Deciphering how glioblastoma interacts with brain cells to drive growth and resistance
Official title: Project 1: Deciphering the Dynamic Evolution of the Tumor-Neural Interface
Funded at Massachusetts Institute of Technology · NIH-11420552 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A research team at MIT/DFCI is building a systems biology model of glioblastoma to map how tumor cells talk to brain cells and predict how the disease will progress and respond to therapy.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Cambridge, United States) |
| Project start | September 15, 2023 |
| Project end | August 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $475,727 |
| NIH project number | 5U54CA283114-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11420552 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Patients with glioblastoma or related brain tumors who could contribute tissue samples or benefit from future biomarker-guided therapies.
✕Less likely to help
Healthy individuals or glioblastoma patients who do not participate in biomarker studies or future trials may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
Researchers will combine high-tech measurements of tumor and brain tissue across molecular to whole-tissue scales to create computational models of glioblastoma in its environment. The project aims to identify key signaling and metabolic networks that control tumor growth and treatment resistance, and to find biomarkers that reflect tumor state and how well therapies might work. By studying how tumor cells form connections with neural cells, the team hopes to understand how these networks promote invasion and progression. The work will leverage existing preclinical resources to integrate computation with experiments in a translational GBM model.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: This work could lead to better predictive models and biomarkers to guide personalized therapies for glioblastoma.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have shown that tumor-neuronal interactions can influence glioblastoma invasion; the approach builds on established findings but advances toward integrated computational models.
Where this research is happening
-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Agar, Nathalie Yr — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Study coordinator: Agar, Nathalie Yr
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.