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Milan Mrksich, chemistry, University of Chicago is project leader. Co-investigators involved in the project are Bartosz A. Grzybowski, chemical and biological engineering; Chad A. Mirkin; Steven T. Rosen; and Jill C. Pelling, pathology .

The major cause of death in cancer is from metastasis which depends on the ability of cells to crawl. However, we currently have no approved drugs that target this fundamental process.

This research provides the potential to discover a new class of cancer drugs that will inhibit or reduce metastasis. The goal of this research project is the development of anti-metastasis therapeutics by the use of a novel, multidisciplinary approach that combines nanotechnology with molecular and cell biology.

The rationale is to deconstruct the directional cell motility mechanisms that underlie invasiveness through control of cell geometry. The premise of the approach is that control of cell geometry will allow us to elicit stereotypical structural and functional cell phenotypes characteristic of defined phases of the motility cycle. Arrays of essentially identical "designer cells" will provide a unique platform for probing complex directional motility mechanisms and for establishing high-content, translational screening procedures.