The purpose of the Translational Imaging Core (TIC) for the proposed Kidney Cancer SPORE program is to provide investigators in this program with the technical expertise to perform high quality imaging experiments; to facilitate standardized imaging protocols that allow for easier and more reliable correlation between results of pre-clinical and clinical imaging experiments; to provide consistent expertise in the interpretation of imaging results; and to facilitate storage and retrieval of imaging data. The primary functions of the TIC are to perform magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) assessments of response to treatments in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), to provide imaging methods for mechanistic assessment of targeted therapy in tumor models, and to provide an image-based platform to guide and optimize tissue procurement through an appreciation of tumor traits and heterogeneity. Multiple MR imaging and PET techniques will be analyzed in order to maximize the chances of detecting subtle changes in tumor characteristics and response to therapy. Imaging data will be integrated with data generated from the Biospecimen and Pathology Resources (CORE B) and the Data Analytics (CORE C) cores into the Kidney Cancer Explorer (accessible through the web portal http://qbrc.swmed.edu/projects/kidneyspore/) to ensure SPORE investigators have a unified view of these data. Lastly, the TIC will provide a ?one stop shop? solution to SPORE investigators for imaging data storage and analysis both for pre-clinical experiments and human clinical trials with an integrated web- based Picture Archive and Communication Systems (PACS) and a software solution for image an alysis. The efforts of the TIC will translate into the development of quantitative imaging protocols that are readily available for use in clinical practice. These imaging protocols will be applicable at other institutions and will generate data that is currently not available in patients with kidney cancer. If successful, these protocols will allow for a change in the current management of kidney cancer patients that is based on quantitative, objective imaging data.
The Translational Imaging Core (TIC) will offer novel quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with a variety of radiotracers to SPORE investigators for the noninvasive characterization of renal cell carcinoma in animal models and patients and for assessing the response to targeted therapies. A sophisticated protocol to co -register MR images and tumor specimens will allow for targeted tissue procurement informed by MR features detected in vivo. The TIC will provide a web-based centralized archive and image analysis capabilities for all imaging acquired in SPORE projects.
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