Antoni Celià-Terrasa, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kang lab, was awarded the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation postdoctoral fellowship award for his research proposal entitled "Ubiquitin-dependent regulation of EMT in breast cancer metastasis". Metastatic cancer cells acquire invasive and chemorresistance properties by engaging a particular gene program called epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In this study, Dr. Celià-Terrassa aims to identify new "druggable" EMT modulators, specifically, those deubiquitinases (DUBs) that regulate the stability of SNAI2, one of the most important EMT promoting transcription factors. This study will provide new potential targets to block EMT during metastasis, which will be critical for patients to prevent the dissemination of tumor cells and have effective responses to conventional therapy.