Training in Anti-Cancer Drug Development

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a revised competitive renewal application requesting continued support for the Anti-Cancer Drug Development training grant, T32 CA09243, presently in its 25th year. The training program is administered by the Department of Pharmacology & Molecular Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and its objective is to prepare pre- and postdoctoral students for research and teaching careers in the area of cancer-related drug development. Predoctoral training provides highly qualified students with an integrated curriculum including both course work and research. Rigorous core courses in the basic sciences are taken during the first year and include Molecular Biology, Biophysical Chemistry, Bio-organic Mechanisms, and Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Students receive additional instruction and exposure to pharmacology and oncology through the required Graduate Pharmacology course taken in the second year, and through elective courses, seminars, and journal clubs. Predoctoral trainees select a faculty preceptor and research project during their first two years, and devote most of their time after that to their thesis research and gaining experience with written and oral presentation of their work. Postdoctoral trainees devote most of their time to research carried out more independently, but with appropriate guidance from faculty mentors, for periods of one to three years. The training program is interdisciplinary and brings together faculty from 7 departments: Pharmacology & Molecular Sciences, Oncology, Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry, Chemistry, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Urology, and Environmental Health Sciences. Extensive faculty interaction is promoted by common research interests, seminars and journal clubs, and by student-related activities such as recruiting weekends, research retreats, student-faculty dinners, and teaching. Since its beginning in 1979, this training program has supported over 100 pre- and postdoctoral trainees, most of whom have gone on to careers in science and many of whom have assumed leadership roles in the field of cancer research.