Admin: Mechanical determinants of organ-selective metastatic colonization, dormancy and outgrowth

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Administrative Core: SUMMARY We propose to bring together an unparalleled team comprised of five leaders in metastatic cancer research across five institutions (MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, MD Anderson at The University of Texas, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University). The proposed MetNet Center Administrative Core will be led by co-MPI Prof. Roger Kamm. The day-to-day administration of this grant will be managed by the Center Administrator, located at MIT, who will be responsible for maintaining all records relative to this award and will establish and monitor agreements with affiliated institutions. Additionally, center administration will be supported by a Data Manager, who will be located at Harvard under the co-direction of Dr. Franziska Michor. The Data Manager will sit on the Resource and Data Sharing Working Group of MetNet and will be responsible for the co-development (in collaboration with the Center Administrator) of the MetNet Center’s website, discussions regarding standard metadata fields, determine whether there will be pre-publication of data sharing across the MetNet, create SOPs for MetNet data upload in conjunction with the different NCI Cancer Research Data Commons, and lead the conversations about data quality control, cross validation, and reproducibility. An External Advisory Committee (EAC) will be formed, bringing together investigators with expertise in fields related to cancer metastasis and the tumor microenvironment. The EAC is envisioned as a group of highly active members engaged to advise the MetNet Center leadership on scientific direction and review progress evaluation, research strategies and implementation, leadership and dissemination, all in the effort to maximize the impact of the center. The MetNet center will enhance the translational value and potential impact of its research by engaging a Patient Advocate, who will be a member of the EAC as a reviewer and evaluator of the pilot project grant applications, and will be invited to attend the monthly research webinars and participate in the quarterly Co-MPI meetings, and the Annual Site Visit. To foster collaboration and further support multi-institutional communication, wide reaching knowledge dissemination, and provide the MetNet Center trainees opportunities for enhancing their technical and professional development skills, the Administrative Core will support a virtual, monthly seminar series, and will offer intra-MetNet Center research exchanges and $50,000 pilot projects. In Aim 1 the Administrative Core will oversee and coordinate the project mission, establish multidisciplinary project oversight and establish timeline milestones with videoconferencing and face-to-face meetings. In Aim 2, we will develop, coordinate, schedule, and evaluate research meetings, research symposia, and the visiting scientists’ programs that are critical to our research mission and dissemination. In Aim 3, we will create the MetNet Center’s website to: facilitate communication on program achievements; act as the access point for enquiries from external researchers; serve as publicly-facing source of accessible research results to inform the breast cancer patient community; and serve as a central and accessible repository for all Center generated protocols.