ONCOLOGY PRECISION THERAPEUTICS AND IMAGING CORE: PROJECT SUMMARY The Oncology Precision Therapeutics and Imaging Core (OPTIC) is the result of incorporation of precision therapeutic capabilities into the existing Small Animal Imaging Shared Resource the goal of providing fully integrated and comprehensive services in translational oncology for the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) members. These include providing access to imaging equipment/infrastructure, assistance in technical procedures, regulatory support, and user education. Under the leadership of Kenneth Olive, PhD the mission of OPTIC dovetails with a campus-wide initiative in personalized medicine, and complements more clinically focused efforts such as the HICCC?s Precision Oncology Initiative. During the current project period (2014-2019), the HICCC has made numerous major investments in OPTIC, including: the installation of a high- field 9.4T small animal MRI, the purchase of a new IVIS Spectrum optical imager, and support for the launch of precision therapeutic services. OPTIC services fall into three broad categories: (1) the generation of new personalized cancer models from primary patient materials, (2) execution of translational therapeutic studies in mouse models of cancer on behalf of users, and (3) small animal imaging services, including bioluminescent/fluorescent, ultrasound, micro CT, and high-field MR imaging. In support of these efforts, OPTIC has established Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocols, generated a set of IACUC-approved master protocols for imaging that may be easily referenced by user laboratories, and integrated a complete pipeline of protocols for the generation, characterization, utilization, and imaging of a broad variety of tumor models. As part of the OPTIC pipeline for characterizing novel cancer models, OPTIC collaborates closely with other Shared Resources at the HICCC including: Genomics and High Throughput Screening, Proteomics and Macromolecular Crystallography, Molecular Pathology, DataBase, and Cancer Biostatistics SRs. In addition to providing basic and advanced imaging and experimental therapeutics services, the highly experienced imaging and translational scientists of OPTIC also provide consultation and training to HICCC members in experimental design, instrument operation, and data analysis, which facilitates the incorporation of advanced experimental therapeutics into the research portfolio of HICCC members. Over the current project period, the capabilities of OPTIC were utilized by 39 HICCC members, provided key data and insights for 42 peer-reviewed research grants and 16 HICCC member peer-reviewed publications including 11 papers in journals with impact factor >10 of which 8 were in journals with impact factor >20 (Nature, Cell, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell). Currently, OPTIC supports research for 28 NIH-funded grants, 17 from NCI.
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