MultiCare Health System’s Post

As I sit down to pen this note, my heart swells with an overwhelming mix of emotions — pride, gratitude, and an indescribable sense of fulfillment. Today marks the 10th anniversary of my journey as the manager of Cancer Genetics at NYU Langone Pathology. Ten years ago, when I embarked on this journey, I never could have imagined the rollercoaster of emotions that awaited me. The struggles were real, the anxieties were palpable, and the hurdles seemed insurmountable at times. Building something from scratch, especially in the field of cancer genetics, where each discovery carries with it the potential to change lives, is no small feat. There were moments when self-doubt crept in, moments when the weight of responsibility felt overwhelming, and moments when I questioned if I was capable enough to make a difference. But amidst the struggles and anxieties, there was always a glimmer of hope. A hope fueled by the unwavering support of my loved ones, the dedication of my colleagues, and the belief that our work was bigger than ourselves. Today, as I complete this milestone, I am filled with gratitude — gratitude towards God for giving me the strength to persevere, gratitude towards my parents for instilling in me the values of resilience and determination, and gratitude towards my family for being my pillars of support through every high and low. Together, we have pushed boundaries, challenged norms, and made groundbreaking discoveries that have the potential to revolutionize the way we understand and treat cancer. But beyond the scientific accolades and professional achievements, what truly matters to me are the lives we've touched, the patients we've helped, and the hope we've instilled in those battling this formidable disease. As I celebrate this milestone, I remember the countless individuals who have accompanied me on this journey — the patients who have entrusted us with their care, the mentors who have guided us with their wisdom, and the colleagues who have stood by with unwavering support. Here's to the past ten years — a decade marked by perseverance, passion, and purpose. And here's to the future — filled with endless possibilities and the promise of making an even greater impact in the fight against cancer.

How cancer hijacks the nervous system to grow and spread. A new wave of research is unpicking the relationship between cancer and neurons — and looking for ways to stop the crosstalk. The article discusses the emerging field of cancer neuroscience, focusing on the intricate connections between cancer and the nervous system. Researchers have found that cancer, including brain tumors such as gliomas, actively communicates with neurons, influencing its growth and spread. The article also traces the historical understanding of nerves as passive conduits for cancer and highlights recent revelations, such as cancer-infiltrating nerves actively seeking connections. The complex interactions between different types of nerves and their impact on various cancers are explored.

🎗️ Pediatric Brain Tumor Diagnostics with Texture Analysis & AI 🎗️ 🔬 Pediatric brain tumors, particularly those in the posterior fossa—medulloblastomas, pilocytic astrocytomas, and ependymomas—pose unique diagnostic challenges. This study harnesses the power of Texture Analysis (TA) on T1- and T2-weighted MR images, coupled with Probabilistic Neural Networks (PNN), to enhance diagnostic precision. The results are striking: - T1-weighted images: 100% accuracy on training data and 90% on leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV). - T2-weighted images: 100% accuracy on training data and 93.3% on LOOCV. - Combining both T1 and T2 PCs yielded 100% training accuracy and 85.8% on LOOCV. Interestingly, the study’s most discriminative features derive from co-occurrence matrix-based texture measures, highlighting pixel intensity correlations—factors often overlooked in conventional clinical assessments. This novel insight could redefine pediatric tumor imaging, allowing for quantitative analysis beyond traditional radiological interpretation. By leveraging PCA for dimensionality reduction and advanced machine learning techniques, this research demonstrates the potential of non-invasive, AI-driven diagnostics to transform childhood brain tumor treatment. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dP3njtPe #PediatricCancer #AIinHealthcare #MachineLearning #TextureAnalysis #MRImaging #BrainTumors #CancerResearch #HealthcareInnovation #ArtificialIntelligence #DataScience #fightcancer Prinses Máxima Centrum voor kinderoncologie St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - ALSAC Children's Cancer Institute Children's Oncology Group Children's Cancer Center The Institute of Cancer Research National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cincinnati Children's Children's Brain Tumor Foundation American Cancer Society Indian Cancer Society CanKids KidsCan C3PC Research Foundation

