Colorectal cancer is a frequently lethal disease with very heterogeneous outcomes and drug responses. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a developmental program which is reactivated in the cancer cells and responsible for metastasis of cancer, the major cause of death in solid cancer patients. Tumor cells undergoing EMT acquire the capacity to resist apoptosis and anticancer drugs, disseminate throughout the organism, and acts as a reservoir that replenishes and expands the tumor cell population. EMT-transcription factors which orchestrate this EMT process are therefore becoming a target of prime interest for anticancer therapy. Based on novel unpublished results we are convinced that EMT-transcription factors of the ZEB family play pivotal roles in the initiation and progression of an aggressive subtype of colorectal cancer. With our novel and exclusive in vitro and in vivo tools, the consortium aims at: (1) the better understanding of CRC initiation on the molecular and cellular level with the idea of CRC prevention (2) identification of new molecular targets and reliable prognostic biomarkers and (3) development of drug-like tool compounds which can be subsequently licensed to industrial partners.