Dr. Heath Smith, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kang lab, was awarded the American Cancer Society fellowship for his proposal  to study the role of Metadherin (MTDH) in breast cancer progression. Metahderin was previously identified as a breast cancer metastasis gene, however, its mechanism of function in breast cancer progression remains largely unknown.  Heath will use a series of genetic and biochemical model systems to investigate the tumor-intrinsic and -extrinsic function of MTDH in breast cancer progression and metastasis.