University of Arizona researcher Jennifer Barton is leading a two-year, $1 million project funded by the National Cancer Institute to identify imaging biomarkers of ovarian cancer, the most deadly gynecological cancer in the United States.

This work may enable the first effective screening system for ovarian cancer, said Barton, interim director of the UA’s BIO5 Institute.

“Located deep in the body, with few early symptoms and no effective screening techniques, ovarian cancer has remained stubbornly difficult to understand, much less effectively combat,” said Barton, professor of biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, optical sciences, and agricultural and biosystems engineering.

In fact, 70 percent of women diagnosed have advanced ovarian cancer that has spread beyond the fallopian tubes and ovaries to other organs, she said.

In collaboration with UA researchers in physiology, medical imaging, and obstetrics and gynecology, Barton is working to identify imaging biomarkers, or subtle changes in the tissue that can be detected by sensitive optical methods, for ovarian cancer in mice. The mice spontaneously develop ovarian tumors and mimic hormonal conditions of postmenopausal women, who are most often diagnosed with the disease.