Kelley S. Madden, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor in Edward Brown's lab, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering has received a 2-year DOD IDEA Expansion Grant worth $575,000 for her project entitled, Alpha2-Adrenergic Receptors and Breast Tumor Stroma: A Novel Pathway Driving Breast Cancer Growth and Metastasis. The project is based on the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine which promotes breast tumor progression and metastasis. The grant will investigate how selective activation of one of the receptors for norepinephrine, the alpha2-adrenergic receptor, impacts tumor stromal cells and their modulation of the tumor extracellular matrix to promote tumor metastasis. The proposed research may lead to new therapies to treat metastatic breast cancer by targeting alpha2-adrenergic receptors.