Seminar Abstract: Cell shape plasticity is a hallmark of advanced cancer. Changes to cell shape are driven by the dynamic remodelling of cytoskeletal filamentous networks. In this talk, I will highlight the role of cytoskeleton remodelling in cancer initiation and response to therapy. I will present recent work using a combination of advanced microscopy and transcriptomics to show how activation of RAS oncogenes alter actin organisation and explore how these changes affect cell division and motility. Finally, I will discuss how cell shape and mechanosensing impacts the cellular response to acute KRAS inhibition, an emerging therapeutic strategy in pancreatic cancer.

Biosketch: Dr. Helen Matthews is a cell biologist and group leader in the School of Biosciences at the University of Sheffield. Her teams’ research focuses on how the cytoskeleton regulates cell shape and mechanics and contributes to tumour initiation and therapeutic response in pancreatic cancer. Helen gained her PhD from University College London working on neural crest cell migration. She then joined Buzz Baum’s lab at the LMCB to study the regulation of cell shape and mechanics during cell division. She was awarded a Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellowship to establish her lab in Sheffield in 2021.

lab website: https://www.helenmatthewslab.org/