Tavazoie Lab
Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology
Decoding the biology of metastasis to cure cancer where it kills.
We work across molecular, cellular, organismal, and clinical scales to discover the regulators of metastatic disease — and to translate that biology into therapies that prevent and treat it. Our discoveries have advanced two first-in-class therapeutics into clinical trials — demonstrating proof-of-concept efficacy for targeting the biology of metastatic disease. Our studies of cancer have also uncovered basic insights into gene regulation and are revealing unexpected molecular links between metastasis, Alzheimer’s disease, and infectious disease.
::: {.figure-caption} FIG / Disseminated breast cancer cells in lung parenchyma
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Recent
Jan 2026 — Alumni
Veena Padmanaban launches her independent lab at Johns Hopkins
Lab News · Johns Hopkins University
Jun 2025 — Recognition
Wenbin Mei graduates and is named a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow
Lab News · Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
May 2025 — Recognition
Veena Padmanaban wins the Blavatnik Regional Award and Rockefeller Breakthrough Prize
Honor · Blavatnik Family Foundation
Research Themes
Four directions, one question: what makes a cancer cell metastasize?
Our work spans hereditary metastasis genetics, therapeutic development, non-canonical gene regulation by transfer RNAs, and a newly recognized axis of neural control over cancer progression.
01 / Genetics
The hereditary genetic basis of metastasis
We identified the first inherited variants that shape whether a primary tumor becomes metastatic, and we are mapping the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which these germline factors act within the metastatic niche.
02 / Therapeutics
Anti-metastatic drugs, bench to clinic
Our discoveries have driven small-molecule and antibody programs through Inspirna into human trials, with proof-of-concept established in advanced refractory cancers. We are building combination regimens designed to be curative.
03 / RNA Biology
tRNA regulation of gene expression
We discovered that specific tRNAs are dynamically modulated during metastatic progression, enabling selective translation of pro-metastatic genes — overturning the view of tRNAs as static adaptors and revealing diet as a regulator of this axis.
04 / Neuroscience
The nervous system as a regulator of cancer
Breast tumors recruit and activate sensory neurons, and the resulting neuropeptide release drives invasion and metastatic growth. We are dissecting how cancer cells hijack neural circuits across tumor types.
Translation
From discovery to patients — in our lifetime.
Most cancer biology never reaches a clinic. Our discovery program is intentionally coupled to a translational engine: targets identified at the bench are advanced into clinical candidates through our biotechnology partner Inspirna, where two lab-derived programs have demonstrated proof-of-concept in advanced refractory cancers.
2
Programs advanced to human trials testing
4
Therapeutic targets in development
15+
Trainees in independent positions
Work on the hardest question in cancer.
We’re recruiting postdocs and rotation students with strong backgrounds in molecular biology, cancer biology, computational biology, neuroscience, and chemistry. We train scientists to ask big questions and build the tools to answer them.