Ghassan (Gus) Mouneimne, PhD

Associate Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Associate Professor, Cancer Biology GIDP
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.

Molecular Medicine Grad Program: 
Yes

Bibliography

2024

Quintela-Fandino, M., B. Bermejo, E. Zamora, F. Moreno, J. Ángel Garcia-Saenz, S. Pernas, N. Martinez Jañez, D. Jiménez, E. Adrover, R. Andrés, 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, 2024 Sep 16. PMID: 39283720

2023

Jensen, C. C., A. N. Clements, H. Liou, L. E. Ball, J. R. Bethard, P. R. Langlais, R. K. Toth, S. S. Chauhan, A. L. Casillas, S. R. Daulat, et al., "PIM1 phosphorylates ABI2 to enhance actin dynamics and promote tumor invasion.", J Cell Biol, vol. 222, issue 6, 2023 Jun 05. PMCID: PMC10103708  PMID: 37042842

2022

Kwak, E-A., C. C. Pan, A. Ramonett, S. Kumar, P. Cruz-Flores, T. Ahmed, H. R. Ortiz, J. J. Lochhead, N. A. Ellis, G. Mouneimne, et al., "β-spectrin as a stalk cell-intrinsic regulator of VEGF signaling.", Nat Commun, vol. 13, issue 1, pp. 1326, 2022 Mar 14. PMCID: PMC8921520  PMID: 35288568

2021

Watson, A. W., A. D. Grant, S. S. Parker, S. Hill, M. B. Whalen, J. Chakrabarti, M. W. Harman, M. R. Roman, B. L. Forte, C. C. Gowan, et al., "Breast tumor stiffness instructs bone metastasis via maintenance of mechanical conditioning.", Cell Rep, vol. 35, issue 13, pp. 109293, 2021 Jun 29. PMID: 34192535

2019

Parker, S. S., J. Krantz, E-A. Kwak, N. K. Barker, C. G. Deer, N. Y. Lee, G. Mouneimne, and P. R. Langlais, "Insulin Induces Microtubule Stabilization and Regulates the Microtubule Plus-end Tracking Protein Network in Adipocytes.", Mol Cell Proteomics, vol. 18, issue 7, pp. 1363-1381, 2019 07 01. PMCID: PMC6601206  PMID: 31018989
Puleo, J. I., S. S. Parker, M. R. Roman, A. W. Watson, K. Rahmani Eliato, L. Peng, K. Saboda, D. J. Roe, R. Ros, F. B. Gertler, et al., "Mechanosensing during directed cell migration requires dynamic actin polymerization at focal adhesions.", J Cell Biol, vol. 218, issue 12, pp. 4215-4235, 2019 12 02. PMID: 31594807
Truong, D. D., A. Kratz, J. G. Park, E. S. Barrientos, H. Saini, T. Nguyen, B. Pockaj, G. Mouneimne, J. LaBaer, and M. Nikkhah, "A Human Organotypic Microfluidic Tumor Model Permits Investigation of the Interplay between Patient-Derived Fibroblasts and Breast Cancer Cells.", Cancer Res, vol. 79, issue 12, pp. 3139-3151, 2019 06 15. PMCID: PMC6664809  PMID: 30992322

2018

Nagaraju, S., D. Truong, G. Mouneimne, and M. Nikkhah, "Microfluidic Tumor-Vascular Model to Study Breast Cancer Cell Invasion and Intravasation.", Adv Healthc Mater, vol. 7, issue 9, pp. e1701257, 2018 05. PMID: 29334196
Padilla-Rodriguez, M., S. S. Parker, D. G. Adams, T. Westerling, J. I. Puleo, A. W. Watson, S. M. Hill, M. Noon, R. Gaudin, J. Aaron, et al., "The actin cytoskeletal architecture of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cells suppresses invasion.", Nat Commun, vol. 9, issue 1, pp. 2980, 2018 07 30. PMCID: PMC6065369  PMID: 30061623
Parker, S. S., A. Moutal, S. Cai, S. Chandrasekaran, M. R. Roman, A. A. Koshy, R. Khanna, K. E. Zinsmaier, and G. Mouneimne, "High Fidelity Cryopreservation and Recovery of Primary Rodent Cortical Neurons.", eNeuro, vol. 5, issue 5, 2018 Sep-Oct. PMCID: PMC6158653  PMID: 30263951

2017

Peela, N., E. S. Barrientos, D. Truong, G. Mouneimne, and M. Nikkhah, "Effect of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) on breast cancer cells within a tumor-stroma microfluidic model.", Integr Biol (Camb), vol. 9, issue 12, pp. 988-999, 2017 Dec 11. PMID: 29188843

2016

Carmona, G., U. Perera, C. Gillett, A. Naba, A-L. Law, V. P. Sharma, J. Wang, J. Wyckoff, M. Balsamo, F. Mosis, et al., "Lamellipodin promotes invasive 3D cancer cell migration via regulated interactions with Ena/VASP and SCAR/WAVE.", Oncogene, 2016 Mar 21. PMID: 26996666
Peela, N., F. S. Sam, W. Christenson, D. Truong, A. W. Watson, G. Mouneimne, R. Ros, and M. Nikkhah, "A three dimensional micropatterned tumor model for breast cancer cell migration studies.", Biomaterials, vol. 81, pp. 72-83, 2016 Mar. PMID: 26724455
Truong, D., J. Puleo, A. Llave, G. Mouneimne, R. D. Kamm, and M. Nikkhah, "Breast Cancer Cell Invasion into a Three Dimensional Tumor-Stroma Microenvironment.", Sci Rep, vol. 6, pp. 34094, 2016 Sep 28. PMCID: PMC5039718  PMID: 27678304

2012

Mouneimne, G., S. D. Hansen, L. M. Selfors, L. Petrak, M. M. Hickey, L. L. Gallegos, K. J. Simpson, J. Lim, F. B. Gertler, J. H. Hartwig, et al., "Differential remodeling of actin cytoskeleton architecture by profilin isoforms leads to distinct effects on cell migration and invasion.", Cancer Cell, vol. 22, issue 5, pp. 615-30, 2012 Nov 13. PMCID: PMC3500527  PMID: 23153535
Hager, M. H., S. Morley, D. R. Bielenberg, S. Gao, M. Morello, I. N. Holcomb, W. Liu, G. Mouneimne, F. Demichelis, J. Kim, et al., "DIAPH3 governs the cellular transition to the amoeboid tumour phenotype.", EMBO Mol Med, vol. 4, issue 8, pp. 743-60, 2012 Aug. PMCID: PMC3494074  PMID: 22593025

2011

Kim, J. Hoon, A. Cho, H. Yin, D. A. Schafer, G. Mouneimne, K. J. Simpson, K-V. Nguyen, J. S. Brugge, and D. J. Montell, "Psidin, a conserved protein that regulates protrusion dynamics and cell migration.", Genes Dev, vol. 25, issue 7, pp. 730-41, 2011 Apr 1. PMCID: PMC3070935  PMID: 21406550