In today’s episode, we begin by listening again to an interview from March 2020 to re-explore how metastatic cancer cells migrate. In our second interview, we hear about a recent study showing similarities between the metabolic behavior of migrating embryonic neural crest cells and metastatic cancer cells.



Tracking migrating breast cancer cells (photo courtesy of Dr. Mingming Wu)



First off, Dr. Mingming Wu talks about her laboratory’s studies of how tumor cells migrate in response to exposure to chemokine hormones. This work models cancer cell chemoinvasion and its implications in cancer metastasis. Dr. Wu is a Professor in the Cornell Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering. For more information, visit https://biofluidics.bee.cornell.edu/cancer-cell-invasion.html



Distribution of neural crest cells in developing chicken embryo (left) and migrating neural crest cells (right). Photos courtesy of Dr. Marcos Simoes-Costa.



In the second part of today’s show, we speak with Dr. Marcos Simoes-Costa, Assistant Professor in the Cornell Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. One area of investigation in Dr. Simoes-Costa’s lab is the study of the developmental fate of neural crest cells in the chicken embryo. 



In today’s interview, Dr. Simoes-Costa talks about a recent study investigating what genes are expressed when neural crest cells start to migrate. The neural crest cells began to produce high levels of enzymes related to glycolysis, an anaerobic form of metabolism. This is similar to the metabolic behavior of metastatic cancer cells. For more information about Dr. Simoes-Costa’s work, visit https://research.cornell.edu/news-features/embryo-single-cell-amazing-wonder.



Producer : Liz Mahood



Interviews of Drs. Mingming Wu and Marcos Simoes-Costa: Esther Racoosin



Music: Joe Lewis and Blue Dot Sessions