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Scales of Carcinogenesis: Cells, Crypts and Cancer

Contents

• Contact Information
• Funding Agency 
• Research Emphasis 
• Disease Focus 
• Scales Examined 
• Biomedical, Biological and Behavioral Areas & Percent Focus
• Modeling Methods and Tools Areas & Percent Focus
• Software Development 

Contact Information

Principal Investigator/Contact
Georg E. Luebeck
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Phone: (206) 667-4282
Fax: (206) 667-7004
E-mail: gluebeck@fhcrc.org

Co-PIs and Collaborators
Carlo C. Maley
The Wistar Institute
Email: cmaley@alum.mit.edu

Grant Number - 1-R01-CA-119224-01

Funding Agency

National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI)

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Research Emphasis

The main objective of this project is the development of a computational multi-scale model of carcinogenesis that spans spatial and temporal scales from the level of the cell to the level of the human population.

This research has wider implications for understanding the role of tissue architecture in carcinogenesis even though the biological questions and mathematical models that address them are primarily formulated in the context of the pre-malignant condition Barrett's esophagus. This includes consequences for cancer screening, early detection, and the testing of specific intervention and prevention strategies.

Barrett's esophagus is a condition in which the esophagus, the muscular tube that carries food and saliva from the mouth to the stomach, changes so that some of its lining is replaced by a type of tissue similar to that normally found in the intestine.

Pre-malignant condition Barrett’s esophagus is one of the few human conditions in which neoplastic progression can be directly observed over time.

Neoplasm refers to an abnormal growth of tissue, a tumor. A neoplasm may be benign or malignant.

Disease Focus 

Cancer

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Scales Examined 

Time Scales

• Hours
• Days
• Months
• Years and above

Biological Scales

• Cellular
• Multi-Cellular Systems
• Tissue
• Organ
• Organ Systems
• Organism
• Population

Length Scales 

• Micrometer (μm)
• Millimeter (mm)
• Centimeter (cm)
• Ten centimeter

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Biomedical, Biological and Behavioral (BBB) Areas and Percent Focus

20% - Primary focus is on genetic, cytologic, and morphologic abnormalities observed in biopsies from pre-malignant neoplasms in Barrett's esophagus. Of interest is also the role of crypt structured epithelia in the pathogenesis of esophageal adenocarcinoma including the time and length scales of neoplastic clones.

Modeling Methods and Tools (MMT)Areas and Percent Focus

80% - Agent-based computational models of clonal evolution in normal tissues and neoplasms.

Software Development