We are excited to share that the Omar Lab has received a U.S. Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) Idea Development Award to support our ongoing efforts to understand and predict bone metastasis in prostate cancer.

This three-year project, titled “Decoding Bone Metastasis in Prostate Cancer: A Multimodal Approach Integrating Genomics and Imaging Data,” aims to uncover the molecular and spatial mechanisms that allow prostate cancer cells to colonize bone and drive disease progression. Our team will develop integrative computational frameworks that combine genomic, transcriptomic, and imaging data to identify early predictors of metastasis directly from diagnostic tumor samples.

Bone metastasis remains the leading cause of death among men with prostate cancer, often resulting in fractures, severe pain, and loss of mobility. By identifying the molecular and architectural features that predispose tumors to spread, our work seeks to enable personalized treatment strategies — offering aggressive therapy for high-risk patients while sparing low-risk individuals from unnecessary intervention.

This award will accelerate our ongoing efforts to integrate artificial intelligence, digital pathology, and multi-omics data to uncover the mechanisms that govern tumor–bone microenvironment interactions in prostate cancer.