Oncology Models Forum (OMF)
The Oncology Models Forum (OMF) was launched by the NCI in 2014 to fund research into advancing standard practices for modeling human cancers in mice and to facilitate collaborations, data sharing, and harmonization of mouse models. In 2016, the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) was expanded to all mammalian model systems (PAR-16-059) and has been re-issued in 2017 (PAR-17-245), 2020 (PAR-20-131), and 2023 (PAR-23-281).
Unlike many hypothesis-driven and mechanistic R01 projects, this program is devoted to ensuring mammalian models used for translational research questions are appropriate for those purposes and the models provide reliable and informative data for patient benefit. The OMF now includes a range of models including canine, porcine, organoid, and cell line models, in addition to many diverse mouse model systems.
OMF News and Highlights
OMF Scientist Highlights: Drs. Wen Xue, Vishnu Hosur, and Ming Chen
Dr. Wen Xue is an Associate Professor at the UMass Chan Medical School who is generating and characterizing animal models of cancer using CRISPR-based genome editing techniques.
His team developed dual prime editing-based precise deletion and repair. This technique enables large genomic deletion coupled with insertion. The study demonstrates the potential applications of prime editing to model complex genomic alterations in cancer.
The Xue laboratory also applies in vivo delivery of CRISPR in somatic organs to rapidly create new mouse models of cancer, including aggressive liver and lung cancer.
Dr. Vishnu Hosur is a Research Scientist at the Jackson Laboratory who utilizes advanced genetic engineering technology, including CRISPR/Cas9 and Bxb1 recombinases, to study complex cancer biology using mouse models.
His team generated new mouse models with human neutrophils—or humanized mice—to study the role of neutrophils in cancer.
The Hosur lab also investigates the ways that mice respond to different methods of gene disruption, which have significant implications for the application of genome editing in both basic research and clinical practice.
Dr. Ming Chen is an Associate Professor at Duke University School of Medicine whose laboratory developed a series of genetically engineered mouse models that mimic the development of human prostate cancer, ranging from localized to metastatic prostate cancer.
The Chen laboratory is also creating conditional mouse alleles that enable the development of new cancer models that recapitulate human cancers associated with large chromosomal deletions, including prostate cancer.
OMF Scientist Highlights: Drs. Rosemary Akhurst, Zev Binder, and Ling Cai
Dr. Rosemary Akhurst is a Professor in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF. Her laboratory studies chemically induced squamous cell carcinomas. In collaboration with Dr. Allan Balmain, a Professor in Cancer Genetics at UCSF, she is undertaking a cross-species investigation into mechanisms the drive the development of drug-resistant tumor cells. Using a model of skin chemical carcinogenesis, this project will explore features of drug resistance to understand how highly heterogenous treatment-resistant cancer cell populations develop and how they can be targeted.
Dr. Zev Binder is a Research Assistant Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an NCI MERIT awardee. He combines in vitro and in vivo models of glioblastoma to explore new approaches to therapy. Dr. Binder is also developing a humanized mouse system to study the interactions of the immune system with brain tumors.
Dr. Ling Cai is an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She has built a user-friendly interactive analytical toolset to explore gene expression and clinical data from published datasets. Dr. Cai will further leverage these data to develop an informatics platform enabling comparative analyses to determine the fidelity of preclinical lung cancer models with human patient tumors.
OMF Funding Opportunity
PAR-23-281 : Research Projects to Enhance Applicability of Mammalian Models for Translational Research (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
OMF Meetings
May 16, 2024
Oncology Models Forum Spring Seminar (Virtual)
December 5-6, 2023
Oncology Models Forum Annual Meeting
July 23, 2023
Oncology Models Forum Summer Seminar
March 15-16, 2022
Oncology Models Forum Annual Meeting
December 9, 2021
Oncology Models Forum Fall Seminar
July 27, 2021
Oncology Models Forum Summer Seminar
March 30-31, 2021
Oncology Models Forum Annual Meeting (Virtual)
January 30, 2020
NCI Oncology Models Forum Meeting (NCI Shady Grove)
November 8, 2018
NCI Oncology Models Forum Meeting (University of California, San Francisco)
September 18-19, 2017
Immune Interventions in Oncology: A Think Tank on Modeling Opportunities using Mice and Human Specimens (NCI Shady Grove)
NCI and OMF Resources Related to Oncology Models
- Cancer Tissue Engineering Collaborative (TEC) – supports the development and characterization of state-of-the-art biomimetic tissue-engineered technologies for cancer research.
- Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) Catalog – Resource of patient-derived next-generation cancer models developed by HCMI, which is an international collaboration between NCI, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and Hubrecht Organoid Technology
- NCI Mouse Repository – NCI-funded resource for mouse cancer models and associated strains
- Oncology Model Fidelity Score – Uses the Hallmarks of Cancer to compare cancer animal models to human cancer
- Single R – Analyzes cellular heterogeneity from single-cell RNA sequencing data
- Xcell – Analyzes cellular heterogeneity from bulk gene expression data
Contacts for the OMF
For additional information about the OMF, please contact Dr. Joanna Watson or Dr. Christine Nadeau.
Funded Projects