Provenzano/Wood Lab

Our research efforts focus on Cancer Bioengineering and defining mechanisms of disease progression and resistance to therapy, and developing next-generation therapeutic strategies. Our studies focus heavily on the environments surrounding tumor cells.  The microenvironment surrounding carcinoma cells influences cell behavior through complex interactions of biochemical factors, matrix architecture, and matrix mechanical properties. Along these lines we focus on understanding the physical and molecular mechanisms by which this stromal extracellular matrix and stromal cell populations influence epithelial cell behavior in cancer.  In particular, we 1) seek to elucidate how complex interactions in cancer drive disease progression to metastasis by understanding the influence and interactions of mechanical, architectural and biochemical inputs, 2) develop novel therapeutic strategies to combat disease by re-engineering the tumor stroma to enhance delivery of small molecule therapeutics and promote anti-tumor immune responses, and 3) use rationale engineering design principles to develop next-generation immune cell-based therapies. We propose specific and integrated experiments, and employ nonlinear imaging, engineered environments, quantitative analysis, and mathematical modeling to explicitly investigate the physical and molecular mechanisms driving disease progression and resistance to therapy.