Tuomas Tammela
Jacks Laboratory
Koch Institute at MIT

"All solid tumors require blood vessels to secure a supply of oxygen and nutrients. In this image we can see how the green cancer cells growing in the lung of a mouse have stimulated the nearby blood vessels (in red) to sprout towards the tumor in a process called angiogenesis. This process requires an intricate interplay between the cancer cells and the endothelial cells that make up the blood vessels. Understanding the molecular players involved in the communication between these cell types can lead to the development of drugs that suppress the growth of blood vessels in cancers"