Understanding how cancer cells pass on drug resistance traits
Official title: Profiling and perturbing the inheritance of drug-induced metabolic states in cancer with Inheritance-Seq
Funded at Broad Institute, INC. · NIH-11061843 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This study is looking at how cancer cells pass on their ability to resist treatments, and it's for anyone interested in understanding how we might make cancer therapies work better by targeting these resistant traits.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Broad Institute, INC. NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Cambridge, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2024 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $206,955 |
| NIH project number | 5R61CA278536-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11061843 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates for this research are patients with various types of cancer who are experiencing treatment resistance.
✕Less likely to help
Patients whose cancer is not resistant to current therapies may not benefit from this research.
What this research studies
This research investigates how cancer cells inherit traits that make them resistant to drug treatments. By using a novel method called Inheritance-Seq, the team will track and analyze how these resistant traits are passed down to daughter cells. This approach combines advanced genetic techniques with imaging to provide insights into the mechanisms behind drug resistance. The goal is to identify ways to disrupt these inherited traits, potentially leading to more effective cancer therapies.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could lead to improved cancer treatments by overcoming drug resistance in cancer cells.
How similar studies have gone: Other research has shown promise in using genetic lineage tracing to understand drug resistance, making this approach both innovative and grounded in prior success.
Where this research is happening
-
Broad Institute, INC.
Cambridge, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Blainey, Paul Clark — Broad Institute, INC.
- Study coordinator: Blainey, Paul Clark
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.