The AACR-Think Forward Foundation Career Development Award is designed to support early-career researchers to pursue innovative research focused on advancing precision medicine in breast cancer treatment. The intent of this program is to advance precision breast cancer care by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to identify clinically relevant biomarkers and develop tailored therapeutic strategies that improve patient outcomes and minimize treatment-related toxicity.

2026 Grantee

Scientific Statement of Research

Therapeutic resistance and metastatic progression remain major causes of mortality in breast cancer. In estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, bone is the most common site of metastasis, where tumors often develop immunosuppressive phenotypes and become refractory to standard endocrine and targeted therapies. Dr. Zhu will integrate spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics with AI–driven computational modeling to identify drivers of bone metastatic progression and immune suppression. His team will use these multiple layers of spatial information to build a location-specific view of tumor biology and nominate therapeutic targets tailored to metastatic niches. Preliminary findings suggest that bone metastases contain specialized immune niches where macrophages suppress immune attack through altered fat metabolism. Targeting this pathway may help restore immune function and improve treatment response, guiding personalized therapies for advanced breast cancer.

Biography

Dr. Zhu received training in computer science, bioinformatics, and biology at Princeton University and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and Lester Sue Smith Breast Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, where his laboratory applies advanced spatial OMICS techniques and analysis methods to understand changes in tumor microenvironment during breast metastatic progression.

Statement of Support

“This award will catalyze my independence by allowing my lab to build an integrated spatial multi-omics/AI platform for ER+ breast cancer bone metastasis. It will support characterization of lipid-driven immune-suppression and testing of an inhibitor targeting fatty acid synthesis, positioning my program to understand and treat metastatic breast cancer.”