The Scripps Research Institute Physical Sciences-Oncology Center
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
Center Summary:
The Scripps Research Institute Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (TSRI PS-OC) incorporates a trans-disciplinary effort from celebrated physicists and oncologists to pursue the mechanisms that regulate the survival of circulating tumor cells. These investigators will probe the biophysical factors implicated in the endurance of individual circulating tumor cells while in the blood stream and in their progression to metastatic disease. Fluid phase biopsies from epithelial cancers such as lung cancer will be employed to assess and model the physical attributes of these tumor cells over the course of the disease across various body compartments. In addition, this center will utilize highly sophisticated, quantitative physical science techniques to analyze patient samples in terms of cell size, mechanical properties and ultrastructural complexity. This unprecedented approach should deliver a rich database for further longitudinal statistical and mathematical analysis and yield much needed insight into the behavior, survival and destination of circulating tumor cells.
| Website: http://physicsoncology.org/default.aspx |
| Collaborators: |
Billings Clinic
J. Craig Venter Institute
Oregon Health and Science University
Scripps Clinic
Scripps Translational Science Institute
University of California-San Diego
University of Southern California |
Project 1 – Cytophysics—The Mechanical Properties of Cancer Cells
Project Leaders: Owen McCarty (Oregon Health & Science University) and Paul K. Newton (University of Southern California)
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Our overriding goal for Research Project 1 is to develop a quantitative model describing tumor cell dynamics and dissemination in the microcirculation. Meaningful output from our model is reliant upon the quality of the input variables: the physical and mechanical properties of cancer. However, surprisingly little quantitative information is known about the size, shape and feel of cancer in the fluid phase, therefore, the first step toward the development of a model of cancer in the metastatic phase will be to establish the fundamental physical parameters of cancer cells in the blood circulation. Access to a unique population of tissue samples from non-small lung cancer patients will provide us with a baseline against which to characterize the physical properties of CTCs.
Project 2 – Topology, Ecology, and Travel Strategies of Cancer Cells
Project Leaders: Peter Kuhn (The Scripps Research Institute) and Kelly Bethel (Scripps Clinic)
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Research Project 2 focuses at the level of functionally relevant structural properties of cell populations, and grouping behaviors of cancer cells with other cells in their microenvironment, by taking a comprehensive sampling across the time and space heterogeneity of the tumor via solid and fluid biopsies. While the experimental program in Research Project 1 focuses on elucidating the physical properties of individual tumor cells and their internal cellular structure, the focus of Research Project 2 is to look outward from the individual cell. We will investigate the physical properties and morphologic characteristics of populations of tumor cells in various phases and spatial regions of the disease and characterize the grouping behaviors they exhibit in their unique blood microenvironment. Identifying similarities and differences among the various tumor cells populations will identify meaningful heterogeneity and thus lend insight into which tumor cells are important.
Core 1 - The Clinical Sample Core
Core Leader: Kelly Bethel (The Scripps Research Institute)
The Clinical Sample Core (CSC) brings together a team of medical oncologists, pathologists, and surgeons, who will be responsible for the preparation of all patient samples and the distribution of samples to each Research Project Investigator in a form factor that is suitable for the specific measurement.
The CSC will obtain, process, and distribute to each Research Project:
- A total of 65 samples from 5 lung cancer patients. These samples include peripheral blood and central blood samples as well as tumor tissue samples from different regions of the resection.
- A total of 300 samples from 150 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients. The blood samples will be obtained from each patient twice, 1) at the time of diagnosis and 2) 6 months later.
Exploratory research to confirm specific findings in colorectal cancer patients will be conducted for the purpose of cross-validation and to gather preliminary data for new independent research proposals.
Peter Kuhn, Ph.D.
Peter Kuhn is an associate professor in the department of cell biology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. His research is focused on the development of a fluid biopsy for the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy management of breast, lung, colon, prostate and other tissue cancers. He is the principal investigator of the NIH NCI Physics Oncology Center on the 4-dimensional biopsy, investigating the physics and mathematics of cancer metastasis.
Since joining Scripps Research in 2002, Kuhn has focused his research on developing novel approaches to therapeutic and diagnostic development in cancer and viral infections. The goal of his research is to significantly contribute to making cancer a managed disease. Most recently his work in collaboration with Scripps investigator Ray has led to the discovery of the structure of the human β2 Adrenergic receptor. This is the first high resolution structure determination of a recombinantly produced human G-protein coupled receptor and this work was one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of Science Magazine in 2007.
Making cancer a managed disease is the theme of research in the Kuhn Laboratory. Translational team science is the approach by which the laboratory is accomplishing its goals. Working side by side across the disciplines of physics, biophysics, cell biology, pathology and oncology is the daily life in the lab. The blood system is the body’s major highway system providing the nutrition to the primary cancer and providing a transport mechanism for cancer cells to migrate to distant sites. These so called circulating tumor cells are then programmed to initiate new tumor growth that eventually kills the patient. Finding and characterizing these cells early provides a new opportunity to monitor and characterize the cancer over time and tailor the treatment to the specifics of an individual’s cancer.
To learn more visit http://4db.us.
Kelly J. Bethel, M.D.
Dr. Kelly Bethel is the senior clinical investigator of the 4DB Center. She is a practicing hematopathologist in Scripps Clinic Medical Group and holds an adjunct appointment in cell biology at The Scripps Research Center, where in conjunction with the Kuhn lab she focuses her research on circulating tumor cells.
Dr. Bethel received her B.A. degree in English Literature from Yale University in 1986 and her M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1991. She completed an internship in pediatrics, a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, and subspecialty training in Hematopathology. Dr. Bethel is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Hematopathology.
Since 1999 she has been practicing hematopathology at Scripps Clinic and Green Hospital. In addition to her clinical practice, she is the Medical Director of the Blood Bank at Scripps Clinic/Green Hospital, the Program Director of the Scripps Hematopathology Fellowship, and participates in various translational research activities investigating anemia, low grade B-cell malignancies and myelodysplasia. She also holds a teaching faculty appointment at UCSD in the Department of Pathology.
