Natalie J. Serkova, PhD
Specialty
Brain Tumor Imaging, Animal Models of Cancer, Animal and Translational Oncologic Imaging
Location
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Departments of Radiology, University of Colorado Cancer Center Animal Imaging Shared Resource (AISR)
Objective
To characterize tumor habitat (cellular and molecular phenotype, tumor aggressiveness, and micro-environment) in mouse models of pediatric and adult brain tumor models using state-of-the-art non-invasive imaging (MRI, CT, PET/CT, optical imaging)
Description
Brain tumors are the second most common malignancy in childhood. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred clinical modality for the management of pediatric brain tumors which have a diverse array of clinical manifestations, cellular and molecular phenotypes, and tumor habitats. There is an unmet need to develop human-faithful pediatric mouse models and fast high-resolution MRI to characterize biologically relevant structure-function relationships in vivo.
The student will be involved in a multi-team project (including Animal Imaging team, Pediatric Neurooncology Team, and Radiation Oncology team) to apply advancer MRI imaging protocols at a 9.4T MRI scanner to detect, characterize and differentiate three distinct brain tumor subtypes of orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models. Particularly, she/he will be involved in MRI analysis to characterize pediatric debilitating brain tumors such as high-grade gliomas, Medulloblastomas and ependymomas. The student will have an independent, well-defined summer fellowship project and learn to work in a collaborative multi-team environment. He/she will receive extended training in brain tumor biology, oncologic imaging, image analysis and how to present their results and prepare scientific reports.
More details can be found at Animal Imaging website: Animal Imaging/Precision Radiotherapy
Contact Info
Phone: (303) 724-1086