Ahmad Nabhan, Ph.D.

Research

The central goal of my research is decoding communication between stem cells and their niche and recoding this crosstalk as a precision therapeutic approach. Dissecting cellular communication is challenging in the tumor environment, wherein dozens of cell types converse using overlapping molecular signals. To cut through this noise, I developed a two-component organoid system that focuses on the communication between stem cells and their fibroblast niche, a central orchestrator of tissue repair and tumor growth. We discovered how tumors, as they grow and evolve, actively sculpt their fibroblast niche into a fibrotic, immunosuppressive niche that could protect them from immunotherapies. Now, we seek to identify the molecular signals tumors use to sculpt the fibroblast and, as a therapeutic strategy, disrupt them. I will also apply this approach to chart how other cancer mutations affect fibroblasts and, in turn, how fibroblast states influence tumor growth. The result will serve as a functional atlas that reveals how stem cells modify their microenvironment as they become malignant—information that could help identify new mechanisms of tumor development that could be exploited as therapeutic targets.