Communicating the molecular basis of cancer cell-by-cell: an interview with Tatsushi Igaki

Tatsushi Igaki is currently based at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Biostudies, where he leads a research group dedicated to using Drosophila genetics to build a picture of the cell-cell communications underlying the establishment and maintenance of multicellular systems. His work has provided insight into the molecular bases of cell competition in the context of development and tumorigenesis, including the landmark discovery that oncogenic cells communicate with normal cells in the tumor microenvironment to induce tumor progression in a non-autonomous fashion. In this interview, he describes his career path, highlighting the shift in his research focus from the basic principles of apoptosis to clonal evolution in cancer, and also explains why Drosophila provides a powerful model system for studying cancer biology.