Research Summary

I am an imaging scientist and breast cancer researcher with broad experience in the area of biomedical research. Work in my laboratory focuses on the development of MRI techniques for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment response assessment. My laboratory works closely with a multi-disciplinary team of radiologists, surgeons, oncologists, basic science researchers and advocates to optimize MRI methods for the clinical management of breast cancer patients. The overall goal of our interdisciplinary research program is to develop imaging-based biomarkers that can be used in combination with clinical and molecular information to individualize treatment strategies.

I lead as Principal Investigator, the multi-center ACRIN trials 6657 and 6698, evaluating dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI respectively, for assessing treatment response as part of the ISPY-1 and ISPY-2 neoadjuvant breast cancer trials. Under an NCI Academic-Industrial Partnership (AIP) grant with commercial partner Hologic, Inc., (R01 CA132870), my laboratory developed and deployed a software platform for real-time measurement of breast tumor response using DCE-MRI, for use in clinical trials. The Hologic software received FDA IDE approval in 2010 and is now incorporated in the response-adaptive patient randomization engine of ISPY-2. Under prior funding from the NCI Quantitative Imaging Network (QIN) (U01 CA151235), my laboratory led efforts to improve the integration of quantitative imaging (QI) in breast cancer clinical trials through the development of standards and quality control processes and improved diffusion-weighted MRI approaches for tumor response measurement.

As an applied scientist involved in the early development of breast MRI, I believe I bring a unique perspective and appreciation of the factors that drive and shape the development of new breast imaging technologies. I have served on and chaired numerous grant review panels in both the areas of medical imaging and breast cancer research.

I am an active educator and faculty member at UCSF and in the UCSF/UC Berkeley Bioengineering Graduate Program and I teach formally in the UCSF Master’s in Biomedical Imaging degree program. I have been involved in the training and research supervision of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty for over 20 years.

Research Funding

  • April 25, 2008 - June 30, 2021 - Real-time In Vivo MRI Biomarkers for Breast Cancer Pre-Operative Treatment Trials , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA132870
  • September 26, 2011 - August 31, 2016 - Quantitative Imaging for Assessing Breast Cancer Response to Treatment , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01CA151235
  • August 23, 2006 - July 31, 2013 - MRI For Staging DCIS and Assessing Response to Treatment , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA116182
  • June 1, 1993 - May 31, 2013 - NMR Imaging and Spectroscopy , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P41RR008079

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), B.S., 1979, Chemical Engineering
Stanford University, Ph.D., 1985, Applied Physics

Honors & Awards

  • 2010
    Komen Scholar, Komen for the Cure
  • 2013
    Distinguished Lectureship Award, Sigma Xi
  • 2013
    Distinguished Investigator Award, Academy of Radiology Research
  • 2017
    Fellow, International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Selected Publications

