The mission of the Roarty laboratory is to discover novel molecular mechanisms responsible for breast cancer progression. In our research, we employ various experimental strategies spanning super-resolution microscopy, multi-omics, 3D organoid cultures, and in vivo modeling of tumor progression to tackle the most challenging puzzle in cancer research – metastasis. We are focused on a number of problems related to both normal and tumor cell biology in the breast: 1) how cell fate, morphogenesis, and differentiation programs are regulated 2) how specific developmental signals, co-opted by the tumor, instruct the spread of cancer cells to distant sites in the body, and 3) how disseminated tumor cells survive and emerge in secondary organs to enable breast cancer metastasis. Through these efforts, we hope to make discoveries to improve patient outcomes.