Training Program in Basic Cancer Research

项目总结

Project Summary The overarching goal of this longstanding “Training Program in Basic Cancer Research” is to provide the fundamental skills necessary for our trainees to succeed in outstanding careers in biomedical cancer research. Toward that goal we provide them with superior training in the conduct of cutting edge research, combined with a deep appreciation of the clinical challenges that doctors and patients face. To achieve this goal, we have created a unique Training program, now entering its 45th year, entitled the Training Program in Basic Cancer Research (TP-BCR). Support is requested for five postdoctoral fellows, and three predoctoral fellows from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, program in Biomedical Graduate Studies. Located at the heart of the University of Pennsylvania campus, Wistar offers a superb research environment, recently rated “Exceptional” at the most recent CCSG renewal in 2018. We have crafted a training program that combines unique sub-programs entitled “Bench to Bedside Training” and a “Science Entrepreneurs” program, thus offering our trainees exposure to clinicians and clinical problems in cancer research, unique insight into the business of science and intellectual property, and a robust curriculum that includes workshops in teaching, writing, and grant preparation. Our 26 faculty mentors tackle diverse questions in cancer, most have long-standing successful training records, and all are well-funded, with an average of $890,000/year/mentor (DC). Our current trainee pool consists of 79 trainees, which includes 24 predoctoral trainees (13 TGE) and 55 postdoctoral trainees (20 TGE). There is an average of four TGE applicants for each proffered slot, thus allowing us to place the most highly qualified trainees in this program. All slots have been continuously filled for the entire funding period, and our trainees continue to be highly productive, with 4.7 manuscripts and 2 first author manuscripts per trainee averaged in the past three cycles, and 98% of our trainees continuing in research-related or research-intensive careers. Taken together, this long-standing program, which is the only T32 centered at The Wistar Institute, will provide the fundamental skills necessary for our trainees to flourish in successful independent careers in cancer research.