Experts on the research, clinical use, governance and ethical use of artificial intelligence gathered for the recent Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center 26^th Annual Scientific Symposium. 

In a twist from years past, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows took the helm in selecting the topics and inviting speakers focused on “Artificial Intelligence in Cancer Research and Clinical Care.”

The keynote speakers were Eytan Ruppin, MD, PhD, chief of the Cancer Data Science Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, and Gelareh Zadeh, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurologic Surgery at Mayo Clinic.  

Ruppin detailed how he is developing computational approaches for advancing precision oncology, and Zadeh explained how she is using integrated multi-platform molecular analysis of brain tumors to predict patients’ responses to targeted therapies. Ruppin participated in panel discussions about artificial intelligence. 

“I am enriched talking to you guys,” Ruppin said. “I develop AI materials, but I am not using them to treat patients. I am learning a lot.” 

Douglas Flora, MD, executive medical director of Oncology Services at the Yung Family Cancer Center at St. Elizabeth in Edgewood, Kentucky, and the editor-in-chief of AI in Precision Oncology, replied, “All of us are cross pollinating. That’s why I love a symposium like this.” 

In opening the first panel discussion that focused on ethics, Ellen Wright Clayton, MD, JD, the Craig-Weaver Professor of Pediatrics, professor of Law and professor of Health Policy at Vanderbilt, framed artificial intelligence from an historical perspective, noting that “decision support is not new to medicine.” She gave specific examples of how clinicians can use artificial intelligence for decision support but stressed that they should not rely solely on it for treatment plans. 

“It is not OK simply to get the AI output and just do what it says,” Clayton said. “Maybe it is OK, but it is always required to see if that’s the right advice. Always.” 

In another twist from years past, the Mission Moment, which is a personal testament from a patient, was presented by a pediatric cancer survivor for the first time. Easton Reeder, 13, who has undergone surgery and chemotherapy for pilocytic astrocytoma — a type of brain tumor — shared about his experiences living with cancer. He told his story vividly with flashes of humor, describing how being tossed in the air like a rodeo clown by a Great Dane led to his diagnosis.

Clinicians initially concluded that he had a concussion because of persistent headaches that followed, but his mother, who is a nurse, insisted on a brain scan. Reeder, a committed athlete, who continued playing sports even while undergoing chemotherapy, was given a jersey signed by Vanderbilt baseball players.

“I learned that tomorrow isn’t a promise, and I have to make the best of every moment I have,” Reeder said. “I also learned that there is no ‘normal button.’ I have been trying to learn that power since forever, until I realized that power is not to be . . . God has proven to me that anything is possible through him.” 

In his welcoming remarks, Vanderbilt-Ingram director Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, emphasized the importance of training new generations of cancer researchers and clinicians. 

“This is an opportunity for us to celebrate all the cancer research going on at Vanderbilt-Ingram,” Park said. “For all of you who don’t know, we really run the spectrum of everything research: clinical, population science, laboratory science and everything in between. This is our time of the year when we get to showcase and highlight not only the great science that our external panelists and presenters are going to bring — but you will be duly impressed, as I always am, by what our trainees bring to the table. The future really is bright, and we have to keep sustaining our future by encouraging and mentoring the next generation, which will ultimately lead to more cures.” 

Two tied in voting for the Graduate Student of the Year. Candace Grisham, MS, received the honor for her research into brain tumors, including a study she authored that was published in Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery. Xiaopeng Sun, PhD, is the other co-awardee for his research into biomarkers to predict immunotherapy outcomes in patients, and his prolific contributions to that field of study, including 12 studies published in scientific journals. 

Guochong “Damon” Jia, PhD, MPH, is the Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year. He was selected for his high-impact research that has advanced the understanding of cancer genetics and epidemiology, including the largest genetic study ever conducted on breast cancer in African ancestry populations, which was published in Nature Genetics. 

The poster exhibition was one of the largest ever for the annual event. Sarah Reed took home the overall winner award for her entry “Identifying Genotype-Specific Effects of CHIP on Solid Tumors Using Chimeric Mouse Modeling and Clinical Data.” 

