Grant: Operating Grant

In the ovary of the fruitfly, the so-called border cells migrate in a similar way to the cancerous cells inducing metastasis. They migrate as a group of cells and are attracted by the same signals as metastatic cells, and finally they stop moving at a specific place. We are studying how different trafficking routes within the cells regulate this migration. We have found in previous work, that a specific trafficking circuit regulates the spatial position of the receptors sensing the direction of migration. Interestingly, the key regulator of this transport route has been involved in the migration of metastatic cells in human. In this project we want to detail our understanding of this mechanism by studying new constituents of the machinery regulating metastasis-like migration.