Friday, October 3, 2025 10/3/2025

Finding Sleeping Beauty: T Cell Biosensors for Dormant Cancer Detection

Award Number: DP1CA280832
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/20/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2027

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Finding Sleeping Beauty: T Cell Biosensors for Dormant Cancer Detection - PROJECT SUMMARY Some types of cancers, as exemplified by estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, can recur as metastatic disease many years or even decades following a dormancy period where the patient displays no clinical symptoms. Late recurrence is thought to arise from disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) that were not killed by initial treatment and that lie dormant at metastatic sites such as the bone marrow until they reawaken. Strikingly, meta- analysis of over 60,000 early-stage ER-positive breast cancer patients treated with endocrine therapy revealed that the relative risk of recurrence progressively increases over a period of at least 20 years, indicating that patients in complete remission with no evidence of disease could harbor dormant cancer and remain at risk of metastatic relapse for the remainder of their life. Currently, there is no widely used method to monitor the dormant state nor its reawakening. The arrival of cancer immunotherapy has revealed exciting possibilities using engineered T cells as living medicines. T cells designed with tumor-targeting receptors and sophisticated genetic circuits have led to striking treatment responses in patients with certain types of cancers that were previously untreatable. This moment is an opportunity to not only build a future where T cells are engineered as therapies, but also as living sensors that can detect cancer with sensitivities and specificities beyond what is currently possible. The activation and growth of dormant tumor cells into micro-metastases require the hallmark expression of proteases during key steps such as angiogenesis. To exploit protease dysregulation, this project will develop engineered receptors that sense proteolysis to detect reawakening. These contain an extracellular single chain antibody that is blocked by a peptide mimotope such that they can bind to their cognate antigens only after the blocking peptide is removed by proteolysis, restricting T cell activation to the specific condition where the cognate protease and tumor antigen are both present. Following activation, T cell sensors amplify the release of synthetic biomarkers (blood, urine and imaging) for detection. Genetically encoded libraries (>10^4) of protease-activatable receptors will allow in vivo screening of 1000s of candidate T cell sensors to positively and negatively select for constructs that can report on awakening in different microenvironments such as the bone marrow and lungs. The adoptive transfer of T cell sensors with memory phenotype could lead to life-long T cell sensors that continuously monitor for future disease. These technological breakthroughs will have huge implications in understanding how and when dormant cells reawaken and guide therapeutic interventions at the earliest stages of reactivation.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $2,214,800 )
2025	2025	GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORP	926 DALNEY ST NW	ATLANTA	GA	30318	FULTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	001	4	9/3/2025	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$2,214,800
2025	2024	GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORP	926 DALNEY ST NW	ATLANTA	GA	30318	FULTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	3	9/3/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $2,214,800

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $1,052,030 )
2024	2024	GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORP	926 DALNEY ST NW	ATLANTA	GA	30318	FULTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	3	8/12/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$1,052,030
														Subtotal = $1,052,030

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $1,107,400 )
2023	2023	GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION	926 DALNEY ST NW	ATLANTA	GA	30332	FULTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	2	8/8/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$1,107,400
														Subtotal = $1,107,400

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $1,107,400 )
2022	2022	GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION	926 DALNEY ST NW	ATLANTA	GA	30332	FULTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	1	9/20/2022	NEW	$1,107,400
														Subtotal = $1,107,400

Grand Total All Awards = $5,481,630

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Finding Sleeping Beauty: T Cell Biosensors for Dormant Cancer Detection

Award Number: DP1CA280832

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/20/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2027

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer