Most patients with solid tumours, like colon cancer, have an operation to remove the tumour, a critical component of curative cancer treatment. However, for many patients, despite the removal of the solid tumour, the cancer will come back after surgery, often spreading to distant organs. This occurs as a result of the physiological stress the body experiences during surgery, and is recognized as a critical time for cancer to spread. Many patients get toxic treatments, such as chemotherapy, many weeks after surgery to try and prevent this. Dr. Auer's research is focused on trying to understand why tumour cells spread after surgery and develop new approaches to prevent this.