SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION AND MOTILITY IN TUMOR CELL MIGRATION

The aims are: (1) to characterize the role of lipids in signal transduction by ECM molecules for tumor cell pseudopod protrusion and migration; (2) to determine the response of intracellular calcium cations in tumor cells to lipid-mediated ECM molecule stimulation; (3) to examine the response of the cytoskeletal actin network upon lipid- mediated ECM molecule stimulation during the two phase pseudopod protrusion; and (4) to construct a two phase pseudopod model integrating engineering sciences with cell biology and derive mechanistic parameters that may affect tumor cell migration.