The role of glycation due to dicarbonyl stress is linked to such an intricate degree with the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus that it is hard to understand which is the cause and which is the effect. I will showcase new results from my group that serve to highlight how tissue- and organ- homoeostasis is disrupted by glycation and how that may have grave implications for how cancers spread. Ramray Bhat is a physician-turned cell biologist with a focus on molecular-cellular mechanisms of metastasis in breast and ovarian cancer. He convenes an interdisciplinary group that employs a broad set of experimental and theoretical approaches to uncover novel dynamics of the extracellular matrix in regulating metastatic outcomes. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology and Genetics and affiliated with the Department of Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Science. He is also a member of the EMBO Global Investigator Network.