Dr. Umida Djakbarova, a post-doc working with Professor Comert Kural, was recently awarded a 2019 Pelotonia Fellowship.

Pelotonia was founded in 2008 with the goal to raise money for cancer research. To date they have raised over $195 million dollars, all of which has gone to cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

Dr. Djakbarova received a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship for her work on mechanisms of cancer cell migration during metastasis.

Research summary:
Metastasis accounts for 90% of cancer related deaths worldwide. Chemotherapeutic agents that target metastasis specifically are missing, due to the lack of validated molecular targets. Rate limiting step in metastasis is the invasive migration, which is dictated by dynamic remodeling of cell adhesions. Although the molecular architecture of adhesion complexes is well characterized, the cell adhesion remodeling during metastasis is poorly understood. In this project, by utilizing high resolution live cell imaging in combination with state-of-the-art single particle tracking and image processing tools, we aim to characterize spatiotemporal regulation of cell adhesion remodeling throughout invasive migration.

Congratulations!