Humans are able to detect fitness decay in colleagues by looking at the graying of the hair or the wrinkles in their faces. Work from my laboratory in the last few years has shown that cells can also detect fitness levels of neighboring cells using a molecular code. Those “fitness fingerprints” (Rhiner et al., Dev.Cell, 2010; Merino et al., Curr. Biol., 2013) can be used to mediate cell selection by recognizing and eliminating less fit cells during ageing (Merino et al., Cell, 2015), regeneration (Moreno et al., Curr. Biol., 2015) and cancer (Levayer et al., Nature 2015).
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Cell Fitness 
Moreno Lab eduardo.moreno@research.fchampalimaud.org
Overview
We are generally interested in how cells of multicellular animals can detect the fitness of neighboring cells selecting the fittest cells. This is a fundamental process that has implications in several broader fields, for example:
1. Ageing
During ageing, elimination of unfit cells maintains tissue health and prolongs lifespan (Merino et al., Cell 2015).
2. Cancer
Tumor cells can behave as superfit cells and expand by killing and replacing neighbouring tissue, leading to tissue invasion and destruction (Levayer et al., Nature 2015).
3. Neurobiology
Neurons can also exchange fitness information leading to the culling of less fit neurons during development (Merino et al.Curr. Biol., 2013), brain regeneration (Moreno et al., Curr. Biol., 2015) and brain ageing (Merino et al., Cell 2015).
Eduardo Moreno, PhD
Principal Investigator
eduardo.moreno@research.fchampalimaud.org
Biography
Ana Catarina Rato
Student
catarina.rato@research.fchampalimaud.org
Ana Cristina Queirós, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
ana.queiros@research.fchampalimaud.org
Andrea Spinazzola, MD
Student
andrea.spinazzola@research.fchampalimaud.org
Andrés Gutiérrez
Student
andres.gutierrez@research.fchampalimaud.org
Catarina Brás Pereira, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
catarina.pereira@research.fchampalimaud.org
Catarina Costa
Masters Student
catarina.costa@neuro.fchampalimaud.org
Denise Camacho
External PhD Student
denise.camacho@research.fchampalimaud.org
Dina Coelho, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
dina.coelho@research.fchampalimaud.org
Esha Gogna, PhD
Visiting Scientist
esha.madan@research.fchampalimaud.org
Inês Silva
Masters Student
ines.silva@research.fchampalimuad.org
Irene Argudo
Student
irene.argudo@research.fchampalimaud.org
Maria Bettencourt
PhD Student
maria.bettencourt@research.fchampalimaud.org
Maria Carolina Rodrigues
Student
carolina.rodrigues@research.fchampalimaud.org
Mariana Reis
Student
mariana.reis@research.fchampalimaud.org
Miguel Pinto
Student
miguel.pinto@research.fchampalimaud.org
Pedro Durão
Masters Student
pedro.durao@research.fchampalimaud.org
Rajan Gogna, PhD
Visiting Scientist
rajan.gogna@research.fchampalimaud.orgLab Administration
Telma Carrilho
Lab Administrator
telma.carrilho@research.fchampalimaud.orgTechnician
Joana Couceiro
Technician
joana.couceiro@research.fchampalimaud.org
Brás-Pereira C, Moreno E. (2017) Mechanical cell competition. Curr Op Cell Bio 51 , 15-21. (doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2017.10.003)
Levayer R, Dupont C, Moreno E. (2016) Tissue Crowding Induces Caspase-Dependent Competition for Space. Curr. Biol. S0960-9822 (16), 00059-2 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.072)
Merino MM, Levayer R, Moreno E (2016) Survival of the Fittest: Essential Roles of Cell Competition in Development, Aging, and Cancer Trends Cell Biol. (doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2016.05.009)
Levayer, R., Hauert, B. and Moreno, E (2015) Cell mixing induced by myc is required for competitive tissue invasion and destruction Nature (doi:10.1038/nature14684)
Casas-Tinto, S., Lolo, F. and Moreno E (2015) Active JNK-dependent secretion of Drosophila Tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase by loser cells recruits haemocytes during cell competition Nat Commun (doi:10.1038/ncomms10022)
Gogna R, Shee K, Moreno E (2015) Cell Competition During Growth and Regeneration Annu. Rev. Genet. (doi:10.1146/annurev-genet-112414-055214)
Moreno E., Fernandez-Marrero, Y., Meyer, P., and Rhiner, C (2015) Brain regeneration in Drosophila involves comparison of neuronal fitness Curr. Biol. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.02.014)
Merino MM, Rhiner C, Lopez-Gay JM, Buechel D, Hauert B, Moreno E (2015) Elimination of unfit cells maintains tissue health and prolongs lifespan Cell (doi:10.1016/j.cell.2014.12.017)
Moreno, E. and Rhiner, C (2014) Darwin`s multicellularity: From neurotrophic theories and cell competition to fitness fingerprints Curr Op Cell Bio (doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2014.06.011)
Moreno, E (2014) Cancer: Darwinian tumour suppression Nature (doi:10.1038/nature13337)
Merino MM, Rhiner C, Portela M, Moreno E (2013) "Fitness fingerprints" mediate physiological culling of unwanted neurons in Drosophila Curr. Biol. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.053)
Moreno, E. (2012) Design and Construction of ‘‘Synthetic Species’’ PLoS ONE (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039054)
Rhiner C, López-Gay JM, Soldini D, Casas-Tinto S, Martín FA, Lombardía L, Moreno E (2010) Flower Forms an Extracellular Code that Reveals the Fitness of a Cell to its Neighbors in Drosophila Dev. Cell
Moreno, E. (2008) Is cell competition relevant to cancer? Nat. Rev. Cancer
Moreno E, Basler K (2004) dMyc transforms cells into super-competitors Cell
Moreno E, Basler K, Morata G (2002) Cells compete for Decapentaplegic survival factor to prevent apoptosis in Drosophila wing development Nature