# Microengineered Technologies for Quantitative, Multiplexed and Spatially Resolved Measurement of miRNA in Tissue Sections

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2021 · $355,407

## Abstract

Project Summary
Tumor heterogeneity is emerging as a major focus of cancer research. Tumors of many organs, including of the
lung, exhibit intra-tumoral heterogeneity and different regions of a tumor can have varying resistance to
therapies. A better understanding of tumor heterogeneity prior to treatment could be used for more personalized,
informed treatments resulting in a better prognosis for patients. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE)
sectioning of cancer specimens followed by cell staining is standard practice in pathological diagnosis. Unlike
longer RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) can withstand the FFPE process and are known to be dysregulated in many
diseases, especially cancer. Despite promise of miRNAs as sensitive and robust markers for cancer diagnosis
and prognosis, there is no technology that can perform a quantitative, multiplexed detection of miRNA
biomarkers from tumor tissue sections while preserving the spatial information of tumor biopsies and not being
labor-intensive. The goal of this project is to develop tools to spatially and quantitatively resolve multiple miRNA
biomarkers within pathological tissue sections. The proposed goals will be achieved via the following specific
aims: 1) establishing a gel-post microwell platform for local miRNA measurement in small regions of tissue
sections, 2) scaling up the sensing array and advancing the sample handling and data analysis, and 3)
demonstrating the utility of the integrated system on patient-derived organoid and mouse xenograft samples,
and genetically engineered mouse models. We have assembled a team of engineers and pathologists to achieve
these goals. The technologies will be developed in a manner such that they integrate into and complement the
current workflow of pathologists, thus providing a pathway to widespread adoption by clinicians. The project is
innovative because no technology currently exists to perform spatially resolved miRNA expression profiles in
clinically relevant FFPE tissue samples. The project is significant because it will provide researchers and
pathologists a better understanding of tumor heterogeneity prior to treatment which could be used for more
personalized, informed treatments resulting in a better prognosis for patients. The long-term goal is to include
this assay in the standard of care tissue-based biomarker workup of every cancer patient.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10172873
- **Project number:** 5R01CA235740-03
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick S Doyle
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $355,407
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-10 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10172873

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10172873, Microengineered Technologies for Quantitative, Multiplexed and Spatially Resolved Measurement of miRNA in Tissue Sections (5R01CA235740-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10172873. Licensed CC0.

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