June 16, 2026
Learning how the matrix around cells and tissues impacts cancers
Jessine Hein
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Jaye Gardiner is an assistant professor of biology at Tufts University, where she focuses on the extracellular matrix (ECM) around cancerous tumors. Being first-generation as both an American and a college graduate, Gardiner didn’t have the easiest path there. But starting in high school, several mentors, including a chemistry teacher who made the periodic table fun, helped to guide her to a career in science.
Throughout her education she was drawn to ideas and questions at surprising intersections. That’s how she landed on looking at the protein-packed microenvironment around tumors. “If you think of a tumor cell like a seed, the tumor microenvironment would be the soil that the seed is in, and it can dictate whether the seed will grow into cancer or be restricted and not germinate at all,” Gardiner says. As it turns out, not only does this tumor microenvironment change and affect cancer cells, but other forces such as everyday viruses might shape it in turn.
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Tony Luong
What if, Gardiner wondered, consistent exposure to a routine virus such as the one that causes the common cold somehow changes the body’s extracellular matrix to make it more conducive to cancer growth? Ultimately the information could reveal the interplay between the ECM and diseases such as cancers. “I want to take the ideas and kind of run with the nonconventional connection between virology and cancer biology,” Gardiner says.
Gardiner recognizes how her mentors put her where she is today. She pays that forward as she works to set up her own lab. “Right now I’m excited for us to actually do experiments,” Gardiner says. “I really love mentoring and teaching others. And it’s by the grace of others who passed on information that I’m even in this position.”
This article is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron.
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