Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death, with most mortality driven by metastasis – typically to the liver or lungs, but rarely to the brain. While organ-specific spread of cancer, or organotropism, has been recognized since the 19th century, the cellular and microenvironmental factors that govern it remain poorly understood.

Dr. Maryam Pourmaleki hypothesizes that primary tumors harbor molecular or cellular features predictive of future metastasis, which may currently go undetected using standard diagnostic methods. In this project, she will develop a tool to model metastasis through space and time and use it to identify interacting tumor-immune cells that predict organotropism. Dr. Pourmaleki will also validate these tumor-immune interactions using a second tool and 3D tumor data from patients with CRC, together with lab experimentation. “This project will identify improved approaches for early detection and treatment of organ-specific CRC metastasis,” she explains.

Dr. Pourmaleki’s path into cancer research was shaped by personal experience. “My aspirations to improve cancer outcomes began during childhood, stemming from personal experience with cancer in my family. This ignited my passion in medicine,” she says. Her doctoral work in computational biology and medicine focused on relating cancer spatial topology to clinical features. She used machine learning to study how the spatial organization of tumors relates to clinical outcomes, identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets across melanoma, lymphoma, glioblastoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. Now a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Pourmaleki is focused on understanding how tumors acquire the ability to metastasize, aiming to create new tools where current methods fall short.

Sponsor

Christina Curtis, PhD, and Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD

Research Focus

Colorectal cancer, metastasis, organotropism

Projects and Grants

Spatio-temporal quantification of tumor-immune interactions in colorectal cancer as a determinant of organotropism