Funding & Support
The Dean Lab is supported by federal, state, institutional, philanthropic, and collaborative funding mechanisms that advance our mission to build next-generation microscopy technologies for biological discovery.
Technology
Optical systems, adaptive acquisition software, sample-preparation workflows, and computational tools for quantitative microscopy.
Dissemination
Software, hardware designs, documentation, and training resources that make advanced microscopy easier to reproduce and adapt.
Collaboration
Partnerships with investigators who need advanced imaging and image analysis to answer difficult biological questions.
Infrastructure
Shared imaging capabilities for measuring cancer biology across molecular, cellular, organoid, tissue, and whole-specimen scales.
Active Major Awards
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Sponsor: Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas
Award: CPRIT RP250571
Role: Principal Investigator
Project period: 2025–2030The Cancer Cell Imaging Core supports advanced cancer imaging by providing access to light-sheet microscopy, tissue clearing, expansion microscopy, cyclic multiplexed imaging, live spheroid imaging, automation, and computational image-analysis workflows. The Core is designed to help investigators move from biological specimens to quantitative imaging data through integrated support for experimental design, sample preparation, microscope access, image analysis, and interpretation.
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Sponsor: National Institutes of Health / National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Award: NIH RM1 GM145399
Role: Principal Investigator
Project period: 2022–2027The UTSW-UNC Center for Cell Signaling Analysis develops and disseminates imaging-based technologies for measuring cellular signaling across spatial and temporal scales. The Center integrates computer vision, light-sheet microscopy, optical probes, biosensors, perturbation tools, and quantitative modeling to visualize, control, and analyze molecular activity in living biological systems.
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Sponsor: National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute
Award: NIH U54 CA268072
Role: Multiple Principal Investigator
Project period: 2021–2026This project supports the development of a cancer cell imaging program focused on identifying the single-cell processes that drive metastatic tumor formation within the host environment. The Dean Lab contributes imaging technologies and computational workflows designed to resolve rare metastatic events in intact tissues, connecting large-scale specimen imaging with high-resolution measurements of cell behavior and tissue context.
Collaborative Awards
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Sponsor: Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas
Award: CPRIT RP260482
Role: Co-Investigator
Project period: 2025–2028This collaborative project investigates how sympathetic innervation and norepinephrine-ADRB2 signaling influence obesity-associated liver cancer development. The Dean Lab contributes advanced imaging and quantitative analysis approaches to help measure tissue organization, cellular interactions, and disease-associated changes in the liver microenvironment.
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Sponsor: National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute
Award: NIH R01 CA295997
Role: Co-Investigator
Project period: 2024–2029This collaborative project studies PAX2 silencing as an early molecular alteration in endometrial carcinogenesis. The Dean Lab contributes microscopy and image-analysis approaches to help connect molecular alterations with tissue architecture, cellular phenotype, and early disease progression.
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Sponsor: National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Award: NIH R01 NS127900
Role: Co-Investigator
Project period: 2024–2029This collaborative project develops and evaluates non-invasive approaches for targeted viral gene therapy delivery to white matter tracts and white matter hubs. The Dean Lab contributes advanced imaging and analysis strategies for evaluating tissue-scale delivery, cellular targeting, and structural outcomes.
Completed & Pilot Support
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Sponsor: National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute
Award: NIH R01 CA252826
Role: Principal Investigator
Project period: 2021–2026This project supported the development and application of imaging technologies for visualizing, perturbing, and analyzing GEF-GTPase signaling networks in living cells. The work integrated biosensors, optical control, quantitative microscopy, and computational analysis to understand how dynamic signaling networks regulate cell behavior.
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Sponsor: Charles Pak Family Cancer & Bone Initiative
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Project period: 2024–2025This pilot project supported collaborative studies of mechanisms that influence lobular breast cancer metastasis to bone.
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Sponsor: Lyda Hill Philanthropies
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Project period: 2024–2025This award supported development of advanced three-dimensional microscopy approaches for early cancer detection and tissue-based diagnostic applications.
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Sponsor: UT Southwestern President’s Research Council
Role: Principal Investigator
Project period: 2023–2024This award supported early-stage technology development for imaging molecular and cellular organization in complex biological specimens.
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Sponsor: Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center
Role: Multiple Principal Investigator
Project period: 2023–2024This pilot award supported development of next-generation histopathology approaches for high-content tissue imaging and analysis.
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Sponsor: National Institutes of Health / National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Award: NIH F32 GM117793
Role: Principal Investigator
Project period: 2016–2018This postdoctoral fellowship supported development and application of light-sheet microscopy and computational analysis to study cell polarity, signaling, and migration in three-dimensional environments.
Acknowledgements
We ask that investigators using instruments, software, analysis workflows, or Cancer Cell Imaging Core resources acknowledge the relevant funding sources in manuscripts, presentations, preprints, and public datasets.