  1. Chitalia R, Miliotis M, Jahani N, Tastsoglou S, McDonald ES, Belenky V, Cohen EA, Newitt D, Van't Veer LJ, Esserman L, Hylton N, DeMichele A, Hatzigeorgiou A, Kontos D. Radiomic tumor phenotypes augment molecular profiling in predicting recurrence free survival after breast neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Mar 30; 3(1):46.  View on PubMed
  2. Chung M, Calabrese E, Mongan J, Ray KM, Hayward JH, Kelil T, Sieberg R, Hylton N, Joe BN, Lee AY. Deep Learning to Simulate Contrast-enhanced Breast MRI of Invasive Breast Cancer. Radiology. 2023 Mar; 306(3):e239004.  View on PubMed
  3. Lang JE, Forero-Torres A, Yee D, Yau C, Wolf D, Park J, Parker BA, Chien AJ, Wallace AM, Murthy R, Albain KS, Ellis ED, Beckwith H, Haley BB, Elias AD, Boughey JC, Yung RL, Isaacs C, Clark AS, Han HS, Nanda R, Khan QJ, Edmiston KK, Stringer-Reasor E, Price E, Joe B, Liu MC, Brown-Swigart L, Petricoin EF, Wulfkuhle JD, Buxton M, Clennell JL, Sanil A, Berry S, Asare SM, Wilson A, Hirst GL, Singhrao R, Asare AL, Matthews JB, Melisko M, Perlmutter J, Rugo HS, Symmans WF, van 't Veer LJ, Hylton NM, DeMichele AM, Berry DA, Esserman LJ. Safety and efficacy of HSP90 inhibitor ganetespib for neoadjuvant treatment of stage II/III breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2022 Dec 01; 8(1):128.  View on PubMed
  4. Chung M, Calabrese E, Mongan J, Ray KM, Hayward JH, Kelil T, Sieberg R, Hylton N, Joe BN, Lee AY. Deep Learning to Simulate Contrast-enhanced Breast MRI of Invasive Breast Cancer. Radiology. 2023 03; 306(3):e213199.  View on PubMed
  5. Li W, Le NN, Onishi N, Newitt DC, Wilmes LJ, Gibbs JE, Carmona-Bozo J, Liang J, Partridge SC, Price ER, Joe BN, Kornak J, Magbanua MJM, Nanda R, LeStage B, Esserman LJ, Van't Veer LJ, Hylton NM. Diffusion-Weighted MRI for Predicting Pathologic Complete Response in Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Sep 13; 14(18).  View on PubMed
  6. Chitalia R, Pati S, Bhalerao M, Thakur SP, Jahani N, Belenky V, McDonald ES, Gibbs J, Newitt DC, Hylton NM, Kontos D, Bakas S. Expert tumor annotations and radiomics for locally advanced breast cancer in DCE-MRI for ACRIN 6657/I-SPY1. Sci Data. 2022 07 23; 9(1):440.  View on PubMed
  7. Wolf DM, Yau C, Wulfkuhle J, Brown-Swigart L, Gallagher RI, Lee PRE, Zhu Z, Magbanua MJ, Sayaman R, O'Grady N, Basu A, Delson A, Coppé JP, Lu R, Braun J, I-SPY2 Investigators, Asare SM, Sit L, Matthews JB, Perlmutter J, Hylton N, Liu MC, Pohlmann P, Symmans WF, Rugo HS, Isaacs C, DeMichele AM, Yee D, Berry DA, Pusztai L, Petricoin EF, Hirst GL, Esserman LJ, van 't Veer LJ. Redefining breast cancer subtypes to guide treatment prioritization and maximize response: Predictive biomarkers across 10 cancer therapies. Cancer Cell. 2022 06 13; 40(6):609-623.e6.  View on PubMed
  8. Le NN, Li W, Onishi N, Newitt DC, Gibbs JE, Wilmes LJ, Kornak J, Partridge SC, LeStage B, Price ER, Joe BN, Esserman LJ, Hylton NM. Effect of Inter-Reader Variability on Diffusion-Weighted MRI Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Measurements and Prediction of Pathologic Complete Response for Breast Cancer. Tomography. 2022 04 22; 8(3):1208-1220.  View on PubMed
  9. Thakran S, Cohen E, Jahani N, Weinstein SP, Pantalone L, Hylton N, Newitt D, DeMichele A, Davatzikos C, Kontos D. Impact of deformable registration methods for prediction of recurrence free survival response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: Results from the ISPY 1/ACRIN 6657 trial. Transl Oncol. 2022 Jun; 20:101411.  View on PubMed
  10. Nguyen AA, Onishi N, Carmona-Bozo J, Li W, Kornak J, Newitt DC, Hylton NM. Post-Processing Bias Field Inhomogeneity Correction for Assessing Background Parenchymal Enhancement on Breast MRI as a Quantitative Marker of Treatment Response. Tomography. 2022 03 22; 8(2):891-904.  View on PubMed
  11. Partridge SC, Steingrimsson J, Newitt DC, Gibbs JE, Marques HS, Bolan PJ, Boss MA, Chenevert TL, Rosen MA, Hylton NM. Impact of Alternate b-Value Combinations and Metrics on the Predictive Performance and Repeatability of Diffusion-Weighted MRI in Breast Cancer Treatment: Results from the ECOG-ACRIN A6698 Trial. Tomography. 2022 03 04; 8(2):701-717.  View on PubMed
  12. Clark AS, Yau C, Wolf DM, Petricoin EF, van 't Veer LJ, Yee D, Moulder SL, Wallace AM, Chien AJ, Isaacs C, Boughey JC, Albain KS, Kemmer K, Haley BB, Han HS, Forero-Torres A, Elias A, Lang JE, Ellis ED, Yung R, Tripathy D, Nanda R, Wulfkuhle JD, Brown-Swigart L, Gallagher RI, Helsten T, Roesch E, Ewing CA, Alvarado M, Crane EP, Buxton M, Clennell JL, Paoloni M, Asare SM, Wilson A, Hirst GL, Singhrao R, Steeg K, Asare A, Matthews JB, Berry S, Sanil A, Melisko M, Perlmutter J, Rugo HS, Schwab RB, Symmans WF, Hylton NM, Berry DA, Esserman LJ, DeMichele AM. Neoadjuvant T-DM1/pertuzumab and paclitaxel/trastuzumab/pertuzumab for HER2+ breast cancer in the adaptively randomized I-SPY2 trial. Nat Commun. 2021 11 05; 12(1):6428.  View on PubMed
