Vanderbilt awarded $3.4M grant to advance MR cytometry for breast cancer imaging
Vanderbilt Health has received a five-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to advance a potential new tool for breast cancer imaging.
The institution will be partnering with Philips to advance the study of magnetic resonance cytometry, which uses advanced diffusion MRI techniques to measure how water molecules move through tumor tissue at micrometer-scale lengths. By analyzing this movement, researchers can estimate characteristics like tumor cell size and cell density without the need for a tissue biopsy.
The approach also could serve as a complement to biopsy results by providing a noninvasive way to assess tumor microstructure and monitor changes during treatment. While biopsies remain essential for diagnosis and treatment planning, they sample only a small portion of a tumor and can be difficult to repeat frequently.
The Academic-Industrial Partnership grant will support efforts to integrate the Vanderbilt-developed technology into clinical MRI systems and evaluate its ability to provide information about breast tumors that is not currently possible through conventional MRI. Junzhong Xu, PhD, director of cancer imaging research at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, is leading the project with Vanderbilt researcher John Gore, PhD, and Philips Healthcare’s Ryan Robison, PhD.
“The ability to measure cell size, cell density and other microstructural features using oscillating gradient diffusion imaging is immensely exciting, given its potential to monitor disease progression and inform clinical decision-making,” Robison said. “Working alongside Dr. Xu and the team at VUIIS is a tremendous privilege, as they are the pioneers of this technique and are widely recognized as the world leaders in its development, validation and clinical translation.”
The group hopes to develop a way to move MR cytometry from an investigational technique into a technology that could eventually be incorporated into routine clinical imaging. A major component of the project will be establishing standardized quality controls and integrating the technique into commercially available MRI systems, which will help determine whether it can be deployed reliably in broader clinical settings.
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.