Ghassan Mouneimne, PhD

Associate Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Associate Professor, Cancer Biology GIDP

Office Room Number: AZCC 0985
Lab Room Number: AZCC 0983
Lab Phone: (520) 626-3860

The University of Arizona Cancer Center
1515 N Campbell Avenue Lab #0983
Tucson, AZ 85724-5024

gmouneimne@arizona.edu

Links

Degrees

PhD

Teaching Interests

Understanding How Cytoskeletal Architecture Regulates Cancer Metastasis

Research Interests

Research in our laboratory is focused on understanding how aberrant structural organization of the cytoskeleton influences cellular behavior, such as cancer cell invasion and metastasis. The regulation of cellular behavior by structural remodeling of the cytoskeleton exemplifies the paradigm of “structure regulates function” at the cellular level. Our goal is to identify distinct actin cytoskeletal architectures that impact the response of cancer cells to well-known genetic and microenvironmental factors during cancer progression.

Publications

Victor, Rachel A, et al. “Global Profiling of Remodeled Subcellular Structures Due to Drug Treatment and Disease.”. BioRxiv, Aug. 2025, https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.27.672480.

Mouneimne, Ghassan, et al. “Mechanical Conditioning (MeCo) Score Progressively Increases Through the Metastatic Cascade in Breast Cancer via Circulating Tumor Cells.”. Cancers (Basel), vol. 17, no. 10, May 2025, https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17101632.

Rice, Photini, et al. “A Domed Window Chamber for Multi-Modality Optical Imaging.”. Biotechniques, vol. 76, no. 11, Nov. 2024, pp. 535-4, https://doi.org/10.1080/07366205.2024.2445452.

Quintela-Fandino, Miguel, et al. “High Mechanical Conditioning by Tumor Extracellular Matrix Stiffness Is a Predictive Biomarker for Anti-Fibrotic Therapy in HER2-Negative Breast Cancer.”. Clin Cancer Res, Sept. 2024, https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-1518.

Arumugam, Menusha, et al. “Deficiency Modulates the Stromal Environment in the Pretumorigenic Rat Mammary Gland.”. Front Cell Dev Biol, vol. 12, 2024, p. 1375441, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2024.1375441.

Jensen, Corbin C, et al. “PIM1 Phosphorylates ABI2 to Enhance Actin Dynamics and Promote Tumor Invasion.”. J Cell Biol, vol. 222, no. 6, June 2023, https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202208136.

Parker, Sara S, et al. “EVL and MIM MTSS1 Regulate Actin Cytoskeletal Remodeling to Promote Dendritic Filopodia in Neurons.”. J Cell Biol, vol. 222, no. 5, May 2023, https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202106081.

Collins, Shannon E, et al. “Ras-Mediated Activation of MTORC2 Promotes Breast Epithelial Cell Migration and Invasion.”. Mol Biol Cell, vol. 34, no. 2, Feb. 2023, p. ar9, https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E22-06-0236.

Hill, Samantha M, et al. “Optimized in Vitro Three-Dimensional Invasion Assay for Quantifying a Wide Range of Cancer Cell Invasive Behavior.”. STAR Protoc, vol. 3, no. 3, Sept. 2022, p. 101516, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101516.

Kwak, Eun-A, et al. “β-Spectrin As a Stalk Cell-Intrinsic Regulator of VEGF Signaling.”. Nat Commun, vol. 13, no. 1, Mar. 2022, p. 1326, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28933-1.

Hwang, Theresa, et al. “Native Proline-Rich Motifs Exploit Sequence Context to Target Actin-Remodeling Ena VASP Protein ENAH.”. Elife, vol. 11, Jan. 2022, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70680.

Hwang, Theresa, et al. “A Distributed Residue Network Permits Conformational Binding Specificity in a Conserved Family of Actin Remodelers.”. Elife, vol. 10, Dec. 2021, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70601.

Bearss, Jeremiah J, et al. “EDC3 Phosphorylation Regulates Growth and Invasion through Controlling P-Body Formation and Dynamics.”. EMBO Rep, vol. 22, no. 4, Apr. 2021, p. e50835, https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202050835.

Watson, Adam W, et al. “Breast Tumor Stiffness Instructs Bone Metastasis via Maintenance of Mechanical Conditioning.”. Cell Rep, vol. 35, no. 13, Jan. 2021, p. 109293, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109293.

Saini, Harpinder, et al. “The Role of Tumor-Stroma Interactions on Desmoplasia and Tumorigenicity Within a Microengineered 3D Platform.”. Biomaterials, vol. 247, July 2020, p. 119975, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.119975.

Merad, Miriam, et al. “Diversity Is a Strength of Cancer Research in the U.S.”. Cancer Cell, vol. 38, no. 3, Jan. 2020, pp. 297-00, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2020.08.018.

Puleo, Julieann I, et al. “Mechanosensing During Directed Cell Migration Requires Dynamic Actin Polymerization at Focal Adhesions.”. J Cell Biol, vol. 218, no. 12, Dec. 2019, pp. 4215-3, https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201902101.

Parker, Sara S, et al. “Insulin Induces Microtubule Stabilization and Regulates the Microtubule Plus-End Tracking Protein Network in Adipocytes.”. Mol Cell Proteomics, vol. 18, no. 7, July 2019, pp. 1363-81, https://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.RA119.001450.

Truong, Danh D, et al. “A Human Organotypic Microfluidic Tumor Model Permits Investigation of the Interplay Between Patient-Derived Fibroblasts and Breast Cancer Cells.”. Cancer Res, vol. 79, no. 12, June 2019, pp. 3139-51, https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-2293.

Saini, Harpinder, et al. “The Role of Desmoplasia and Stromal Fibroblasts on Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance in a Microengineered Tumor Model.”. Cell Mol Bioeng, vol. 11, no. 5, Oct. 2018, pp. 419-33, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-018-0544-9.

Parker, Sara S, et al. “High Fidelity Cryopreservation and Recovery of Primary Rodent Cortical Neurons.”. ENeuro, vol. 5, no. 5, Sept.–Oct. 2018, https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0135-18.2018.

Padilla-Rodriguez, Marco, et al. “The Actin Cytoskeletal Architecture of Estrogen Receptor Positive Breast Cancer Cells Suppresses Invasion.”. Nat Commun, vol. 9, no. 1, July 2018, p. 2980, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05367-2.

Nagaraju, Supriya, et al. “Microfluidic Tumor-Vascular Model to Study Breast Cancer Cell Invasion and Intravasation.”. Adv Healthc Mater, vol. 7, no. 9, May 2018, p. e1701257, https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.201701257.

Truong, Danh, et al. “Breast Cancer Cell Invasion into a Three Dimensional Tumor-Stroma Microenvironment.”. Sci Rep, vol. 6, Sept. 2016, p. 34094, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34094.

Peela, Nitish, et al. “A Three Dimensional Micropatterned Tumor Model for Breast Cancer Cell Migration Studies.”. Biomaterials, vol. 81, Mar. 2016, pp. 72-83, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.11.039.