Thursday, March 13, 2025 3/13/2025

Coupling Advanced Computational Analyses for Mammography and SHG Imaging for Early Detection of Breast Cancer Tissue Microenvironment Disruptions Accompanying Tumorigenesis

Award Number: R15CA246335
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Summary The breast tumor microenvironment plays a key role in the early development of cancer. An improved understanding of the tumor microenvironment will support the early detection of disease and the development of novel, more effective therapies. Current radiological interpretation of mammograms is based on identifying breast lesions and assessing their potential malignancy and lethality. The biomedical research community has yet to correlate the mammographic signatures of microenvironment alterations and loss of tissue homeostasis accompanying, or even preceding tumorigenesis. The PI recently used a novel and powerful computational technique to demonstrate that tissue disruption and loss of homeostasis can be quantitatively and objectively assessed from standard clinical mammography. These preliminary findings pertain only to single diagnostic mammograms; the proposed AREA project will analyze longitudinal sequences of mammograms over multiple years prior to, and approaching the year of diagnosis, thus revealing the progression of healthy breast tissue microenvironment towards a disrupted state. It is hypothesized that the tissue disorganization signature present in mammographic data is associated with tissue disruption and loss of tissue homeostasis in the microenvironment. Team members will verify this hypothesis by imaging breast tissue samples to characterize, at the cellular level, disruption of collagen structures associated to tumor microenvironment alterations accompanying tumorigenesis. This project's specific aims include: 1) verifying that mammographic tissue disruption accompanies and perhaps even precedes tumor development; 2) developing an in silico model of microcalcification growth into mammographic breast tissue environment, 3) improving the computational efficiency of our data analysis, and 4) linking morphological features of the breast tumor microenvironment imaged by mammography to cellular-scale alterations imaged by second harmonic generation microscopy. The proposed research will advance the education and career preparation of undergraduates within Maine's only biomedical engineering program, nurture a growing partnership among the University of Maine, Spectrum Healthcare Partners and Maine Medical Research Institute, introduce two UMaine faculty to biomedical research, and support the early career development of two assistant professors.


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 = $436,123 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM	5717 CORBETT HALL	ORONO	ME	04469	PENOBSCOT	USA	Cancer Biology Research	001	2	1/20/2025	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$440,561
2025	2020	UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM	5717 CORBETT HALL	ORONO	ME	04469	PENOBSCOT	USA	Cancer Biology Research	000	1	12/17/2024	NEW	-$4,438
														Subtotal = $436,123

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2023	2020	UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM	5717 CORBETT HALL RM 422	ORONO	ME	04469	PENOBSCOT	USA	Cancer Biology Research	000	1	9/8/2023	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $418,484 )
2020	2020	UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEM	5717 CORBETT HALL RM 422	ORONO	ME	04469	PENOBSCOT	USA	Cancer Biology Research	000	1	9/7/2020	NEW	$418,484
														Subtotal = $418,484

Grand Total All Awards = $854,607

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Coupling Advanced Computational Analyses for Mammography and SHG Imaging for Early Detection of Breast Cancer Tissue Microenvironment Disruptions Accompanying Tumorigenesis

Award Number: R15CA246335

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

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

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