  13. Symmans WF, Yau C, Chen YY, Balassanian R, Klein ME, Pusztai L, Nanda R, Parker BA, Datnow B, Krings G, Wei S, Feldman MD, Duan X, Chen B, Sattar H, Khazai L, Zeck JC, Sams S, Mhawech-Fauceglia P, Rendi M, Sahoo S, Ocal IT, Fan F, LeBeau LG, Vinh T, Troxell ML, Chien AJ, Wallace AM, Forero-Torres A, Ellis E, Albain KS, Murthy RK, Boughey JC, Liu MC, Haley BB, Elias AD, Clark AS, Kemmer K, Isaacs C, Lang JE, Han HS, Edmiston K, Viscusi RK, Northfelt DW, Khan QJ, Leyland-Jones B, Venters SJ, Shad S, Matthews JB, Asare SM, Buxton M, Asare AL, Rugo HS, Schwab RB, Helsten T, Hylton NM, van 't Veer L, Perlmutter J, DeMichele AM, Yee D, Berry DA, Esserman LJ. Assessment of Residual Cancer Burden and Event-Free Survival in Neoadjuvant Treatment for High-risk Breast Cancer: An Analysis of Data From the I-SPY2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2021 Nov 01; 7(11):1654-1663.  View on PubMed
  14. Yee D, Isaacs C, Wolf DM, Yau C, Haluska P, Giridhar KV, Forero-Torres A, Jo Chien A, Wallace AM, Pusztai L, Albain KS, Ellis ED, Beckwith H, Haley BB, Elias AD, Boughey JC, Kemmer K, Yung RL, Pohlmann PR, Tripathy D, Clark AS, Han HS, Nanda R, Khan QJ, Edmiston KK, Petricoin EF, Stringer-Reasor E, Falkson CI, Majure M, Mukhtar RA, Helsten TL, Moulder SL, Robinson PA, Wulfkuhle JD, Brown-Swigart L, Buxton M, Clennell JL, Paoloni M, Sanil A, Berry S, Asare SM, Wilson A, Hirst GL, Singhrao R, Asare AL, Matthews JB, Hylton NM, DeMichele A, Melisko M, Perlmutter J, Rugo HS, Fraser Symmans W, Van't Veer LJ, Berry DA, Esserman LJ. Ganitumab and metformin plus standard neoadjuvant therapy in stage 2/3 breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 Oct 05; 7(1):131.  View on PubMed
  15. Diwanji D, Ray K, Hylton N. 18F-FDG PET/CT Predicts Response to HER2-directed Neoadjuvant Therapy. Radiol Imaging Cancer. 2021 09; 3(5):e219021.  View on PubMed
  16. Onishi N, Li W, Newitt DC, Harnish RJ, Strand F, Nguyen AA, Arasu VA, Gibbs J, Jones EF, Wilmes LJ, Kornak J, Joe BN, Price ER, Ojeda-Fournier H, Eghtedari M, Zamora KW, Woodard S, Umphrey HR, Nelson MT, Church AL, Bolan PJ, Kuritza T, Ward K, Morley K, Wolverton D, Fountain K, Lopez Paniagua D, Hardesty L, Brandt KR, McDonald ES, Rosen M, Kontos D, Abe H, Sheth D, Crane E, Dillis C, Sheth P, Hovanessian-Larsen L, Bang DH, Porter B, Oh KY, Jafarian N, Tudorica LA, Niell B, Drukteinis J, Newell MS, Giurescu ME, Berman E, Lehman CD, Partridge SC, Fitzpatrick KA, Borders MH, Yang WT, Dogan B, Goudreau SH, Chenevert T, Yau C, DeMichele A, Berry DA, Esserman LJ, Hylton NM. Breast MRI during Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Lack of Background Parenchymal Enhancement Suppression and Inferior Treatment Response. Radiology. 2021 11; 301(2):295-308.  View on PubMed
  17. Pusztai L, Yau C, Wolf DM, Han HS, Du L, Wallace AM, String-Reasor E, Boughey JC, Chien AJ, Elias AD, Beckwith H, Nanda R, Albain KS, Clark AS, Kemmer K, Kalinsky K, Isaacs C, Thomas A, Shatsky R, Helsten TL, Forero-Torres A, Liu MC, Brown-Swigart L, Petricoin EF, Wulfkuhle JD, Asare SM, Wilson A, Singhrao R, Sit L, Hirst GL, Berry S, Sanil A, Asare AL, Matthews JB, Perlmutter J, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Schwab RB, Symmans WF, Yee D, Van't Veer LJ, Hylton NM, DeMichele AM, Berry DA, Esserman LJ. Durvalumab with olaparib and paclitaxel for high-risk HER2-negative stage II/III breast cancer: Results from the adaptively randomized I-SPY2 trial. Cancer Cell. 2021 07 12; 39(7):989-998.e5.  View on PubMed
  18. Glencer AC, Wong JM, Hylton NM, Krings G, McCune E, Rothschild HT, Loveday TA, Alvarado MD, Esserman LJ, Campbell MJ. Modulation of the immune microenvironment of high-risk ductal carcinoma in situ by intralesional pembrolizumab injection. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 May 25; 7(1):59.  View on PubMed
  19. Liu G, Mitra D, Jones EF, Franc BL, Behr SC, Nguyen A, Bolouri MS, Wisner DJ, Joe BN, Esserman LJ, Hylton NM, Seo Y. Mask-Guided Convolutional Neural Network for Breast Tumor Prognostic Outcome Prediction on 3D DCE-MR Images. J Digit Imaging. 2021 06; 34(3):630-636.  View on PubMed
  20. Magbanua MJM, Li W, Wolf DM, Yau C, Hirst GL, Swigart LB, Newitt DC, Gibbs J, Delson AL, Kalashnikova E, Aleshin A, Zimmermann B, Chien AJ, Tripathy D, Esserman L, Hylton N, van 't Veer L. Circulating tumor DNA and magnetic resonance imaging to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy response and recurrence risk. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 Mar 25; 7(1):32.  View on PubMed

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