In the Translational Science Category, Julia Steele won first place; Alexander Kwiatkowski, PhD, won second place; Heather Beasley, PhD, won third place; and honorable mention went to Jacey Marshall. 

Robust participation in the Basic Science Category resulted in duplicate prizes due to the number of entries. Rachel Sinard and Lincoln Brown won first place prizes. Emily Green and Logan Vlach received second place awards, andAnna Gilbert and Alyssa Jarabek received third place awards. Honorable mentions went to Sydney Bates, Nicholas Eleuteri, Sarah Glass, PhD, Gabriela Gonzalez Vasquez, Maxwell Hamilton, Yash Pershad, Jared Rhodes and Brenda Rios. 

In the Population Science Category, Michael Betti received first place; Duc Huy Le, MD, MBA, received second place; and there was a tie for third place with Melissa Goldin and Jiajun Shi, PhD, both receiving awards. Honorable mention went to Grace Xu. 

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Researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center are set to play a pivotal role at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2025, co-organizing a methods workshop that highlights the integration of computational pathology, artificial intelligence (AI) and spatial multiomics to advance cancer research and precision oncology. 

The workshop, “Integrating Computational Pathology, AI, and Spatial Multi-Omics in 2D and 3D,” will take place April 26 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.It will be co-chaired by Tae Hyun Hwang, PhD (VUMC), Linghua Wang, MD, PhD (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), and Mingyao Li, PhD (University of Pennsylvania). This session will provide a deep dive into how AI-driven 3D spatial molecular and multimodal approaches are transforming the landscape of oncology research and clinical applications. 

Hwang, a national leader in AI-driven oncology research and director of AI Research in the Section of Surgical Sciences at VUMC, is the founding director of VUMC’s Molecular AI Initiative. He will present a talk titled “AI-Driven 3D Spatial Mapping of the Tumor Immune Microenvironment for Precision Oncology,” based on novel technologies his lab is utilizing and developing, integrating advanced holotomography with AI-driven spatial sorting and molecular profiling techniques. 

Hwang co-leads the National Cancer Institute Pre-Gastric Cancer Human Tumor Atlas Network and serves as an executive committee member of the Center for Computational Systems Biology at Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on leveraging AI and machine learning coupled with innovative experimental approaches to analyze 3D and 4D tumor ecosystems at single-cell and subcellular resolutions, integrating spatial molecular data to reveal key mechanisms of cancer progression, immune interactions and therapeutic response. This cutting-edge approach aims to enhance early detection, refine treatment strategies, advance therapeutic development and propel next-generation precision medicine. 

As part of Vanderbilt’s Molecular AI Initiative, Hwang and his team are pioneering holotomography-based 3D reconstructions of tumor tissue samples, integrating AI-driven spatial molecular profiling for advanced characterization of cancer biology. This work is at the forefront of predicting disease progression and therapeutic response, ultimately informing the future of cancer treatment. 

Through this workshop, VUMC continues to assert itself as a global leader in AI-driven precision oncology, fostering collaborations with leading cancer research institutions and pushing the boundaries of AI-powered cancer diagnostics and therapeutic innovations.  For more information, please visit the AACR Annual Meeting Website or contact Hwang at taehyun.hwang@vumc.org. 

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An ambitious project led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators aims to use artificial intelligence technologies to generate antibody therapies against any antigen target of interest. 

VUMC has been awarded up to $30 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to build a massive antibody-antigen atlas, develop AI-based algorithms to engineer antigen-specific antibodies, and apply the AI technology to identify and develop potential therapeutic antibodies. 

ARPA-H is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that supports transformative high-risk, high-reward research to drive biomedical and health breakthroughs to benefit everyone. 

“Over the last few decades, monoclonal antibodies have started playing an important therapeutic role in a wide range of disease settings, but we’re just scratching the surface. Monoclonal antibody discovery has the potential to impact a lot of different diseases where currently there are no therapeutics,” said Ivelin Georgiev, PhD, professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Computational Microbiology and Immunology, and the project principal investigator. 

Traditional methods for antibody discovery are limited by inefficiency, high costs and fail rates, logistical hurdles, long turnaround times and limited scalability, Georgiev said. 

