This P20 proposal presents a research and educational partnership between the Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center (WFUCCC) and the Departments of Biology and Chemistry of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University (NC A&T). The objectives of the partnership are: (1) to foster cancer research collaborations between WFUCCC and NC A&T, especially research focused on cancer disparities and to facilitate the career development of minority cancer research faculty at NC A&T through collaborations with and mentoring provided by the WFUCCC;(2) to foster interest in obtaining a PhD in cancer biology among minority undergraduate and Master's degree students at NC A&T. To achieve the first objective, the P20 will provide pilot funds for two collaborative research projects: (1) Drs. Suzy Torti and Yong Chen of the WFUCCC will mentor and collaborate with Dr. Marion Franks, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at NC A&T, on a project to synthesize and evaluate novel benzylidenes as prostate cancer chemopreventive agents;(2) Dr. Waldemar Debinski, Director of the Brain Tumor Center of the WFUCCC, will mentor and collaborate with Dr. Patrick Martin, Assistant Professor of Biology at NC A&T on a project to understand the role of transcription factor Fra1 in glioblastoma cell mobility and resistance to therapeutics. To achieve the second objective: (1) Selected RISE, MARC, and BLEND program undergraduates at NC A&T will participate in wet laboratory, computational biology, or health disparity outreach projects mentored by WFUCCC faculty;(2) Each pilot project team will select at least one NC A&T Master's degree student to;participate in the project. The students will be offered the option of continued participation in the projects as PhD students in Cancer Biology at WFU;(3) WFUCCC and NC A&T faculty will collaborate to develop didactic teaching modules in cancer genomics and animal models of cancer for currently ongoing coursework at NC A&T. By the conclusion of the P20 it is expected that: (1) Drs. Franks and Martin and their WFUCCC collaborators will be writing joint RO1s;(2) The WFUCCC and NC A&T will be writing an R25 bridge application to support enrollment of NC A&T students in the PhD program in Cancer Biology at WFU.
