黑料吃瓜资源

Branching isn鈥檛 just for trees. This biological process occurs in animal development, enabling organs to perform complex functions. Branch-like structures form in lungs, kidneys, and breasts, among other places. Importantly, only in female mammary glands does most branching occur years after birth. It happens during puberty and again during pregnancy as milk ducts branch out in preparation for breastfeeding. Disturbances here have been linked to breast cancer. However, studying branching can be difficult and time-consuming.

Now, 黑料吃瓜资源 (CSHL) researchers have developed a tool to quickly quantify changes in the branches of mouse mammary glands. The system, called MaGNet, was created by Steven Lewis, Lucia T茅llez P茅rez, and Samantha Henry, three graduate students in CSHL鈥檚 dos Santos lab. It could one day be used to study how hormonal changes and treatments affect mammary glands or even to detect early warning signs of breast cancer.

Lewis had the idea for MaGNet鈥攖he Mammary Gland Network analysis tool鈥攁fter seeing CSHL Associate Professor Saket Navlakha give a talk at the Lab. Lewis wondered if a mathematical model that Navlakha鈥檚 team applied to plants could be translated to mammary glands. 鈥淚t felt like a natural connection to another branching structure,鈥� he says.

Typically, researchers studying mouse mammary glands need to cut thin slices of breast tissue, analyze them under a microscope, and manually count the ducts and branches in each slice. The process is 鈥渧ery time-consuming and sometimes inconsistent,鈥� Henry says. 鈥淥ften, you don鈥檛 get the entire architecture of the mammary gland.鈥�

MaGNet was built to precisely compare stained images of the mammary gland. Researchers working with the system simply trace the branches and use software called NetworkX to plot them as networks. From there, computer code analyzes the networks and quantifies the data. 鈥淲ith this tool, we can measure the total length of the ductile tree as well as the number of ducts, alveoli, and branching structures,鈥� T茅llez P茅rez says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very easy to quickly plot different networks and run tests.鈥�

Right now, MaGNet is only used in mice. However, the code could be tweaked for any branching system. The researchers envision MaGNet eventually being used to learn how certain conditions, like infections鈥攐r life events, like pregnancy and menopause鈥攁ffect cancer risk. It could also help with early diagnosis. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always hunting for warning signs that arise before you can feel a lump or see anything on a mammogram or ultrasound,鈥� Lewis says. 鈥淚magine an automated tool could say there鈥檚 no tumor yet, but there are changes detectable. That鈥檚 our hope, our dream.鈥�

Written by: Margaret Osborne, Science Writer | [email protected] | 516-367-8455

Funding

Pershing Square Foundation, Simons Foundation, CSHL-Northwell Health Affiliation, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute,听鈥�la Caixa鈥�听Foundation

Citation

Lewis, S.,听et al., 鈥�MaGNet: A Network-Based Method for Quantitative Analysis of the Mammary Ductal Tree in Developing Female Mice鈥�,听Journal听of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia,听September 26, 2025. DOI:听

Core Facilites

鈥淭丑别 Animal Shared Resource houses and cares for the animals essential for scientific research. Our staff perform all aspects of animal husbandry, ensure humane care, and assist researchers with highly technical procedures and protocol design and development.鈥� 鈥� Animal Facility Director and Attending Veterinarian Rachel Rubino, DVM

鈥淭丑别 Tissue Imaging Shared Resource provides a spectrum of on-demand and researcher-tailored histopathological services, including tissue sampling, processing, embedding, and sectioning, as well as H&E, special, and immunohistochemistry staining. We not only support laser-capture microdissection and whole-slide scanning, but also offer histopathology consultation and instrument training.鈥� 鈥� Manager Kristin Milicich