Primary Research Focus
Work in the Vermeer laboratory is in the field of cancer neuroscience. Our focus is to understand how tumors induce the sprouting and recruitment of locoregional neurites into the tumor microenvironment and how these neural inputs shape disease progression. We investigate the functional roles of tumor-infiltrating neurites, including how they interact with malignant cells and the immune compartment, and how these interactions differ between males and females.
A central interest of the lab is defining tumor–brain circuits, examining how peripheral malignancies signal to the central nervous system to alter brain function and drive cancer-associated behavioral changes, with a strong emphasis on sex-specific mechanisms. By elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying tumor–neural crosstalk both locally and systemically, our overarching goal is to identify neural pathways and targets that can be therapeutically leveraged to improve cancer outcomes..
About the Vermeer Lab
Lab Projects and News
Tumor innervation and disease progression
Role: Project Principal Investigator
Several projects in the Vermeer lab focus on defining how tumor-infiltrating nerves contribute to disease progression. These projects utilize a combination of basic techniques (western blot, molecular biology), cancer assays (proliferation, migration) and techniques traditionally utilized in neuroscience (neuronal tracing, synaptic transmission) to better understand the neural contributions to cancer progression.
Blocking tumor innervation
Role: Project Principal Investigator
Having defined a mechanism that recruits nerves to the tumor bed, the Vermeer lab is currently working on identifying novel therapeutics to block tumor innervation.