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After 12 years at the University of Washington, Kristin Rae Swanson, PhD, has been named professor and vice chair of research for neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

As part of a recruitment effort to expand the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute (NBTI), Kristin Rae Swanson, PhD, has been named professor and vice chair of research for the Department of Neurological Surgery effective October 22, 2012.

Swanson comes to Feinberg from the University of Washington, where she served as the James D. Murray Endowed Chair of Applied Mathematics in Neuropathology as part of the Nancy and Buster Alvord Brain Tumor Center. During her 12-year career there, she led a well-funded research effort pioneering the field of mathematical neuro-oncology as a novel means to generate personalized medicine approaches for primary brain tumors. Swanson has a talent for developing collaborative networks comprised of strong multidisciplinary researchers, scientists, clinicians, and trainees, which will strengthen the Brain Tumor Institute’s research endeavors.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute at such an exciting time of growth and opportunity,” Swanson said. “The institutional and community investment in growing the NBTI is astounding and I am delighted to be part of this exceptional group. I know my lab will contribute to this growth through the integration of our science into the clinical and research fabric of the Northwestern community.”

As vice chair for research, Swanson’s mentoring skills will be invaluable. In 2010, she was honored with the University of Washington Research Mentor of the Year Award. Swanson is also a member of multiple national organizations, including the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and the Society for Nuclear Medicine.

“Dr. Swanson has distinguished herself as a leading authority in the area of mathematical models of gliomas and her research efforts will be a tremendous asset to the Northwestern scientific community,” said James Chandler, MD, surgical director of the NBTI.

See the announcement here

New manuscript published in Cancer Research E-pub ahead of print

Cancer Research 2011 Sep 7.

Quantifying the role of angiogenesis in malignant progression of gliomas:

In silico modeling integrates imaging and histology.

Swanson KR, Rockne RC, Claridge J, Chaplain MA, Alvord EC Jr, Anderson AR.

Although commonly attributed to molecular-genetic factors such as the accumulation of genetic mutation, this study combines mathematical modeling with experimental and clinical data for human gliomas to suggest that changes in cell kinetics are not necessary to generate the imaging and histological features of malignant progression seen in vivo. Model predictions are validated against imaging and histological data for 3 GBM patients.

Untreated Virtual Imaging Control (UVIC)

funded by the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov).

The UVIC grant proposal integrates mathematical modeling of tumor proliferation and invasion with advanced cancer imaging methods. The goals of our project are twofold:

1) To impact current clinical challenges with treatment of gliomas

2) provide tools for the development of new therapies for these challenging cancers.

Our first goal is to develop image-based response metrics based on the growth kinetics of each patient’s tumor, as seen on both anatomical imaging (MR) and functional imaging (PET and advanced MR). We will use mathematical modeling to develop a patient-specific UVIC that quantifies the dynamics of each patient’s tumor system. We will then test the UVIC model against a  novel set of paired PET and MR images at multiple time-points (five on average) for each of 20 glioblastoma patients.

The overall goal of this project is to extend the UVIC model to the early response assessment of individual patients in clinical trials. This will provide a tool for the development of much-needed therapies that are more effective for gliomas.

The core investigators include

Kristin Swanson – University of Washington

Paul Kinahan – Image Research Lab (IRL) University of Washington

Dr. Swanson was recently named the James D. Murray Endowed Chair of Applied Mathematics in Neuropathology (effective January 2011) in recognition of her continued and pioneering work in patient-specific mathematical neuro-oncology.

This endowed chair is part of the Alvord Brain Tumor Center. The center’s mission is to fuel collaborative basic, translational and clinical research into brain tumors and neurologic complications of cancer. Our shared goal is to advance knowledge of brain tumor biology and to use this new knowledge to improve the care of patients with brain tumors.