) The UPCI Molecular Virology Program (MVP) is a newly organized basic research program that is designed to coordinate and focus molecular virology research faculty, research activities and resources on important fundamental problems in cancer research and to expedite the translation of the results of these basic studies to new clinical applications. The proposed MVP incorporates well established and highly interactive research faculty in the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Public Health, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The Program includes 21 faculty members who are active in three major programmatic areas: (1) AIDS-related malignancies, (2) viral vectors for gene therapy of cancer, and (3) viral oncogenesis. These programmatic areas integrate complementary research expertise to form multi-disciplinary research teams that are headed by a designated Program coordinator. The assembled components of the MVP already include established weekly research seminar series with internal and external speakers, an annual molecular virology symposium, regular newsletters, and research program projects. We propose to enhance these activities with the establishment of a competitive grant program funded by the UPCI to support innovative pilot research projects among MVP investigators, with priority given to projects that increase collaboration among Program investigators. It is anticipated that the proposed MVP will markedly enhance the utilization and productivity of existing molecular virology resources and catalyze new research programs that will generate important new basic information and reagents relative to cancer research. These MVP research activities, through interactions with other UPCI programs, will advance and accelerate preclinical and clinical cancer research within the UPCI.
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