Dr Luigi Ombrato
Group Leader
Overview
I lead the Metastatic Niche Lab, where we study how metastases form and what enables disseminated cancer cells to survive and grow in distant organs. Our research focuses on uncovering cell-cell interactions and signalling pathways within the tumour microenvironment that are critical for establishing a supportive metastatic niche. Our studies aim to identify key drivers of metastatic progression and new therapeutic targets to better prevent or treat metastatic cancers.
Team
Maddy Boardman
PhD Student
Dr Marti Brucoli
Postdoctoral Researcher
Adriana Yunda De Miguel
PhD Student
Alessandra Perini
PhD Student
Honor Tookey
PhD Student
Research
Understanding the Immune Regulation of Metastasis
Why do tumours metastasise to certain organs and not others? Why do only a small fraction of disseminated tumour cells succeed in forming overt metastases, while the majority fail? What barriers must these cells overcome, and through which mechanisms?
These are fundamental and long-standing questions in cancer research. Despite extensive investigation, our understanding of metastasis, particularly the early events leading to successful colonisation, remains limited. A key challenge has been the lack of tools to visualise and dissect these processes in vivo.
We are now entering a period of rapid technological advancement, offering unprecedented opportunities to explore the cellular and molecular dynamics of cancer progression. Over the past decade, several novel tools have been developed, including Cherry-niche, an innovative in vivo labelling system I created to allow cancer cells to mark and identify their neighbouring cells within the metastatic microenvironment (Ombrato et al., Nature 2019, Ombrato et al., Nature Protocols 2021, Ombrato, Nature Reviews Cancer 2022).
My lab focuses on decoding how immune cells regulate metastasis, with particular emphasis on innate immunity. We aim to define the cellular interactions that enable disseminated tumour cells to create a permissive metastatic niche and escape immune surveillance. Our ultimate goal is to inform new therapeutic strategies to prevent or disrupt metastasis.
Current research topics include:
- Investigating how the immune niche evolves during metastasis progression and how cross-talk between distinct myeloid populations drives this process.
- Exploring the local and systemic effects of radiotherapy on the tumour immune microenvironment during metastatic colonisation.
- Uncovering how myeloid cells suppress lymphocyte cytotoxicity, enabling metastatic tumour outgrowth.
Key Publications
- MIF mediates monocyte-dependent inhibition of natural killer cell cytotoxicity in triple-negative breast cancer. Cell Rep (2026). 45(6):117431. PMID: 42172122
- Radiation exposure elicits a neutrophil-driven response in healthy lung tissue that enhances metastatic colonization. Nat Cancer (2022) 3(2):173-187. PMID: 35221334
- Technical Advancements for Studying Immune Regulation of Disseminated Dormant Cancer Cells. Frontiers in Oncology (2020) 10(1) 594514-594514. PMID: 33251149
- Generation of neighbor-labeling cells to study intercellular interactions in vivo. Nature Protocols (2021) 16(2):872-892. PMID: 33311715
- Metastatic-niche labelling reveals parenchymal cells with stem features. Nature (2019) 572(7771):603-608. PMID: 31462798
Major Funding
- 2024-2030 – CRUK Career Establishment Award, “Controlling metastasis formation through inhibition of myeloid cell-myeloid cell cross-talk”, £744,160
- 2026-2030 – The late Sarah Louise Beeson, nee Sansam, Donation, “Optimisation of breast cancer model systems to study radiotherapy response”, £225,000
Other Activities
- Member of the British Association for Cancer Research
- Member of the European Association for Cancer Research
- Breast Cancer Now grants committee member
Biography
I completed my PhD in the lab of Prof. Maria Pia Cosma, first at the Telethon Institute for Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM, Naples, Italy) and then at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG, Barcelona, Spain), where I used the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSc) technology to study the molecular mechanisms of somatic cell reprogramming. Our work was among the first to highlight the role of epigenetic changes in this process.
For my post-doctoral research, I joined Dr Ilaria Malanchi’s lab at The Francis Crick Institute (London, UK), where I developed Cherry-niche, an in vivo labelling tool to study how the tumour microenvironment supports metastatic growth. This approach led to the discovery of parenchymal tissue cells as a previously unrecognised component of the metastatic niche.
In 2020, I established my own group at the Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. The theme of our work focuses on the role of immune cell interactions in metastasis formation.
Related News
Dr Luigi Ombrato awarded Cancer Research UK grant to understand how the seeds of secondary tumours grow
Congratulations to Dr Luigi Ombrato who has been awarded a £700k grant to investigate the earliest stages of cancer spread.
General News 21 March 2024