Stine Helene Falsig Pedersen

Cancer kills nearly 10 mio people every year globally. A fundamental open question in cancer biology is the importance of physicochemical tumor niches (for example, acidosis, lactate accumulation, hypoxia) to cancer development.

The project aim is to map and understand these niches. We will combine our unique expertise in cancer acid-base and lactate regulation with technological breakthroughs in spatial techniques to:

– Provide superimposed maps of physicochemical tumor niches and cancer- and stromal cell transcriptomes;

– Use this to design a CRISPR screen to understand how these niches affect cancer cell behavior

– Finally, identify proteins and pathways sensitive to specific physicochemical tumor properties that can be used as novel biomarkers and treatment targets

By taking understanding of the physicochemical tumor microenvironment far beyond the state-of-the-art, and providing new cancer biomarkers and tools, the project is potentially transformative for science and society.