Swarnali Acharyya, PhD,  ,PhD, Integrated Biomedical Science, Ohio State University Assistant Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology in the Institute of Cancer Genetics,  The broad focus of our laboratory is exploring mechanisms of drug resistance and cancer metastasis. These are two major challenges that significantly limit anti-cancer therapy and claim millions of lives worldwide. Metastasis originates from the Greek word meaning “change of place” and is the process by which cancer cells spread from their original site of origin to other parts of the body. Even if the primary tumor is diagnosed early, surgically removed or treated, cancer cells can remain in the body often culminating in aggressive metastatic disease, sometimes even after decades. Patients with metastatic disease often show poor response to conventional therapies and succumb to death. The goal of our laboratory is to identify new mediators of metastasis and to develop strategies to sensitize these metastases to more effective therapies. We utilize a combination of genetically engineered and xenograft mouse models to understand the process of metastasis. We actively collaborate with clinical investigators to model the development and treatment of metastatic disease in preclinical models (see Figure B) and to validate our findings in patient-derived clinical samples. We are particularly interested in investigating the tumor-microenvironment interactions that promote the growth and survival of metastasis and those that dictate therapeutic response. Our primary focus lies on two types of solid tumors - metastatic breast cancer and lung cancer. Swarnali Acharyya, PhD,  ,PhD, Integrated Biomedical Science, Ohio State University Assistant Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology in the Institute of Cancer Genetics,  The broad focus of our laboratory is exploring mechanisms of drug resistance and cancer metastasis. These are two major challenges that significantly limit anti-cancer therapy and claim millions of lives worldwide. Metastasis originates from the Greek word meaning “change of place” and is the process by which cancer cells spread from their original site of origin to other parts of the body. Even if the primary tumor is diagnosed early, surgically removed or treated, cancer cells can remain in the body often culminating in aggressive metastatic disease, sometimes even after decades. Patients with metastatic disease often show poor response to conventional therapies and succumb to death. The goal of our laboratory is to identify new mediators of metastasis and to develop strategies to sensitize these metastases to more effective therapies. We utilize a combination of genetically engineered and xenograft mouse models to understand the process of metastasis. We actively collaborate with clinical investigators to model the development and treatment of metastatic disease in preclinical models (see Figure B) and to validate our findings in patient-derived clinical samples. We are particularly interested in investigating the tumor-microenvironment interactions that promote the growth and survival of metastasis and those that dictate therapeutic response. Our primary focus lies on two types of solid tumors - metastatic breast cancer and lung cancer.

Integrated Biomedical Science