# CANARY CANCER RESEARCH EDUCATION SUMMER TRAINING (CANARY CREST) PROGRAM

> **NIH NIH R25** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $236,712

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: The Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection (“Canary
Center”) is a world-class facility with the mission to foster interdisciplinary research leading to the development
of blood tests and molecular imaging approaches to detect and localize early cancers by integrating research in
in vivo and in vitro diagnostics to deliver these tests. Embedded within this mission is the need to formally present
new and innovative approaches to scientific communities at all levels. The Canary Cancer Research Education
Summer Training (Canary CREST) Program fulfills an educational mission by introducing students to research
education and new career paths. The overall goal of the program is to train a new generation of interdisciplinary
scientists in early cancer detection by offering an integrative hands-on research experience at an early stage of
their scientific education. The Canary CREST Program is a 10-week instructional summer program for 25
undergraduate students in the biological, engineering, mathematical, or physical sciences, and offers a
structured research experience with a focus on early cancer detection. The program will be administered by the
Canary Center and brings together a multidisciplinary group of 28 faculty whose research groups are dedicated
to the field of early cancer detection using experimental and computational approaches in biochemistry,
bioengineering, bioinformatics, molecular imaging, and cancer biology. Proposed Canary CREST Program
activities include: (1) Mentor-directed research in one of six investigative areas, namely, development of devices
for cancer diagnostics, cancer biomarker discovery and validation, cancer biology, molecular imaging of cancer,
clinical imaging of cancer, and cancer bioinformatics; (2) Specially-designed classroom sessions to provide a
conceptual framework of the field of early cancer detection; (3) Seminars in scientific research; (4) A
comprehensive professional development component that includes career talks, student presentations,
workshops on communication skills and career opportunities; and (5) Participation in an Ethics Forum. The key
aspect of this program is to offer participants the opportunity to conduct mentor-directed research while
developing an understanding of hypothesis-driven studies with critical interpretation of results and analysis of
data. The long-term objective of this educational research program is to support the growing need of specialized
researchers who will have a significant impact in the rapidly-expanding area of cancer early detection.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10462468
- **Project number:** 5R25CA217729-05
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Utkan DEMIRCI
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $236,712
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10462468

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10462468, CANARY CANCER RESEARCH EDUCATION SUMMER TRAINING (CANARY CREST) PROGRAM (5R25CA217729-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10462468. Licensed CC0.

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