Carole Parent

Carole Parent is a Research Professor at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute and holds the Raymond and Lynne Ruddon Professorship of Cancer Biology and Pharmacology at the U-M Medical School. She is also a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Medical School and serves as Faculty Director of the Michigan Pioneer Fellows program. Her laboratory is located in the Life Sciences Institute at Mary Sue Coleman Hall.

Dr. Parent's research focuses on understanding how cells detect and respond to external chemotactic signals, with particular emphasis on how spatial and temporal relay of these signals impact single and group cell migration. Her work has significant implications for understanding inflammation and cancer metastasis. She employs three complementary model systems: Dictyostelium discoideum (a genetically tractable amoeba), mammalian neutrophils (for studying inflammation), and breast cancer metastatic cell lines (to investigate tumor biology).

Her laboratory combines biochemical, cell biological, genetic, and biophysical approaches to quantitatively describe cellular movements with single-cell resolution. This transdisciplinary approach allows her team to extract relevant metrics for biological responses and understand signal transduction pathways in complex physiological settings. Recent work has centered on exosome-mediated signaling, neutrophil biology, and the mechanisms of cell migration in inflammatory and cancer contexts.

Dr. Parent's publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding cell migration mechanisms, with recent focus on exosomes as critical mediators of chemotactic signaling. Her work spans fundamental cell biology to clinically relevant processes in inflammation and cancer metastasis, showing how basic research can translate to medically important discoveries.

• AAAS Fellow

Dr. Parent's laboratory has produced significant findings regarding how cells communicate during migration through exosome release and chemotactic signal relay. Her work on LTB4 as a signal-relay molecule and neutrophil swarming has advanced our understanding of inflammation dynamics. The Parent Lab continues to explore how spatial organization of signaling molecules regulates cell migration in both normal and disease contexts.

The Parent Lab maintains an active research program investigating the fundamental mechanisms of cell migration using advanced imaging techniques and multiple model systems to bridge basic science with clinical applications in inflammation and cancer.