Biomarkers in Head and Neck Cancer Progression

描述(申请人提供)：这是一份独立科学家职业发展奖申请书(K02)。它旨在提高申请者将癌症生物信息学与蛋白质组学/肿瘤生物标记物相结合的能力。这位候选人是密歇根大学牙科副教授。她是一位久负盛名的多产牙科科学家，由美国国立卫生研究院提供R01资金。她在头颈部鳞状细胞癌检测和进展的生物标志物的识别和验证方面开发了一项令人兴奋的翻译研究计划。K02奖将使她从教学和服务中解脱出来，从而使她有不间断的时间专注于学术活动，从而进一步促进她的研究事业。这将使她获得专业知识，成为癌症生物信息学的知情用户，癌症生物信息学是癌症生物学研究的重要组成部分。候选人计划利用这段时间发展说教和实用的生物信息学知识，以识别和研究与头颈部癌症生物学相关的生物标记物。为了实现这一目标，她将利用现有的翻译病理学和强大的癌症生物信息学资源，并在她目前的研究项目中花费时间进行密集的研究。这些专业知识将加快她在确认E-钙粘素、RAPL和a5？1整合素作为肿瘤进展生物标记物方面的进展，并促进她在识别和验证参与这一分子网络的新型信号蛋白方面的研究。她还将利用这段时间更多地融入翻译病理学社区，这将导致富有成效的合作和资源的有效利用。对癌症生物信息学的透彻了解将使她能够促进与其他头颈部癌症研究人员的合作，并加快她在识别头颈部癌症生物标记物方面的进展。癌症生物信息学的专业知识也将帮助她对早期检测生物标记物的其他研究兴趣。目前的目标是利用已发表的微阵列研究，在一个可搜索的平台上进行分子概念建模，将她实验室正在研究的癌症生物标记物与其他生物标记物(如p53)进行复合，以确定可以在多大程度上开发出高度特异和敏感的肿瘤进展标记物小组。长期目标是在数据挖掘平台的背景下使用荟萃分析方法来发现肿瘤检测、进展和转移的新迹象。可能的生物标志物将在体外和体内得到验证。公共卫生相关性：这是独立科学家职业发展奖的申请(K02)。它将使D‘Silva博士从教学和服务中解脱出来，从而使她有不间断的时间专注于学术活动，从而进一步促进她的研究事业。这将使她获得专业知识，成为癌症生物信息学的知情用户，癌症生物信息学是癌症生物学研究的重要组成部分。候选人计划利用这段时间发展说教和实用的生物信息学知识，以识别和研究与头颈部癌症生物学相关的生物标记物。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an Independent Scientist Career Development Award Application (K02). It is designed to enhance the applicant's ability to integrate cancer bioinformatics with proteomics/ tumor biomarkers. The candidate is an Associate Professor of Dentistry at the University of Michigan. She is an established and productive dentistscientist with R01 funding from the NIH. She has developed an exciting translational research program in identification and validation of biomarkers of detection and progression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The K02 award will further her research career by providing her relief from teaching and service thereby providing her with uninterrupted time to focus on scholarly activities. It would allow her to acquire the expertise to be an informed user of cancer bioinformatics, an essential component of cancer biology research. The candidate plans to use this time to develop didactic and practical bioinformatics knowledge to identify and study biomarkers of relevance to head and neck cancer biology. In order to accomplish this, she will take advantage of available Translational Pathology and strong Cancer Bioinformatics resources and spend time on intensive research in her current research projects. This expertise will accelerate her progress in validation of E-cadherin, rapl and a5¿1 integrin as tumor progression biomarkers and facilitate her research in identification and validation of novel signaling proteins that are involved in this molecular network. She will also use this time to become more integrated in the translational pathology community, which will lead to productive collaborations and efficient utilization of resources. Acquisition of a thorough understanding of cancer bioinformatics will allow her to foster collaborations with other head and neck cancer researchers and to accelerate her progress in the identification of head and neck cancer biomarkers. The cancer bioinformatics expertise will also help her other research interest in early detection biomarkers. The immediate goal is to use published microarray studies in a searchable platform with molecular concept modeling, to multiplex the cancer biomarkers being investigated in her laboratory with other biomarkers, such as p53, to determine the extent to which a highly specific and sensitive panel of markers of tumor progression can be developed. The long term goal is to use a meta-analysis approach in the context of the data mining platform to uncover novel signatures of tumor detection, progression and metastasis. Putative biomarkers will be validated in vitro and in vivo. Public Health Relevance: This is an Independent Scientist Career Development Award Application (K02). It will further Dr. D'Silva's research career by providing her relief from teaching and service thereby providing her with uninterrupted time to focus on scholarly activities. It would allow her to acquire the expertise to be an informed user of cancer bioinformatics, an essential component of cancer biology research. The candidate plans to use this time to develop didactic and practical bioinformatics knowledge to identify and study biomarkers of relevance to head and neck cancer biology.