The most common cause of cancer-related death is metastasis or the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to distant organs. As such, identifying the driving molecules in cancer metastasis is crucial for the development of effective therapeutics. Cell lineage tracing at single-cell resolution has been transformed thanks to recent breakthroughs in CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology. Taking advantage of this new technology, we tracked the breast cancer metastatic trajectory using our new lineage tracing technique. We discovered that the bone microenvironment is an essential secondary destination that promotes metastasis. However, this technology is still in its early stages, posing s...

Read More

The most common cause of cancer-related death is metastasis or the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to distant organs. As such, identifying the driving molecules in cancer metastasis is crucial for the development of effective therapeutics. Cell lineage tracing at single-cell resolution has been transformed thanks to recent breakthroughs in CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology. Taking advantage of this new technology, we tracked the breast cancer metastatic trajectory using our new lineage tracing technique. We discovered that the bone microenvironment is an essential secondary destination that promotes metastasis. However, this technology is still in its early stages, posing several significant computational hurdles. Existing CRISPR lineage tracking preprocessing algorithms, for example, are inaccessible across platforms and lack crucial quality control measures. Another issue is a lack of understanding of calculating the distance between two points. In this proposal, we will apply the new development in machine learning and artificial intelligence to design better algorithms for the analysis of CRISPR-based lineage tracing for cancer metastasis. Our approach will be rigorously tested in both simulated and experimental data through our long-term collaborators. The software produced in this project will benefit both the basic science research and the therapeutic target discovery for cancer and other diseases.

Read Less