Training in Anti-Cancer Drug Development

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application requesting continued support for the Anti-Cancer Drug Development training grant, T32 CA09243, presently in its 30th year. The 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 course work and research. A reorganized and envigorated series of core courses in the basic sciences is taken during the first year and includes molecular biology and genomics, biochemical and biophysical principles, macromolecular structure and analysis, organic mechanisms in biology, cell structure and dynamics, pathways and regulation, and bioinformatics. Students receive additional instruction and exposure to pharmacology and oncology through a required graduate pharmacology course 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 eight departments: Pharmacology & Molecular Sciences, Oncology, Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry, Chemistry, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Cell Biology, Urology, and Environmental Health Sciences. Extensive faculty interaction is promoted by four new research Centers established by the Institute of Basic Biomedical Sciences and by common research interests. Extensive and productive student-faculty and student-student interactions are promoted by seminars, journal clubs, and by student- related activities such as recruiting weekends, research retreats, student-faculty dinners, and teaching, in addition to the laboratory research experience. *Since its beginning in 1979, this training program has supported over 130 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.