“What we’re proposing to do is going to address all of these big bottlenecks with the traditional antibody discovery process and make it a more democratized process — where you can figure out what your antigen target is and have a good chance of generating a monoclonal antibody therapeutic against that target in a very effective and efficient way,” said Georgiev, who is also professor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. 

Antibodies are part of our immune system. They are proteins produced by white blood cells (B cells) that bind to and inactivate antigens — targets on viruses, bacteria and even our own cells. Antibodies are effective as preventive and therapeutic treatments against viruses, cancers, autoimmune disorders and other diseases. 

To identify a candidate therapeutic antibody, researchers generally screen and test thousands of antibodies against an antigen target, looking for the “needle in the haystack” that binds to and neutralizes the target. The traditional discovery process requires specific types of biological samples. For example, to find antibodies against an infectious disease pathogen, blood samples from people or animal models exposed to the pathogen are required. And then, if the pathogen mutates, a therapeutic antibody may become ineffective. 

“With a computational approach, you’re no longer dependent on access to biological samples or multiple screening cycles,” Georgiev said. “You can simulate variants and generate antibodies ahead of time before the variants arise.” 

Georgiev and his colleagues are engaged in three tasks as they work toward developing computational approaches for antibody discovery: 

1. Generation of an antibody-antigen atlas of unprecedented size and variety 

2. Development of AI-based algorithms for extracting information from the antibody-antigen atlas and engineering antigen-specific antibodies 

3. Proof-of-concept studies to apply the AI technology to identify antibody candidates against antigen targets of biomedical interest 

For the first task, the researchers are using a technology they developed called LIBRA seq (Linking B-cell Receptor to Antigen specificity through sequencing) that enables high-throughput mapping of antibody-antigen interactions for many antigens and B cells at the same time. 

“For computational methods to work, we need to have a lot of data,” Georgiev said. “The scale of data that’s available for antibodies and antigens is lower than in other fields, which has been one of the limiting factors when it comes to developing AI approaches. 

“If we train algorithms on the data that exists currently — much of it is for SARS-CoV-2, flu and HIV — the algorithms may be accurate for these targets, but they are less likely to be successful in extrapolating to a new target. We need to train them with a more diverse set of antigen targets, which is where LIBRA-seq comes into play.” 

The investigators aim for the atlas to include hundreds of thousands — and potentially over 1 million — antibody-antigen pairs, compared to approximately 15,000 pairs currently available from published data, providing an unparalleled resource for researchers worldwide. 

The team is already moving forward on the second task of building computational models, which they will improve as they populate the antibody-antigen atlas. For the third task, they will apply the AI technology to develop antibodies against cancer antigens and bacterial, viral and autoimmune targets. They will select one candidate antibody for preclinical development up to and including IND (investigational new drug) application. 

“Our project will be providing a platform that can be used for a variety of different diseases, not just the specific targets we’re interested in,” Georgiev said. “Our team has spent many years trying to discover antibodies against a variety of indications, and it’s such an inefficient process with a lot of failure. If we can help change that, that’s going to be huge — not just for us, but for the entire field and for people with diseases where antibody therapies can make a difference. 

“It’s going to be hard. It’s not an easy problem, but I think we have a good foundation for it, and we’ll do the best we can to make it work.” 

Collaborators on the project are: Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, Sarah Croessmann, PhD, Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, Maria Hadjifrangiskou, PhD, and Jeremy Goettel, PhD, at VUMC; Tedd Ross, PhD, and Giuseppe Sautto, PhD, at Cleveland Clinic; and Maria del Pilar Quintana Varon, PhD, and Lars Hviid, PhD, at the University of Copenhagen. The Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation, a catalyst for advancing translational research to market, has engaged with and supported the Georgiev team. 

Vanderbilt University and VUMC shared resources that are critical to the project are: VANTAGE (Vanderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics), ACCRE (Advanced Computing Center for Research and Education), and FCSR (Flow Cytometry Shared Resource). Wheeler Bio will participate in IND-enabling studies, cell line development and manufacturing activities.

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