The intersection of healthcare and biomedical research is at an inflection point with the convergence of cancer biology combined with new personalized therapies, the digital revolution, nanotechnology, big data science, and precision or personalized medicine. There is a wealth of meaningful information and knowledge that could be extracted from imaging data, but is currently not fully accessible by clinicians and hence cannot be optimally utilized for patient care, procedures or surgery. Medical care providers are constantly inundated with increasing amounts of patient data (both relevant and not) which are increasing in complexity. Cancer care exemplifies the current clinical challenges which include early detection, accurate distinction of pre-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions, determining infiltrative tumor margins during surgical treatment, tracking tumor evolution and potential acquired resistance to treatments over time, and prediction of tumor aggressiveness, metastasis pattern, and recurrence. Major strides have been made in the personalization of cancer therapies such as immunotherapy but the availability of specific, relevant, and timely medical data and information is of critical importance to realizing the full potential of precision medicine. Nowhere is this more acutely evident than during medical/surgical interventions in the operating and procedure rooms. Novel methods of imaging cancer to investigate the microstructure and inherent heterogeneity, image guidance, data integration, information extraction, and knowledge transfer are critical to inform and enable clinicians to fully leverage the information available, especially before, during and after invasive procedures. We are excited to propose this revised P41 biomedical resource center (BTRC) called Advanced Technologies for NCIGT or AT-NCIGT with 3 TRDs, 10 CP?s & 10 SPs. The 3 components, which we will investigate and develop new technology for are: Imaging Cancer heterogenity, Deep Learning and Intraoperative devices for image guided therapy. The BTRC will be organized with senior level experienced team led by the PI, assisted by TRD PI?s and others. They will support all research activities, ensure CP/SP support and review and mentor junior investigators and trainees. The overall goal of this proposal is to investigate, develop, and disseminate novel advanced technologies such as new MR sequences for tissue characterization-Imaging Cancer Heterogeneity (TR&D 1); analyze them and make them available through state-of-the- art algorithmic and data curation approaches (Deep Learning TR&D 2); and development of a set of comprehensive intraoperative planning, guidance and monitoring technologies and devices ( Intraoperative devices for image guided therapy TR&D 3). We will disseminate all innovations and specific deliverables to the CPs and SPs through the established mechanisms of the National Center for Image Guided Therapy (NCIGT), which continues to be dedicated to the investigation of the technical needs of IGT.
