Training Program in Translational Brain Tumor Research

描述(由申请者提供)：该计划的目标是为有兴趣从事脑肿瘤翻译研究的个人提供博士后培训。脑癌仍然是所有恶性肿瘤中最致命的，尽管神经外科医生、神经肿瘤学家和实验室科学家做出了最大的努力，但脑胶质母细胞瘤这种最恶性和最常见的脑癌形式的患者的平均生存期仍不到15个月。脑癌治疗的改进进展缓慢，部分原因是相对缺乏经过培训的人员，这些人能够与临床医生和在该领域工作的实验室调查人员进行交流。这项申请是一个新的资金申请，以支持一个现有的项目，该项目专注于开发未来的翻译型脑瘤研究人员；能够在临床和实验室之间无缝移动的个人可以更有效地为脑瘤新的治疗干预措施的开发做出贡献。 本申请要求每年为3名博士后实习生提供支持，每个人将从吸引到教职实验室的博士后研究员中挑选，或从加州大学旧金山分校神经肿瘤学奖学金计划或加州大学旧金山分校放射肿瘤学住院医师计划的MD或MD/博士实习生中挑选。然后，最合格的候选人进入培训计划，该计划的核心由20个研究实验室组成，这些实验室的工作使加州大学旧金山分校的脑肿瘤社区成为世界上最具生产力和知名度的实验室之一。在所要求的两年支持过程中，受训人员与这些实验室的PI合作开发和完成有意义和重要的脑瘤研究项目，并在此过程中熟练掌握基于实验室的和临床研究技术。与此同时，受训者参加由教师主导的教学课程，该课程专门关注脑瘤的重要问题，并允许受训者开发一种共同语言，用来讨论和了解潜在的脑肿瘤生物学、诊断和治疗方式，以及该领域尚未解决的问题。课程还包括其他课程和培训活动，以鼓励有效的口语和写作，并有广泛的现有课程，以帮助定制个别受训者的教育经验。最后，评估和指导机制，以帮助确保项目的成功和实现未来的职业目标。 尽管这是一个新的支持请求，但加州大学旧金山分校的翻译脑瘤研究培训计划在吸引合格人员方面有着广泛的记录，并成功地为后来领导加州大学旧金山分校国内和国际翻译脑瘤研究团队的研究人员做好了准备。所要求的支持将使加州大学旧金山分校的脑肿瘤社区能够扩大努力，培训有效的脑瘤研究人员，并确保这些人将继续在抗击脑癌的斗争中发挥领导作用。 相关性：成人脑癌仍然是临床医生面临的重大挑战。虽然不是最常见的器官特定恶性肿瘤之一，但每年诊断的病例超过2万例，与脑瘤相关的死亡率是所有癌症中最高的之一。由于最常见类型的脑癌患者的预后仍然很差，因此开发新的治疗方法至关重要。这项提案要求资金支持一项培训计划，该计划吸收有前途的年轻研究人员，并培训他们理解脑瘤生物学和治疗作为一个综合整体。经过这种刺激和综合方式培训的研究人员将为未来旨在改善脑瘤患者治疗和结果的研究努力提供有效、称职的领导。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this program is to provide postdoctoral training for individuals interested in pursuing careers in translational brain tumor research. Brain cancer remains among the most deadly of all malignancies, and despite the best efforts of neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, and laboratory-based scientists, the average survival of individuals with glioblastoma, the most malignant and common form of brain cancer, remains less than 15 months. Improvements in brain cancer therapy have come slowly, in part because of the relative dearth of individuals trained in a manner that allows them to communicate with both clinicians and lab-based investigators working in the field. This application is a new request for funding to support an existing program that focuses on developing translational brain tumor investigators of the future; individuals who can move seamlessly between clinical and laboratory worlds and in doing so can more effectively contribute to the development of new therapeutic interventions for brain tumors. This application requests support for 3 post-doctoral trainees per year, each of whom will be selected from PhD-level post-doctoral fellows attracted to the labs of the faculty, or from MD or MD/PhD trainees in the UCSF Neuro-Oncology Fellowship Program, or the UCSF Radiation Oncology Residency Program. The best qualified candidates then enter the training program, the core of which consists of the 20 research labs whose work has made the brain tumor community at UCSF one of the most productive and recognizable in the world. Over the course of the two years of support requested, the trainees work with the PIs of these labs to develop and complete meaningful and significant translational brain tumor research projects, and in the process become fluent in laboratory-based and clinical research techniques. At the same time trainees take part in a faculty-led didactic curriculum that is uniquely focused on issues of importance in brain tumors and which allow trainees to develop a common language with which to discuss and understand underlying brain tumor biology, diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, and unresolved problems in the field. Additional courses and training events that encourage effective speaking and writing are also included, and there is an extensive selection of existing courses to help tailor the educational experience of individual trainee's. Finally, evaluation and mentoring mechanisms are included to help ensure success in the program and in attaining future career goals. Although this is a new request for support, the Training Program in Translational Brain Tumor Research at UCSF has an extensive track record of attracting well-qualified individuals, and in successfully preparing investigators who have gone on to lead translational brain tumor research teams at UCSF, nationally, and internationally. The support requested will allow the brain tumor community at UCSF to expand efforts to train effective translational brain tumor investigators, and to ensure that such individuals will continue to be available to assume leadership roles in the fight against brain cancer. RELEVANCE: Adult brain cancer continues to be a significant challenge to clinicians. Although not among the most common organ-specific malignancies, there are over 20,000 cases diagnosed per year, and the mortality rate associated with brain tumors is among the highest of all cancers. Because the prognosis for individuals with the most common types of brain cancer remains poor, it is of critical Importance that new therapies be developed. This proposal requests funds to support a training program that takes promising young investigators and trains them to understand brain tumor biology and therapy as an integrated whole. Investigators trained in this stimulating and comprehensive manner will provide effective, competent leadership for future research efforts aimed at improved treatments and outcomes for brain tumor patients.