Our research group focuses primarily on the study of fibrosis in the liver and pancreas. We work with human cell cultures of hepatic stellate cells and monocyte-derived macrophages, subjecting them to varying degrees of stiffness using biophysical techniques. This allows us to mimic healthy and fibrotic extracellular matrix and study the physiology of different cells within their microenvironment. Furthermore, we test mechanomodulatory drugs, which have shown evidence of reversing fibrosis in other tumors such as breast cancer, to observe how they act on the mechanotransduction mechanisms of the liver and pancreas. The study of these mechanomodulatory drugs in the liver and pancreas opens new therapeutic possibilities for reversing fibrosis and for treating and preventing hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
