Dissertation Defended: Jasmin Kaivola
Jasmin Kaivola from the Ivaska lab successfully defended her PhD thesis “Biomechanical Tumour Matrix” on Friday the 29th of November 2024. Her opponent was Professor Rachel Lennon from the Cell-Matrix Research Center, University of Manchester, UK.
Summary of the Dissertation:
The interplay between mechanical forces and the tumour microenvironment is critical in cancer progression, influencing tumour growth, metastasis and therapy resistance. Integrins, which mediate cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM), transmit mechanical signals that regulate key cellular processes including proliferation and migration. These mechanical forces modulate integrin activity, altering the cytoskeleton and signalling networks, thereby promoting cancer invasiveness and metastasis. The tumour matrix’s physical properties, such as stiffness, further drive cancer progression. Cancer-associated fibroblasts remodel the ECM, increasing matrix stiffness and enhancing mechanotransduction pathways. Moreover, cancer-associated adipocytes contribute to metabolic reprogramming and inflammation, creating a feedback loop that accelerates tumour growth. Understanding these molecular mechanisms is crucial for developing therapies that disrupt these pathways to inhibit cancer progression and metastasis.
In this thesis, I have explored how reintroducing mechanical forces lost in cancer, owing to increased tissue rigidity, can downregulate oncogenic signalling activity. Specifically, stretching and vibrating vocal fold cancer cells lead to nucleocytoplasmic localisation of the oncogenic transcription factors YAP/TAZ and β-catenin. Additionally, I have investigated the role of healthy adipocytes in the breast tumour microenvironment, demonstrating that secretion of the adipocrine factor IGFBP2 can act as a protective barrier against breast cancer progression. Lastly, I examined the role of the integrin inactivator SHANK3 in KRAS-driven cancers, showing that disrupting the SHANK3-KRAS interaction can induce cell death in KRAS-mutant cancer cells through hyperactivation of the MAPK-ERK pathway. Collectively, these findings offer novel strategies to inhibit and target cancer progression across different cancer types.
Download Doctoral Dissertation at UTUPub: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-9938-5
Recent Posts
- PFAS levels in mothers’ blood associated with children’s brain structure and function Researchers from the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Finland, and Örebro University, Sweden, Read moreOctober 13, 2025
- Professor Laura Elo receives award for outstanding research from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation awarded Professor of Computational Medicine Laura Elo a €50,000 Read moreOctober 10, 2025
- Recruit your next student at the MSc Thesis Project Expo 2025. Registration is now open! Do you supervise MSc theses in the biosciences? Join the MSc Thesis Project Expo on Read moreOctober 10, 2025
- University of Turku celebrates Professor Shimon Sakaguchi’s Nobel prize Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine, is a visiting professor Read moreOctober 7, 2025
- Heidi Isokääntä Successfully Defends Dissertation on Gut Microbiome Development Heidi Isokääntä Successfully Defends Dissertation on Gut Microbiome Deveopment Turku, 26 September 2025 – Bioanalyst Read moreSeptember 29, 2025
- University of Jyväskylä to Award Honorary Doctorate to Johanna Ivaska The University of Jyväskylä will award 11 new honorary doctorates in May 2026. One of Read moreSeptember 26, 2025