معرفی
Rodrigo Somoza is a Researcher in the Department of Biology at Case Western Reserve University. His work bridges the fields of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and cancer biology, with a focus on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their applications in cartilage repair and bone metastasis research.
His research explores the in vivo and in vitro properties of MSCs. Key areas include modulating their chondrogenic fate to regenerate articular cartilage—a critical clinical challenge in osteoarthritis treatment—and investigating molecular mechanisms of bone invasion during metastasis. He has developed a novel extraskeletal humanized niche-mimicking platform where human MSCs form live trabecular bone and become perivascular MSCs (pMSCs), revealing their essential role in skeletal metastasis.
This platform demonstrates that bone metastasis requires coordinated interactions between cancer cells and pMSCs via niche-specific molecules, such as vascular basement membrane components and bone marrow niche elements. His findings highlight potential therapeutic targets for cancers metastasizing to bone, including melanoma, breast, and prostate cancers.
