RESEARCH TRAINING IN TRANSLATIONAL TUMOR IMMUNOLOGY

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DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Description): This application represents a new proposal for an NCI-sponsored program of "Research Training in Translational Tumor Immunology" at the University of Michigan. Faculty preceptors with interests in translational immunology have been selected from their primary D e p artments of Surgery, Medicine, Microbiology, Chemistry, Pathology, Radiation Oncology, and Laboratory Animal Medicine. These preceptors are also members of the new Graduate Program in Immunology and/or the Comprehensive Cancer Center's (CCC's) Tumor Immunology Program. Each of the 17 investiga- tors directs an active laboratory with a record of securing extramural support. Dr. James J. Mule will serve as the Program Director, and he will work closely with a Steering Committee to select trainees and formulate program policy. Predoctoral trainees will be enrolled in the Graduate Program in Immunology, which combines the resources of the Medical School, Graduate School, and CCC. The students will take courses in biochemistry, genetics, and immunology to prepare them for dissertation research with any of the preceptors. Postdoctoral trainees will devote their effort to full-time research. The proposed training program, through the Graduate Program in Immunology and the Tumor Immunology Program, will co-sponsor four major activities: a) a biweekly journal club at which trainees and preceptors meet for guided explorations of recent immunology papers; b) a monthly seminar series at which invited speakers from other universities, research institutes, and industry present research data and spend a day meeting with trainees and faculty; c) a Research Colloquium course, whose topic and instructor varies each semester; it allows graduate students (and postdoctoral auditors) to read about, and discuss in depth, a series of important topics in modern basic and translational immunology; and d) a scientific retreat held quarterly by the Tumor Immunology Program, at which faculty members present topic-related research data and collaborative efforts are established. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows attend these retreats also. The program includes plans for training in research responsibility and for recruitment of underrepresented minority groups. Support is requested for four predoctoral and four postdoctoral trainees each year. Predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees should leave the program well prepared for academic careers focused on translational aspects of immunologic research as it pertains to the development of new strategies for the treatment of cancer.