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

> **NIH NIH R25** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $292,383

## 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 (and other minimally invasive) tests and molecular imaging approaches to detect, localize, and stratify
early cancers by integrating research in in vivo and in vitro diagnostics. Embedded within this mission is the need
to formally present new and innovative approaches to scientific communities at all levels. This competitive
renewal application is for continued support of the Canary Cancer Research Education Summer Training
(Canary CREST) Program which 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 30
undergraduate students in the biological, engineering, mathematical, and/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 26 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, career opportunities, and diversity. 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:** 10912662
- **Project number:** 5R25CA217729-07
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Utkan DEMIRCI
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $292,383
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10912662

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10912662, CANARY CANCER RESEARCH EDUCATION SUMMER TRAINING (CANARY CREST) PROGRAM (5R25CA217729-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10912662. Licensed CC0.

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