The overarching goal of this project is to acquire the skills necessary to launch a competitive, independent research career in the field of biomedical engineering, with an explicit specialization in cancer metabolism research. Aberrant metabolic features in cancer cells, now recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer, can be novel diagnostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets. Unfortunately, understanding of cancer metabolism remains limited, which is primarily due to the lack of tools. My long- term career goal is to lead a competitive research group, with primary research interests in developing novel technologies that allow sensitive and high-throughput analysis of cancer metabolism. I have extensive experience in developing sensitive analytical platforms with a background in electrical engineering. In addition to my engineering expertise, the mentorship from internationally recognized experts in cancer biology during the K99 training period will be instrumental towards my career objectives. In the current research, I plan to develop a novel magnetic sensing technology for comprehensive analysis of metabolism in leukemia stem cells (LSCs), as well as to acquire a deeper understanding of cancer biology. The Research Plan is built upon the development of the hyperpolarized micro nuclear magnetic resonance (HP micro-NMR) technology that enables quantitative analysis of metabolic flux in a small number of cells (down to 104 cells) within two minutes, while maintaining more than 90% of cell viability. The novel platform I developed, importantly, allowed downstream molecular analyses in the same sample in tandem, which may be truly beneficial for investigating mass-limited samples. Here, I will advance this system further to achieve a higher sensitivity and enhanced analytical throughput for comprehensive analysis of LSC metabolism (Aim 1), and I will develop HP metabolic markers to identify the dependence of LSCs on a metabolic enzyme, PHGDH, which has emerged as a promising therapeutic target for other cancers (Aim 2). The focus of the current research is centered on the critical clinical need for relevant leukemia stem cells models, but with imperative funding from the NIH Pathway to Independence Award - Parent K99/R00, the proposed platform would extend much further and have wide applicability on other clinically relevant cancer models, such as patient biopsies or tumor organoids.
Leukemia stem cells, which are commonly responsible for the high recurrence rates of disease, remain resistant to conventional therapies. Although their metabolic vulnerabilities can be an effective therapeutic target, techniques to investigate metabolism in leukemia stem cells are nevertheless lacking. In the current project, I propose to develop a novel magnetic sensing technology for comprehensive analysis of metabolism in leukemia stem cells, which will be utilized to identify therapeutically actionable targets.
