UTMB Doctoral Student Receives NCI Award for AI-Driven Early Oral Cancer Detection Research

Paula Villarreal is only the second University of Texas Medical Branch doctoral student to be awarded the F99/K00 Grant, and the first to receive it specifically under the National Cancer Institute's Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition grant.

The F99/K00 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award, designed to encourage and retain outstanding graduate students with potential for independent research careers, provides funding to support Ph.D. candidates in completing their dissertation research (F99 phase) and facilitates their transition into mentored postdoctoral research positions (K00 phase). With a focus on cancer research, the award helps talented students secure successful postdoctoral appointments with the intent to become independent researchers. Only 24 researchers were funded in this round of awards, and Villarreal is the only Hispanic female recipient.

"My dissertation focuses on early oral cancer detection," Villarreal, who is entering the fifth year of her PhD program, said. "I'm currently investigating how to non-invasively detect early cancer changes in oral mucosa."

Part of her work involves using a unique imaging device that examines a large area of mucosa and then switches to 3D, microscopic modality noninvasively. This allows clinicians to make better assessments and guides them to better target biopsy locations.

"The problem is cancer grows inward," Villarreal said. "By the time they see it outwardly, it's too advanced. If we can guide clinicians to these early changes, they can monitor it and we can save lives."

The NCI grant required Villarreal to think about how she could transition to post-doctoral work.

"You have to imagine it out, probably the hardest part of putting this grant together, but it also pushed me to think ahead and structure my career path as a principal investigator," Villarreal said of the award, which supports up to two years of doctoral research and then four years of post-doctoral research.

Villarreal plans to strengthen her skills in the artificial intelligence domain, envisioning tools that allow dentists, ear, nose and throat specialists, and pathologists to use collected data to find patterns that would help in diagnosis and treatment. This could include biomarkers, metabolic changes, patient demographics and clinical notes.

"I am grateful to my mentors Dr. Gracie Vargas and Dr. Heidi Spratt, as well as Dr. Melinda Sheffield-Moore, among others, who helped me get this award," Villarreal said.