn, contact us to ask about available opportunities.
Contact David Olmeda PhD
Selected publications
- Metastatic risk prediction
- New therapeutic targets
- Therapy resistance