The research focuses on how EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer cells survive treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Particular attention is given to drug-tolerant persister cells, a population that precedes stable resistance. The aim is to understand how these cells adapt to therapy and to identify strategies to prevent their formation.
The research integrates tumor cell cultures, patient-derived models, single-cell transcriptomics and spatial transcriptomics to describe the adaptive states tumor cells go through during treatment. The therapeutic dependencies identified are then tested in in vivo models.
