The Department of Radiology would like to congratulate Dr. Roberta Strigel on her recent Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Research Seed Grant for her proposal entitled “Hyperpolarized 13-Carbon Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging and Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI of Breast Cancer in a Mouse Model: Imaging the Metabolic Characteristics of Malignancy.” Dr. Strigel’s mentor is Radiology’s Dr. Beth Burnside, and her research collaborators are Dr. Sean Fain, Department of Medical Physics of and Dr. Amy Moser, Department of Human Oncology.
Research Seed Grants are designated by the RSNA, “To enable investigators… to gain experience in defining objectives and testing hypotheses in preparation for major grant applications to corporations, foundations and governmental agencies.” Dr. Strigel’s research involves the application of a new method to image tumors, Hyperpolarized 13-Carbon MR Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI), to look more closely at the metabolic processes of breast cancer. This work is important to improve understanding of cancer development and progression.
While Dr. Strigel’s research may still be in its early stages, she and her collaborators hope to develop a metabolic profile of breast cancer that predicts cancer prognosis, response to treatment, and identifies targets for future research to improve the care of breast cancer patients.