# Cancer Imaging Research Program

> **NIH NIH P30** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $48,651

## Abstract

CANCER IMAGING (CI) RESEARCH PROGRAM
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The Cancer Imaging (CI) Program is a transdisciplinary program that integrates imaging engineering research
with the study of cancer biology. The goals of this program are to build novel imaging technologies for
discerning mechanisms of cancer biology, designing new targeted therapies, and developing innovative
imaging modalities for improving patient care. The CI program covers a continuum of imaging research
reaching from “molecules to mice to man” that forms the basis for the following three Specific Aims: (1) Utilize
imaging agents to study cancer pathogenesis and develop cancer-targeting therapeutics, (2) Codify
quantifiable imaging metrics to study cancer biology and improve cancer treatments, and (3) Translate novel
imaging methodologies to patient care. These aims reflect major working groups and initiatives that actively
engage researchers from basic biology, medicine, chemistry, physics, and engineering backgrounds with other
Cancer Center investigators through inter-programmatic collaborations that result in highly impactful advances
in imaging and nanomedicine. Extensive use of an array of shared resources, in particular Imaging, Athymic,
Cytometry, and Biostatistics facilitate all aspects of member discoveries.
Under the leadership of James Basilion (Co-Leader) and Zhenghong Lee (Co-Leader) the CI Program has 29
members including 19 full, 2 associate, and 8 clinical members. Members represent 9 departments, giving rise
to a total of $8.1M in research grant funding (annual direct costs), of which $7.3M is peer-reviewed and $4.0M
is NCI-funded. Between 2012 and 2016, CI program members published 639 publications. Cancer and
program related publications included 27% inter-programmatic, 25% intra-programmatic, 10% inter- and intra-
programmatic and 7% that involved collaborations with another Cancer Center. This highly effective program
has made major advances in imaging and nanomedicine. Examples include: the discovery and international
distribution of a novel quantitative MRI imaging analysis tool based on random magnetic wave generation (MR
fingerprinting); development of novel nanoparticle diagnostics and therapeutics, including plant derived viral
particles to stimulate host immune rejection of tumors that is now in clinical studies in dogs with melanoma;
generation of a fibronectin-targeting agent for detection of breast cancer micrometastases; and the invention of
a multimodal in vivo imaging method for following the disposition of nanoparticles on a microscopic scale as
well as visualizing the microvasculature of tumors in live animals.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10135954
- **Project number:** 5P30CA043703-31
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** James Peter Basilion
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $48,651
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-08-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10135954

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10135954, Cancer Imaging Research Program (5P30CA043703-31). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10135954. Licensed CC0.

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