Lung Cancer Metabolism Working Group: Program Cores

Administrative Core (Core #1) 

Core leader: Dr. Elsa R. Flores  Core co-leader: Dr. Eric B. Haura

The Administrative Core (Core #1) serves as the central node for all Projects and Cores of the Lung Cancer Metabolism Program. Core #1 is tasked with upholding the highest level of scientific rigor and reproducibility of data stemming from all Projects and Cores and acts as a single point of contact for the internal and external sharing of resources. To fulfill these tasks, we have taken an innovative approach by appointing two PhD level scientists with distinct roles. First, the Project Management Director will facilitate the workflow of projects through Cores #2-4 and develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consideration of biological variables, scientific rigor, and reproducibility across all projects. Second, the Administrative Director will oversee all administrative, logistical, and communication needs of the program including the maintenance of internal and external websites. The scientists in these roles will work closely together to ensure that the exchange of data and scientific ideas runs smoothly and is responsive to the dynamic needs of each project.

Preclinical Models and Pathology Core (Core #2)

Core leaders: Dr. Doug Cress and Dr. Florian Karreth

The goal of the Preclinical Models and Pathology Core (Core #2) is to support in vivo studies of the Lung Cancer Metabolism Program. To do so, the core will provide three extraordinary services and expertise that are not provided as Cancer Center standard shared resources: 1) generation of speedy mouse models, 2) digital pathology driven by artificial intelligence, and 3) integrated research-focused pathology services.

Metabolism Core (Core #3) 

Core leader: Dr. John Koomen

At the heart of this research program is the need to understand the metabolome and interacting pathways in lung cancer. To have the required expertise and tools on hand, the Metabolism Core (Core #3) has been developed to support the research proposed by the project investigators. The four projects will require similar types of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and proteomics analyses. Thus, centralized acquisition with concierge service by Core #3 will provide access to all of these methods using harmonized strategies that enable utilization of data across all projects and support integration and synergy.

Data Science Core (Core #4) 

Core leader: Dr. Brooke Fridley

The goal of the Data Science Core is to serve as the focal point from which project investigators can draw statistical, bioinformatics, and informatics expertise for the completion of their research. Core #4 members have extensive experience in applied cancer biostatistics and bioinformatics and will help investigators with their data science needs from project initiation through completion. A unique aspect of this core is the design and utilization of the Lung Cancer Data Repository to store all data and metadata related to the experiments in a single virtual location for cross-project integration. The faculty of Core #4 will work closely with the Project Management Director in Core #1 to ensure that all data is collected and deposited according to the proper SOPs in alignment with the goal of generating rigorous and reproducible data. This allows the program investigators to use this resource as a perpetual hypothesis-generating tool moving forward and is an exciting aspect of our program.