Enhancement of Cancer Research at Clark Atlanta University

摘要 克拉克亚特兰大大学(CAU)是一所综合性私立城市男女同校的高等教育机构。 主要是非洲裔美国人的血统。它提供本科生、研究生和专业学位 以及面向不同种族、民族和社会经济背景的学生的证书计划。《中心》 癌症研究和治疗发展中心(CCRTD)于1999年在中国农业大学成立，直接 来自NIH/RCMI计划的支持。CCRTD的教职员工来自生物科学系， 化学和教育学院，对癌症生物学、药物发现和行为学有研究兴趣 癌症的各个方面。2004年，我们决定建立一个全面的研究和教育计划，将 重点关注前列腺癌及其对非裔美国人社区的影响。2005年，该中心被指定为 作为CAU的全大学卓越中心，a)培养一支由国际知名科学家组成的核心团队， 这将在癌细胞生物学和分子生物学方面开展富有成效的基础研究，并在 制定成功的抗击癌症的治疗策略；b)培养本科生和研究生 癌症生物学领域的学生和博士后研究员，因此有助于培养下一代 拥有最高水平的非裔美国科学家。以及c)建立教育方案，以增加 预防、及早发现和治疗癌症的意识，特别是那些不成比例的癌症 影响非裔美国人社区。由于有针对性地招聘教职员工， 在过去的12年里，CCRTD目前是全国最大的同类中心之一，拥有独特的 与前列腺癌作斗争的全面计划。我们招募了9名终身教职员工 在癌症的细胞和分子生物学领域拥有成熟的专业知识。他们确立了他们的研究 CCRTD的项目重点是了解发育和进展中的分子机制 前列腺癌的发生和发展也在生物学基础上更高、更晚期 非裔美国人患此病的年龄较早。为了提供最先进的研究基础设施 开展尖端细胞和分子生物学研究，CCRTD发展了研究核心实验室，以 支持教职员工和学生的研究活动。这些核心设施经历了显著的 在过去的几年里一直在扩张。我们也一直积极从事研究、培训和 培养前列腺癌生物学领域的本科生和研究生。我们的社区 外展建立了充满活力的教育和基于社区的研究方案，为 大都会亚特兰大及其他地区的非裔美国人社区。目前的提案寻求扩大和 加强CCRTD目前的研究和教育活动，并将侧重于三个具体目标。第一个目标 将扩大和加强目前在前列腺癌和专业发展方面的研究计划 通过支持三个研究项目和开发一个支持初级教员的试点项目， 研究人员和博士后科学家。第二个目标将试图重组研究并使其现代化 核心设施，将目前的8个核心研究实验室整合为5个核心实验室，以创建更多 高效的研究基础设施。我们还将建立一个新的动物研究核心实验室，获得新的 升级现有研究核心实验室的设备。目标3的目的将是创建一个 综合基础设施，用于制定全面的信息传播方案和 社区参与，包括地方、国家和全球社区。我们将利用我们目前的 在基础研究领域的专业发展计划，以及在社区外展和 创建这一新基础设施的教育项目。

Summary Clark Atlanta University (CAU) is a comprehensive, private, urban, coeducational institution of higher education with a predominantly African-American heritage. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees as well as certificate programs to students of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development (CCRTD) was established at CAU in 1999 with direct support from the NIH/RCMI program. CCRTD faculty was derived from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and School of Education with research interests in cancer biology, drug discovery and behavioral aspects of cancer. In 2004, we decided to build a comprehensive research and educational program which will focus on prostate cancer and its impact in the African-American community. In 2005, the Center was designated as CAU's University-wide Center of Excellence to a) develop a core group of internationally known scientists, that will carry-out highly productive basic research in cancer cell biology and molecular biology and contribute in the development of successful therapeutic strategies to combat cancer., b) train undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the area of cancer biology and, hence, help develop the future generation of African-American scientists of the highest caliber. And c) establish an educational program to increase awareness for prevention, early detection and treatment of cancers, especially those which disproportionately affect the African-American community. As a consequence of targeted recruitment of faculty and staff over the past 12 years, CCRTD is currently one of the largest centers of its kind in the nation with a unique and comprehensive program to combat prostate cancer. We recruited 9 tenure-track faculty members with established expertise in the area of cell and molecular biology of cancer. They established their research programs at CCRTD which focus on understanding molecular mechanisms in the development and progression of prostate cancer and also on the biological basis of higher incidence and development of more advanced disease at an earlier age in African-American men. In order to provide state-of-the art research infrastructure to carry out cutting-edge cell and molecular biology research, CCRTD has developed research core laboratories to support research activities of faculty, staff and students. These core facilities have undergone significant expansion throughout the past several years. We have also been actively engaged in the research training and education of both undergraduate and graduate students in the area of prostate cancer biology. Our community outreach has established dynamic educational and community based research programs which serve the African-American community in the metro Atlanta and beyond. The current proposal seeks to expand and enhance current research and educational activities at CCRTD and will focus on three specific aims. First aim will expand and enhance current research programs in prostate cancer and professional development by supporting three research projects and developing a pilot project program to support junior faculty, investigators and postdoctoral scientists. The second aim will attempt to restructure and modernize research core facilities by consolidating current 8 core research laboratories into 5 core laboratories to create a more efficient research infrastructure. we will also establish a new animal research core laboratory acquire new equipment to upgrade the current research core laboratories. The purpose of the aim 3 will be to create an integrated infrastructure for development of a comprehensive program for dissemination of information and community engagement which will involve local, national and global communities. We will use our current strengths in professional development programs in basic research area, and in the community outreach and educational programs to create this new infrastructure.