Tissues, like other condensed-matter systems, can undergo collective
transformations that dramatically alter their mechanical and dynamical state.
In epithelial and carcinoma models, such transitions – from a jammed, solidlike
configuration to a fluid-like, unjammed phase – govern the onset of
collective motility and invasive behaviour. In this talk, I will explore the
physical principles underlying these transitions and their implications for
cancer progression. Drawing on concepts and quantitative tools from softmatter
physics, we investigate how cellular rearrangements, force
transmission, and cell-scale mechanics couple to biochemical signalling and
gene-expression changes. These studies reveal that unjamming and tissue
fluidification are not mere by-products of malignancy but active processes
that generate new mechanical and regulatory regimes. I will argue that these
observations support a unified physical framework in which malignant
transformation emerges as a non-equilibrium phase transition in living
matter – one where mechanics, dynamics, and signalling intertwine to define
the boundary between homeostasis and invasion.