Defining the function of sub-epithelial fibroblast cells during clonal competition in the stomach.

Gastric cancer kills ~1 million people worldwide each year and has an average 5-year survival rate of 19%. It is, therefore, a cancer of unmet need. Like other solid cancers, the success of a gastric tumour cell to persist and populate a tissue with clonal progeny depends on the outcome of stochastic competition between tumour and non-tumour cells. Our understanding of clonal-competition between mutant and non-mutant epithelial cells has largely overlooked the functional contribution from cells in the microenvironment, which play pivotal roles in shaping tumour progression. Using a combination of novel genetically-engineered-mouse-models (GEMMs) and single-cell RNA-seq (scRNAseq), you will investigate the heterogeneity of gastric fibroblast cells and identify specific pathways that contribute to clonal-competition in vivo.