# Bioinformatics of metastatic migration histories

> **NIH NIH R01** · TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH · 2021 · $339,618

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Cancer causes more than 500,000 deaths a year in the United States, with more than 90% of the morbidity
and mortality attributed to metastases. Metastasis is the spread of cancerous clones of cells across a body,
whose dispersal routes are not medically detected or visible until later stages of cancer development. These
migratory routes are critical to our understanding of the processes that influence tumor diversity in patients as
well as aggressiveness, resistance, and escape of tumors from therapy. Comparative analysis of the extensive
genetic heterogeneity present in tumors can be used to map the dynamic history of cancer cell migration over
time and space. We propose to develop new methods for inferring cancer cell migrations accurately. Our new
approaches will employ principles of Bayesian molecular phylogenetics and patterns of mutational signatures in
cancer cell genomes for the first time to produce accurate maps of cell migration among tumor sites. We will also
develop new methods for detecting mutational signatures. These will overcome many limitations of the current
methods for datasets containing a small number of mutations, a situation commonly encountered in single-
patient clone phylogenies. Our methodological developments will be complemented by the distribution of a library
of functions containing our new and advanced approaches for high-throughput and in-depth analysis of
metastatic tumor genomic data. Overall, the proposed software and research developments will lead to advances
in cancer, bioinformatics, functional genomics, and data science. New software and its source code will be made
available free of charge for all uses, including research, education, and training.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10159969
- **Project number:** 5R01LM013385-02
- **Recipient organization:** TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Sudhir Kumar
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $339,618
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-06 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10159969

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10159969, Bioinformatics of metastatic migration histories (5R01LM013385-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10159969. Licensed CC0.

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