The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Consolidator Grant to our affiliated Group Leader, Rafa Najumudeen from FIMM, University of Helsinki, to investigate the metabolic landscape of intestinal stem cells and cancer-initiating cells in tissue using high-resolution spatial metabolic imaging. By charting nutrient metabolism with unprecedented resolution across scales, the team aims to identify metabolic “hotspots” that drive cancer plasticity, progression and resistance to therapy.

“We don’t just want to know where cancer cells are,” says Najumudeen taking a Google Maps analogy to cancer metabolism. “We want to know what they’re having for dinner, what they’re saying on the phone to each other.” A tumour can only be understood by comprehensively mapping how its diverse cells interact with one another and with the tissue that hosts them.

ERC grants are among Europe’s most competitive, awarded to projects expected to shift scientific understanding.  “The ERC funding is a wonderful recognition of my research group and the line of research we want to pursue, focusing on fundamental mechanisms. And it is a privilege to share this news with friends and colleagues in Turku Bioscience and Åbo Akademi University” Najumudeen says.