🎗️ Childhood Cancer Awareness: Using Machine Learning for Rhabdomyosarcoma Diagnosis 🧬💻 Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that requires accurate diagnosis to ensure the right treatment plan. Unfortunately, many regions, especially in low to middle-income countries, face a shortage of highly-trained pediatric sarcoma pathologists, making early, expert diagnosis a challenge. To bridge this gap, researchers have developed a machine learning model using a convolutional neural network (CNN) that acts as a pre-pathologist screening tool. This system helps quantify the likelihood of specific sarcoma subtypes based on histopathology tissue slides. In a study, the CNN was trained on 424 reviewed tissue slides of various rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes, achieving AUC values above 0.889 in accuracy for all tested types. 💡 Key Insights: - This AI-based system can assist pathologists by narrowing the differential diagnosis of sarcoma subtypes in children and young adults. - The model's positive validation results show great promise, particularly in regions with limited pathology expertise. - By using machine learning, this technology can enhance early diagnosis and improve access to specialized cancer care worldwide. This breakthrough could help make critical, life-saving diagnoses available to children globally, bringing hope to families battling childhood cancer. 💛 Read more: https://lnkd.in/dDn3pNA6 #ChildhoodCancerAwareness #Rhabdomyosarcoma #AIinHealthcare #MachineLearning #CancerCareInnovation #PrecisionMedicine #SarcomaResearch #SaveTheChildren #AIforGood Prinses Máxima Centrum voor kinderoncologie St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Children's Cancer Institute Children's Oncology Group Children's Cancer Center The Institute of Cancer Research National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cincinnati Children's Children's Brain Tumor Foundation American Cancer Society Indian Cancer Society

🎧 Dr. Maria Castro Talks Women in STEM & Brain Cancer Research 🎧 Join Dr. Maria G. Castro Castro, principal investigator of the BioInnovations for Brain Cancer research initiative, on The Fundamentals podcast. In this episode, Dr. Castro shares her extensive work on immunotherapies for brain cancer and discusses her experiences as a researcher and woman in STEM. Listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/gtY2ap6G Michigan Medicine #BrainCancerResearch #WomenInSTEM #UMich #BiomedicalInnovation #DiversityInScience

At lucky No. 7 of our top 10 posts of 2023, our spotlight on Abigail Fielder, a doctoral student in the Cancer Biology Graduate Program studying the role of genetic ancestry, the genes an individual receives from the generations before them, and how it might change the biology of a breast cancer subtype that disproportionally affects African American women. #top10

Completed my Last project "Breast cancer detection prediction" using ML in my internship at InternPe Early detection of breast cancer significantly increases the chances of successful treatment and survival. This project focuses on leveraging machine learning techniques to predict the likelihood of breast cancer based on medical data. In this project, I developed a machine learning model that predicts whether a patient has breast cancer based on diagnostic features. The dataset used includes various attributes obtained from clinical measurements and imaging tests, such as tumor size, texture, and shape. By training the model on this data, it can accurately classify whether a tumor is benign or malignant. The final model demonstrated high accuracy in predicting breast cancer, with a significant improvement over traditional methods. The project highlights the potential of machine learning in enhancing diagnostic processes and supporting healthcare professionals in making informed decisions.

We’re excited to announce Flicker of Hope’s $500,000 partnership with The Brain Cancer Centre. Flicker Of Hope Foundation have been a significant supporter of our research superstar Dr Jim Whittle & his WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) team’s research focused on Neurofibromatosis. This project is incredibly special as it recognises the connection of Elizabeth Petropoulos and her battle with this disease. It will be known as “Elizabeth’s Legacy - Deciphering the Molecular Mosaic of NF2” and will be a flagship program of The Brain Cancer Centre, connecting the current resources of our other funded programs to grow our understanding of this devastating disease. NF is a genetic disorder that causes tumours, blindness and learning difficulties. With limited treatments and no cure, more research is crucial to bring hope to families impacted by NF. We’re so excited to welcome this new collaboration to The Brain Cancer Centre family. We know that collaboration is key to making progress quicker & building a brighter future for brain tumour and NF patients and their families. This significant contribution enables us to bring the best and brightest minds together, with a laser focus on solving the puzzle created by brain and other tumours. We can’t wait to see what exciting progress this collaboration will make to patients & their families. Many minds. One focus #thebraincancercentre #flickerofhopefoundation #Neurofibromatosis #manymindsonefocus

In this notebook, we present the project of training a naive Bayesian classifier to predict patients potentially affected by breast cancer using scikit-learn. https://lnkd.in/gTrfdY9C

New cancer neuroscience research on the bridge between neurons and nerves & tumor growth. Fascinating! We’re looking forward to figuring out how antibodies can help untangle some of these questions.