This proposal is for continuation of an interdisciplinary Cancer Cell Biology Training Program for predoctoral ludents at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). The premise of this program is that the doctoral students graduated by UNC-CH are well trained in the paradigms of molecular and cellular biology, but rarely do these students receive significant training in the pathobiology and treatment of cancer. With an increasing emphasis on translational, disease-oriented research, the need to address this deficiency in graduate student training has become of greater urgency. Thus, the broad goal of this program is to provide comprehensive training in cancer biology to allow students to effectively contribute to the new wave of translational research. The program provides a strong emphasis on the histopathology of cancer and the exposure of trainees to topics crucial to tumor biology, including angiogenesis, invasiveness, metastasis, cancer chemotherapy, and cancer drug discovery. Therefore, it fosters the training of doctoral candidates that are uniquely trained and clearly distinguished from those of individual departments or other training programs funded by the NIH at UNC-CH. This program is complemented by the excellence of the faculty at UNC-CH and the leadership and programs provided by the well-established Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC). The 39 faculty preceptors are drawn from 10 different UNC-CH departments and three interdisciplinary predoctoral training curricula. Program preceptors are also members of the LCCC. A critical component of this training program is the establishment of a Cancer Cell Biology Curriculum that includes coursework developed specifically for the Program trainees that address key issues in cancer pathology, diagnosis, drug discovery and treatment. This predoctoral program is strongly complemented by the programs that have been developed for the LCCC's long-standing postdoctoral training program. Thus, together, these two training programs facilitate the LCCC's goal to create a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, cohesive and collaborative research environment to foster the development of both pre- and postdoctoral cancer researchers. ? ? ?
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