The Emory University Winship Cancer Institute (Emory WCI) proposes to conduct a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) for Head and Neck Cancer (HNC). The overall goal of the Emory WCI HNC SPORE is to improve prevention and treatment of head and neck cancer with emphasis on new discoveries, rapid translation to patients who are suffering, disability and morbidity caused by this disease. The SPORE program will consist of four (4) major translational research projects, two research cores, an administrative core, a developmental research program, and a career development program. The WCI HNC SPORE will use an interdisciplinary approach to meet its objectives by carrying out projects with coinvestigators in basic, translational, and clinical science. All projects will test hypotheses about biology, prevention, molecularly and nanotechnology driven novel therapeutic approaches. The four (4) main projects are: (1) Chemoprevention with Green Tea Polyphenon E and EGFR-TKIs in HNC; (2) Targeting Death Receptors-Mediated Apoptosis for HNC; (3) Development of Novel Curcumin Analogs for the Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer, (4) Biodegradable Nanoparticle Formulated Taxol for Targeted Therapy of HNC. Each project in our SPORE program is centered on clearly defined translational objectives including pilot clinical trials (project 1, Phase I Study of Chemoprevention; project 2, biomarker studies; project 3, phase 0 trial of EF24; project 4, phase 1b clinical study) that have close interaction with the cores. The two research cores (Specimen Resources and Pathology Core, Biostatistics and Data Management Core) will assist the main research projects, developmental research projects, and career developmental investigators in performing head and neck cancer translational research. The Administrative Core will provide scientific and financial oversight for the SPORE program. We also have a strong commitment of support including space, recruitment, shared resources and matching funds from the Emory Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Woodruff Health Science Center at Emory University, Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC), and the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). The Emory WCI HNC SPORE investigators will work closely together as a team to achieve the goals of the program and will also interact with investigators from HNC SPORES at other institutions and other research programs to improve outcomes for head and neck cancer patients.
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