It is estimated that 10 million people die per year due to cancer, of which 90% is caused by metastasis — the ability of cancer cells to disseminate to other organs.
As a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellow, Bruna plans to investigate the metabolic demands driving metastasis, giving new insights into targeted therapies for one of the main causes of death worldwide.
To date, it is not possible to predict when and which organs will turn into future sites of metastasis. Bruna’s work aims to broaden our understanding of organ-specific metastasis prevention and may open new avenues to future targeted therapies.
Interdisciplinary Pivot: Molecular & Cell Biology to Cancer Biology