Cell Plasticity in Development and Disease

STUDY OF THE MECHANISMS THAT CONTROL CELL PLASTICITY AND MOVEMENTS DURING EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT AND IN ADULT PATHOLOGIES. The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) endows cells with migratory and invasive properties and is crucial during embryonic development, as the majority of adult tissues are the result of at least one round of EMT and the reverse process (MET). We found the first transcription factor able to induce EMT in embryos (Science, 1994) and its connection with cancer (Nat Cell Biol, 2000), and achondroplasia (Dev Cell, 1997). We have generated animal models that have allowed us to associate the EMT with (i) osteomalacia (EMBO J. 2009), (ii) other developmental processes (Dev Cell, 2011); (iii) cancer, showing that EMT needs to be reverted for metastasis to form (Cancer Cell, 2012), (iv) renal fibrosis (Nat Medicine 2015) and, (v) organ positioning (Nature 2017).