Training Program in Cancer Biology

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Training Program in Cancer Biology is a program for pre- and postdoctoral trainees designed to train investigators who will focus on biological and chemical issues specifically related to the problem of cancer during their research careers. This program imparts to trainees an understanding of the relationships between the basic scientific problems and clinical issues of human cancer. The Program is anchored in the Department of Cancer Biology of the Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center; all training faculty are either primary Cancer Biology Department members or are cross-appointed in Cancer Biology. Cross appointees come from the Departments of Biochemistry, Chemistry, Dermatology, Genomics, Microbiology, Pathology, Radiation Biology, and Surgery. Trainees include pre-doctoral Ph.D. candidates and Ph.D. or M.D. postdoctoral fellows who wish to supplement their training in cancer research. All pre-doctoral trainees are candidates for a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology conferred by the Graduate School of Wake Forest University. Pre- and postdoctoral traineeships combine research, seminar/symposia participation plus didactic coursework covering DNA damage and repair, cancer cell biology, signal transduction, cell cycle control, biochemical pharmacology, tumor immunology, gene therapy bioinformatics, and an overview of clinical and epidemiologic issues in human cancer. Research is supervised by Departmental faculty mentors; specific assignments are made by the Program executive committee. Key features of the Training Program include an extensive mentoring and evaluation process and a training faculty with active research programs that mesh clinical and basic science. This training program addresses the goals of the National Cancer Institute by: (1) producing investigators equipped to focus on the cancer problem in their research careers; (2) providing education spanning the chemical-biological interface; (3) emphasizing links between basic science and the clinical problems of human cancer. The Training Program achieved some notable successes during its initial funding cycle that will be carried forth into the current funding cycle, including: (1) markedly increasing the enrollment of under-represented minority trainees; (2) graduating postdoctoral trainees who have gone on to faculty positions at academic institutions; (3) providing biological training for two postdoctoral chemists and training in chemistry for two predoctoral Cancer Biology trainees.