Monitoring Breast Cancer: Bringing Single-cell and Liquid Biopsy Analysis to the Cloud

Breast tumor genetics can change during disease progression, leading to distinct tumor cell populations that often contribute to therapeutic resistance. We propose to perform state-of-the-art, single-cell genomic sequencing on breast cancer biopsies and circulating tumor DNA (also known as liquid biopsies) to evaluate genetic changes during the course of a patient's therapy.

We will develop novel methods to integrate these data to monitor dynamic shifts in tumor composition. We also propose to create a harmonized database to store, access, and share abstracted clinical data. We will implement these solutions in the Azure cloud environment to support the cross-institutional study of tumor evolution and clinical outcomes in breast cancer. Our developments will facilitate future cross-institutional collaborations and likely produce significant opportunities for clinical translation, including biomarker discovery for improved disease surveillance.