Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded $140,400 to Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research under the Cancer Research Manpower program (CFDA 93.398) to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods that integrate genomic and histopathologic data to advance precision cancer medicine. This Project Grant, awarded July 17, 2026, and scheduled for completion by June 30, 2028, funds research focused on creating multimodal, interpretable AI models that combine digital pathology images with tumor genomics and biological knowledge. The research targets three cancer types—breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and muscle-invasive urothelial bladder cancer—with the goal of improving diagnostic accuracy and treatment selection.

The deliverables include development of self-supervised learning models to fuse pathology and genomic data for diagnosis and therapy response prediction, causal-inference analyses to estimate treatment effects by regimen, and extension into a treatment recommender system. During the independent research phase, the awardee will conduct federated multi-institution validation studies, testing on newly accrued cases, and human-factors assessments with pathologists and oncologists to evaluate model interpretability, calibration, and clinical decision impact. These research outputs are intended to advance cancer data science through optimized, interpretable AI architectures that integrate complementary tumor profiles with existing biological knowledge for actionable clinical insights.