Pursuing a traitor

Cancer would have a difficult time spreading itself throughout the body were it not for the aid of various "traitors" inside the body itself. One of these potential "traitors" is the gelatinase enzyme. Secreted from cancer cells, this enzyme breaks down the gelatin in the intercellular spaces, clearing the way for the cancer to spread to different parts of the body. Dr. Irit Sagi of the Weizmann Institute's Structural Biology Department is tracking down this enzyme in an effort to find a way to stop its deadly activity.

Through her research, Sagi is realizing the vision of years gone by: she is conducting in her laboratory the kind of cross-specialty research that once would have involved labs and scientists from a number of fields of expertise. Sagi utilizes a rare combination of advanced equipment and technologies such as an atomic force microscope, powerful X-rays, and genetic engineering. Such a combination makes possible the real-time pursuit of her "suspect," the gelatinase enzyme, throughout the stages of its "life". This innovative and dynamic experimental methodology allows the research team to study the minutest details of the enzyme's active site in a live cell environment.

Members of Sagi's research group hope that at some point during its long, tortuous, and dynamic lifetime, the suspect gelatinase will reveal an Achilles' heel. This could enable scientists to develop substances that match the enzyme's spatial structure.Such substances would bond to the enzyme and halt its insidious activities at precisely the right place and time.