There is a group of independent investigators at OSU with interests that span basic, preclinical and clinical aspects of brain tumor research. Funds from this Feasibility Grant plus considerable institutional support (contingent upon funding for this grant) will permit our group to establish three major components essential to develop into a cohesive Center with the theme of """"""""glioma growth control"""""""". For the first 3 years (Phase I) the major goals are the following: 1. Support interactive research projects of three new investigators who are bringing necessary breadth and depth to the group's expertise in the areas of molecular biology, flow cytometry, and epidemiology. These projects are all designed to develop the Center's theme of """"""""glioma growth control"""""""", and they will be used as a test system for the Neuro-Oncology Translator and Information System. 2. Develop a Neuro-Oncology Translator and Information System that will provide easy access and sharing of data among distributed, heterogeneous neuro-oncology databases. It will be tested with data generated from the three new, interactive research projects and heterogeneous databases distributed throughout the neuro-oncology community as OSU. By the end of Phase-I, it will be functional within our Center and ready to distribute to other institutions, permitting easy sharing of data among collaborating Brain Tumor Research Centers. 3. Establish three core units (Molecular Biology; Neuropathology; Biostatistics) that will provide needed support to all of the new and several established research projects studying glioma growth control. The addition of these components to the existing excellent clinical and research facilities in a rich academic milieu will provide the essential ingredients to transform a group of independent investigators and clinicians with a common interest in glioma growth control into a coordinated, integrated Brain Tumor Research Center.
