Scope of Technologies

New tools that would allow for the acquisition of more complete profiles of DNA, RNA, protein, and other important biomolecules of normal, pre-cancerous, and cancerous cells are needed to support the basic discovery process by offering a more comprehensive and complete picture of the neoplastic phenomenon. Analogous technological advances will also be needed to examine the tumor micro-environment, including both stromal and vascular interactions. Such tools will allow more comprehensive characterization of both the variations that influence predisposition to cancer and the responses of an individual to therapeutic and preventive agents.

A brief listing of the types of technologies sought by the IMAT Program follows. Please note that this list is not all-inclusive and represents only a portion of the types of technologies sought by the program:

Innovative and Applied Emerging Technologies

Technologies for the scanning for and identification of the sites of chromosomal aberrations, mutations, and polymorphisms that reflect inherited or acquired abnormalities (particular interest is in the development of scalable tools that can be applied across whole genomes, for example, to detect rare abnormalities in mixed populations of normal and abnormal cells);
Technologies for the detection and characterization of foreign nucleic acid sequences, such as DNA of as yet uncharacterized exogenous infectious agents, that might be present in human cancer cells;
Technologies for assessing the status/functionality of DNA repair machinery, particularly within the context of cancer susceptibility and sensitivity to anticancer drugs;
Technologies for the massively parallel analysis of the expression of genes that would overcome limitations of the existing multiplexed gene expression technologies;
Technologies suitable for the analysis and characterization of large numbers of samples, including biospecimens from defined human/patient populations;
Technologies for the measurement of exposure to environmental toxicants, pollutants, mutagenic factors, and/or carcinogens;
Technologies for the detection of expression of proteins and their posttranslational modifications, including technologies suitable for expansion to profiling of all proteins expressed in cells, detecting rare protein variants in mixed populations, and detecting proteins modified (adducted) by carcinogens or anticancer drugs;
Technologies for monitoring the function of specific proteins and cellular metabolic or signaling pathways, including such aspects as examination of ligand-protein and protein-protein complexes and technologies for simultaneous monitoring of functions of all members of a class of proteins or a complete metabolic or signaling pathway;
Technologies to probe and/or interrogate various cancer signaling pathways to locate novel points for intervention beyond traditional genomic and proteomic signatures;
Technologies to elucidate structural modifications of macromolecules that may be indicative of or critical to the neoplastic transformation process;
Technologies for targeted measurements made at the level of the cell, including cell-cell adhesion, cellular motility, and/or cellular adherence properties;
Technologies to quantitatively measure cytoskeletal changes and the impact of such changes on elements of metastatic potential, including increased/decreased motility, changes in intracellular mechanics, and ability of cells to interact with the environment;
Technologies for the development of biocompatible molecular and cellular labels as well as means to enable their faster and more accurate delivery to cells, and to specific cellular compartments;
Technologies/means of broad applicability to improve delivery/retention of anticancer agents; and
Technologies for the development of high-throughput, quantitative assays for epigenetic alterations linked to abnormal gene expression, e.g., DNA methylation at particular promoters and/or histone acetylation and chromatin remodeling at such sites.

Innovative Technology Solutions to Cancer Sample Preparation

Technologies for sample collection, processing, isolation, extraction, storage, purification, and preservation;
Technologies for the assessment and/or reversal of adverse changes in samples resulting from storage and/or the use of specific preservation methods;
Technologies for the preparation of specific types of biomolecules, fluids, tissues, or other sample types that are necessary for cancer research and/or in clinical oncology;
Technologies to determine the effects of collection, processing, and storage on specific molecular components of interest in stored specimens;
Technologies that optimize the isolation and/or purification of specific biomolecules, and/or specific classes of biomolecules (e.g., phosphorylated proteins, membrane-bound proteins, etc.) and/or isolation of other defined fractions from biospecimens;
Technologies for isolation of specific classes of cells, e.g., the enrichment of exfoliated cells from biofluids or isolation of stem cells from tumor specimen;
Technologies for isolation of sub-cellular components, such as organelles, or sub-cellular structures;
Technologies for measuring and monitoring changes in the properties of biomolecules of interest and the detectability of such biomolecules under in specimens exposed to diverse handling variables

Technologies that are generally not appropriate for the IMAT program

Projects proposing software/informatics solutions, database development, data mining, statistical tools, and computational/mathematical modeling (including those applicable to drug and/or patient responses)
Projects centered on technology that has already led to the development of analytical or diagnostic product and its commercial release;
Projects proposing whole-body or in vivoimaging methods;
Projects in which the main thrust of effort is on exploring biological or clinical hypotheses (i.e., traditional hypothesis-driven projects) rather than on technology development;
Projects centered on development of specific drugs or therapies
Any projects involving clinical and/or diagnostic trials.