Pathology & Genomics

Project Summary:
The Integrated Pathology and Genomics Core provides state-of-the-art analytic services for lung cancer samples
spanning the full spectrum from initial sample handling and processing, to microscopic analysis by certified
anatomic pathologists, to immunophenotypic analysis, to molecular genetic and genomic analysis. This work
constitutes the backbone of lung cancer management, and enables the diagnosis and proper treatment selection
for patients with lung cancers of all types, and also enables research into cancer biology, etiology, and
management. Our pathology core has supported work that has led to major advances in the understanding of
lung cancer biology, and associated management thereof, including seminal discoveries of the importance of
mutations in EGFR, ALK, ROS1, and MET in lung cancer, the diagnosis and management of which have become
the international standard-of-care in this area of medicine. In the same manner, we intend to continue our work
to advance the understanding and care of lung cancer, by supporting the new projects proposed herein, with a
combination of standard-of-care and innovative new cutting-edge technologies.
In this SPORE proposal, we will support each of the proposed projects with a combination of standard-of-care
clinical pathology services - such as histologic characterization of tumors, immunohistochemical assessment of
protein expression, and massively parallel sequencing of tumor DNA - and innovative new techniques. Among
the innovative new techniques to be deployed for this project are customized allele-specific PCR assays for
individual fusion transcripts to enable ultrasensitive monitoring of cell-free circulating ALK rearrangements in
plasma samples, cyclic immunofluorescence and transcriptomics for simultaneous in situ spatial expression of
multiple proteins and transcripts involved in various biochemical pathways, and multiplexed ion beam imaging
to provide high-order assessment of immune cell infiltrates within and adjacent to cancers.

Grant Number: 5P50CA265826-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: David Barbie