How the body’s hidden structure shapes health and disease

All organs in the body are built from a scaffold. This scaffold creates the home where the cells live and tells them how to behave. But when the body has cancer or fibrosis, the scaffold sends the wrong signals, causing cells to behave badly and drive more aggressive disease. 

So how can we fix this? I study how cells respond to healthy and diseased scaffolds. This talk tells how we can trick the cells into believing they are in a healthy environment. 

By restoring healthy signals, we aim to prevent the disease from progressing. Join me in exploring how the body’s underlying structure affects health and disease.   

(Photo: Alejandro Mayorca-Guiliani/Emerson et al., 2025)