The long term research goals of my laboratory are to understand the molecular and cellular basis of prostate cancer progression and metastasis in order to develop new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Current efforts are focused on the role of a cell-matrix receptor dystroglycan and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in this process. Emerging interests include the development of mouse model to study how physiological and environmental components interact with PI3K-Akt signaling pathway known to be involved in prostate cancer progression.