The incidence of many chronic diseases, including cancer, is rising worldwide. Solid tumors that used to mostly affect older adults are now increasingly seen in younger people, suggesting that environmental factors may play a role. Rates of early-onset cancers, like colorectal and pancreatic cancers, are rising each year at an alarming rate.

Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments found everywhere – in animals, plants, food and water. Recent evidence shows that these microplastics can build up in the human body and are linked to inflammatory and degenerative diseases.

This project will investigate the role of microplastics in cancer development and progression. Researchers will characterize microplastic contamination in the environment and our diet, improve ways to detect microplastics in animal tissues, and determine how they affect organs and tumor growth. By analyzing microplastics in human normal tissues and early cancer conditions, researchers will explore how microplastics might cause cancer. They will also study if microplastics can affect how well cancer treatments work.

This study represents the first comprehensive approach to address microplastic pollution as a potential contributor to rising cancer rates, with an emphasis on early-onset cancers. The goal is to leverage a multidisciplinary approach to develop new tools to detect microplastics, to identify biomarkers of plastic exposure to help assess cancer risk, and to inform public health strategies to reduce exposure to microplastics in food and water, helping to prevent cancer.

Project Team Members

About half of all of cancer patients, including those with thoracic (lung and chest) cancers, receive radiation therapy (RT) as part of their treatment. However, many patients don’t respond to RT due to radioresistance – either intrinsic resistance to RT or acquired resistance after initially responding to treatment, leading to recurrence of the cancer. This underscores the urgent need to understand why radioresistance occurs and to identify new treatments for it.

Metal ions are essential for many normal cell functions, but abnormal levels of some metals can cause oxidative stress and cell death. When metal levels in cells are not properly regulated, it can lead to therapy resistance, including RT.

This project aims to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of metal chemistry and biology in order to develop strategies to combat radioresistance in thoracic cancers. The multidisciplinary research team, led by experts in cancer biology, radiation oncology and chemical biology, will use advanced tools and resources from their institutions to bridge the gap between basic research in metal chemistry and the clinical applications of metal-based therapies to target radioresistance. The goal is to advance the understanding of metal chemistry and biology, paving the way for new metal-based therapies to overcome radioresistance in cancer treatment.

Project Team Members

Protein-based drugs are the fastest growing pharmaceutical sector and have helped many millions of patients. These therapeutics include antibodies help the immune system attack tumor cells and enzymes and starve tumors of essential nutrients. While these treatments have helped many patients with breast cancer, certain types of breast cancer, including inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), are still very difficult to treat. In addition, the 5-year-survival rate for patients with breast cancer that has metastasized is just 30%, and IBC patients often present with metastases at diagnosis. These two types account for almost half of all breast cancer deaths because they don't respond well to standard treatments and often develop treatment resistance.

To address this clinical need, breast cancer experts from MD Anderson have teamed up with experts in discovery and development of protein therapeutics from UT Austin. Together, they will leverage the clinical knowledge and patient samples available at MD Anderson to identify new potential targets for treatment. This will allow UT Austin experts to develop initial antibody and enzyme-based therapeutics for evaluation at MD Anderson. Those with promise will be further improved using cutting edge machine learning approaches.

This collaboration will directly impact development of new therapies intended to improve outcomes for patients with aggressive breast cancers and will lay the foundation for a future joint Center of Excellence.

Project Team Members

Using established “surgineering” principles, this research project will develop personalized surgical implants to treat patients with spinal, sacral and pelvic tumors. The devices will be designed using advanced engineering and implanted using image-guided robotic assistance. The project will leverage engineering and surgical expertise from UT Austin and MD Anderson to create an integrated system that has the potential to be used in a variety of clinical settings.

The project has four main pillars:

• Use computational modeling and automatic surgical planning for spine and pelvic tumor surgery
• Develop mechanobiology-informed, patient-specific biomaterials and implants for optimal biomechanical integrity and biological integration
• Develop surgical robotics and image guidance for placement of surgical implants in the complex context of spine and pelvic tumor surgery
• Integration and testing of a system for image-guided, robot-assisted placement of implants in preclinical studies to evidence performance gains and establish a basis for translation to clinical studies

This project will form the foundation for future collaboration and translational research and innovation in engineering and surgery between the institutions in The University of Texas at Austin Medical Center.

Project Team Members

For many cancer patients, doctors use genetic tests to match them with targeted treatments. But what happens when those tests don’t reveal any options? This is a major challenge, especially for people with rare cancers. This research project is working to change that by looking beyond genetics and into something just as important—proteins.

Proteins play a crucial role in how cancer develops and responds to treatment. By analyzing unique protein patterns within a patient’s tumor, this research team aims to identify new treatment opportunities—even in cases where no genetic markers are present. Leveraging cutting-edge data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), and vast medical databases, the team is developing a comprehensive tumor profiling approach that prioritizes proteins while integrating genetic and clinical data to advance precision oncology. This approach serves as a protein-informed digital learning companion, empowering clinicians with deeper insights into treatment options that were previously inaccessible. Importantly, existing protein test results, while preferable, are not required, as the system will learn from others and augment available genetic and clinical data with inferred protein insights, broadening access to personalized cancer care.

This research project is pioneering a shift from genomic- to proteomic-cancer targetable treatments, expanding the reach of precision medicine to provide treatment options for even the most complex cases. A key component of this work is the development of a human-mediated, AI-generated corpus of hypothesized drug-protein target relationships and testing designs, serving as a foundational resource for AI-enabled cancer clinical care. By doing so, this corpus will establish guidelines and protocols for AI-assisted precision oncology. Through this approach, the project lays the groundwork for scalable, evidence-based AI applications in cancer treatment selection and response prediction.

Project Team Members