Our bodies are made up of around 100 trillion cells originating from a single initial cell, highlighting how fundamental cell division is to life. At the centre of this process lies the mitotic spindle — a tiny yet highly complex structure responsible for separating chromosomes during cell division. Its function is crucial not only for normal development but also for the emergence of diseases such as cancer, making it a frequent target of chemotherapy.
One of the greatest challenges in cancer treatment is the development of therapy resistance. To understand why some cells survive treatment and later cause disease relapse, a research team from the Ruđer Bošković Institute, led by Prof. Iva Tolić, Ph.D., developed a long-term imaging method for monitoring the division of individual cells. This approach enables scientists to track hundreds of cells across multiple generations and identify inherited traits passed from parent cells to their descendants that allow them to continue growing despite therapy. The hypothesis that the mitotic spindle generates diversity among cancer cell offspring, while therapy selectively eliminates all but rare surviving cells, forms the foundation of this research. Understanding these earliest stages of resistance opens the possibility of detecting and stopping it before it becomes clinically visible.
Long-term microscopic imaging produces enormous volumes of data — up to 1–2 petabytes per project — creating significant challenges in data storage and processing.
How these challenges are successfully addressed will be presented by Prof. Iva Tolić, Ph.D., in her invited lecture “From Microscope to Supercomputer: The Role of Infrastructure in Cancer Research”, which will take place on the first day of the Srce DEI 2026 conference at 15:15. The lecture will guide participants through the journey from fundamental biological processes within the cell to modern research infrastructures that enable their understanding and application in medicine.
The Srce DEI 2026 conference will be held on 28 and 29 April 2026 at the University of Zagreb. The University of Zagreb is once again co-organising the conference.
