Sendurai Mani, Associate Director of Translational Oncology, Dean’s Chair of Translational Oncology, and Professor of Medicine at Brown University, and Co-Founder and CSO of Iylon Precision Oncology, shared on LinkedIn:
“From Long Nights in the Lab to a Lasting Impact on Tumor Plasticity
I’m deeply proud to see two papers from my postdoctoral work recognized together in a recent AI (Claude) generated compilation of 200 papers that shaped cancer research.
The compilation ranks our paper, ‘The epithelial-mesenchymal transition generates cells with properties of stem cells’ (Cell, 2008), at number 35 among millions of original research articles. This paper has received over 10,000 citations, an exceptional milestone for a research paper. It also places the related paper, ‘Twist, a master regulator of morphogenesis, plays an essential role in tumor metastasis’ (Cell, 2004), at number 36, a study on which I was also a co-first author.
Together, these studies helped connect EMT, metastasis, stemness, and tumor plasticity, an idea that has since become central to modern cancer biology.
This recognition is especially meaningful because the path to those findings was far from easy.
During my postdoctoral years in Robert Weinberg’s lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Whitehead Institute, each scientist was expected to develop an original idea, build it into a rigorous body of work, publish impactful findings, and create a career from it. Everyone in the lab worked with extraordinary dedication to make a meaningful contribution. For me, there were many moments when experiments failed and I came close to giving up, but I simply do not know how to quit.
For years, I worked from 10 AM until 2 AM, including weekends, driven by the belief that the question was worth pursuing. Science rarely offers immediate rewards. But dedication, passion, persistence, and hard work can eventually turn an idea into something that helps move a field forward. I am proud to see that this paper has had a significant impact.
I’m grateful to my mentors, collaborators, students, trainees, and everyone who supported this journey.
To every early-career scientist facing setbacks: do not let failed experiments define your potential. Keep asking meaningful questions, keep learning, and keep moving forward – your persistence may one day create an impact you cannot yet imagine.”
Other articles featuring Sendurai Mani on OncoDaily.
