Fletcher Lab squeezes breast cancer cells

December 19, 2012 –

This week researchers from Professor Dan Fletcher’s lab presented exciting findings showing for the first time that mechanical forces alone can revert and stop the out-of-control growth of cancer cells.

Fluorescence images of uncompressed (left) and compressed (right) colonies of malignant breast epithelial cells.

The research, presented Monday, Dec. 17 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco, shows that the cellular environment plays an important role in stopping, as well as initiating, malignant cell growth.

This research was led by bioengineering Ph.D. student Gautham Venugopalan, in collaboration with other members of Fletcher and Professor Mina Bissell’s laboratories.

Read more at the UC Berkeley News Center.