Valerie Weaver

Valerie Weaver is a leader in cancer mechanobiology who has demonstrated how tissue stiffness and extracellular matrix mechanics drive tumor progression, invasion, and treatment resistance. Her laboratory showed that increased matrix stiffness in the tumor stroma activates integrin signaling to promote cancer cell proliferation and survival. She develops 3D culture models and in vivo approaches to study how physical forces in the tumor microenvironment regulate cancer biology. Her work has motivated mechanical biomarkers of cancer progression and therapeutic strategies targeting matrix stiffness.