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U24CA264369

Cooperative Agreement

Overview

Grant Description
M-ISIC: A Multimodal Open-Source International Skin Imaging Collaboration Informatics Platform for Automated Skin Cancer Detection - Abstract

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. It is critical to detect it early as skin cancers, especially melanoma, can be cured by surgery alone if detected early. As digital technology improves, skin cancer detection, and especially automated skin cancer detection, is increasingly being performed over images either in person or remotely via teledermatology.

While artificial intelligence (AI) for skin cancer detection exceeds human performance on static images, algorithm performance on representative, multimodal data is still underdeveloped due to data collected piecemeal with different devices, without consistent image acquisition standards or automated registration. A well-curated dataset of annotated skin images helps meet a unique need beyond machine learning, as primary care clinicians also require expertly annotated images for education and training.

We will overcome the lack of imaging standards and disparate data sources problematic in dermatology imaging by developing automated ingestion, organization, registration, and curation pipeline to improve AI for skin cancer detection.

The International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) archive includes over 2,500 citations, 156,000 images, 100 daily users, and 5 AI grand challenges with over 3,500 participants. The ISIC archive is built upon the open-source, NCI-supported, web-based data management platform, Girder. The Girder platform is highly flexible and has been extended to multiple applications (e.g., pathology, radiology).

The flexibility of the Girder platform will enable us to address four major barriers that prevent our ability to efficiently ingest, host, and serve large amounts of multidimensional data at the scale of non-medical image repositories (e.g., ImageNet): (1) need for laborious expert data curation and quality assurance review for protected health information, imaging artifacts, and incorrect labels (SA1.1); (2) limited metadata without content-based features creating cumbersome image retrieval (SA1.2); (3) lack of multimodal viewing capabilities (SA2); and (4) inadequate integration to existing AI and annotation software, preventing flexible, hypothesis-driven experimentation (SA3).

The proposed informatics project aimed at data ingestion, multimodal visualization, and organization through ML and computer vision-based automation build on the initial success of the International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) archive and the Girder platform upon which it is built. They will enable scaling of the archive to millions of images, enabling multimodal experimentation with registered reflectance confocal microscopy images, and nimbly facilitate AI and translational experimentation for improved skin cancer detection.
Funding Goals
TO IMPROVE SCREENING AND EARLY DETECTION STRATEGIES AND TO DEVELOP ACCURATE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING THE COURSE OF DISEASE IN CANCER PATIENTS. SCREENING AND EARLY DETECTION RESEARCH INCLUDES DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIES TO DECREASE CANCER MORTALITY BY FINDING TUMORS EARLY WHEN THEY ARE MORE AMENABLE TO TREATMENT. DIAGNOSIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON METHODS TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF A SPECIFIC TYPE OF CANCER, TO PREDICT ITS COURSE AND RESPONSE TO THERAPY, BOTH A PARTICULAR THERAPY OR A CLASS OF AGENTS, AND TO MONITOR THE EFFECT OF THE THERAPY AND THE APPEARANCE OF DISEASE RECURRENCE. THESE METHODS INCLUDE DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING AND DIRECT ANALYSES OF SPECIMENS FROM TUMOR OR OTHER TISSUES. SUPPORT IS ALSO PROVIDED FOR ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING RESOURCES OF HUMAN TISSUE TO FACILITATE RESEARCH. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.
Place of Performance
New York, New York 100656007 United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 240% from $906,508 to $3,081,926.
Sloan-Kettering Institute For Cancer Research was awarded ISIC Multimodal Skin Imaging Platform for Automated Cancer Detection Cooperative Agreement U24CA264369 worth $3,081,926 from National Cancer Institute in September 2022 with work to be completed primarily in New York New York United States. The grant has a duration of 5 years and was awarded through assistance program 93.394 Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research. The Cooperative Agreement was awarded through grant opportunity Advanced Development of Informatics Technologies for Cancer Research and Management (U24 Clinical Trial Optional).

Status
(Ongoing)

Last Modified 8/20/25

Period of Performance
9/1/22
Start Date
8/31/27
End Date
60.0% Complete

Funding Split
$3.1M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$3.1M
Total Obligated
100.0% Federal Funding
0.0% Non-Federal Funding

Activity Timeline

Interactive chart of timeline of amendments to U24CA264369

Transaction History

Modifications to U24CA264369

Additional Detail

Award ID FAIN
U24CA264369
SAI Number
U24CA264369-3005662400
Award ID URI
SAI UNAVAILABLE
Awardee Classifications
Nonprofit With 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other Than An Institution Of Higher Education)
Awarding Office
75NC00 NIH National Cancer Institute
Funding Office
75NC00 NIH National Cancer Institute
Awardee UEI
KUKXRCZ6NZC2
Awardee CAGE
6X133
Performance District
NY-12
Senators
Kirsten Gillibrand
Charles Schumer

Budget Funding

Federal Account Budget Subfunction Object Class Total Percentage
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services (075-0849) Health research and training Grants, subsidies, and contributions (41.0) $1,717,247 100%
Modified: 8/20/25