Research in the Cellular Motion Laboratory employs cell migration, glycobiology (the study of sugar structures), mechanobiology and engineering to understand how cancer and immune cells interact and move in their environments and contribute to disease development. Our goal is to fine-tune and precisely control cell migration for therapeutic benefits during disease states. Our lab uses CRISPR genetic engineering to make “designer cells” that improve upon the performance of programmed cell functions or perform new ones. We may enhance the mobility of immune cells, for example, or inhibit the movement of cancer cells. We conduct experiments with different disease models of inflammation and cancer in mice in microfluidic devices. We manipulate the surface of the glycocalyx – a protective sugar-based coating around cell membranes – to alter the behavior of immune and cancer cells. In the case of cancer cells, which have an unusually impenetrable glycocalyx, we try to make them more permeable and thus more susceptible to therapy.