As we enter the next phase of the RCMI program at the Ponce School of Medicine & Health Sciences (PSM), consistent with the mission and goals of NIMHD as well as the strengths of our developing programs in psychology and public health, the current Molecular Biology Core Laboratory will undergo an evolution to reflect the greater emphasis on synergizing basic and clinical research expertise at PSM. In so doing, we will build on the infrastructure and expertise we have amassed with previous support of this facility and incorporate PSM growing strengths in research among the clinical and public health programs to approach new directions in translational and health disparities research. The PSM has current research strengths in neuroscience, HIV/AIDS, cancer, human genetics (in cancer and hypertension), and women's health that already effectively use the molecular core to perform competitive, cutting edge research. We also have largely untapped reservoirs of high impact research projects in health disparities from the investigators among the faculty in our well-established Psychology programs and our Public Health school that do not yet benefit from incorporation of molecular biology in their research. In this next phase we will add aims relevant to (a) incorporating human genetics into our core and (b) specifically target the training and development of productive research from these Psychology Program and Public Health faculty in collaboration with the other cores and pilot project program. This renewal emphasizes the union of our current strengths (providing access to technologies and expertise to perform molecular biology) with the incorporation of very new areas that will allow our facility and our researchers to grow fully into compliance with the mission of the NIMHD to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities. In reflection of the larger scope of our mission, the current Molecular Biology Core Laboratory will be renamed as the Molecular biology And Genomics Core (MAGIC) at the PSM. In the coming cycle, the MAGIC will maintain the trajectory of growth of use of molecular biology among our basic science investigators, promote and facilitate the incorporation of our technologies into the work of our clinical and public health researchers, and expand our technologies to include tools and support for genomics research. These efforts will improve the quality, competitiveness and extent of translational and health disparities research at PSM.
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