Our objective is to develop a major center for research in the area of gene structure and function at Hunter College - CUNY, encompassing research activities ranging from the molecular to the cellular levels of organization. The theme responds to timely opportunities for major research advances, enthusiastic student interest, and strong academic and industrial employment opportunities for emerging trained scientists in this area. Selected active research faculty together with research associates, graduate and undergraduate research students and technical support personnel from the Biology and Chemistry Departments of Hunter will be initially involved. Hunter College is now in a unique period of institutional expansion, with two new 17-story buildings just opened in Fall 1984 providing an unprecedented opportunity for a major step forward in science department development. The elements of our proposal are a concerted increase and development of staff, specialized laboratories and instrumentation, shared research resources in critical areas where needs and interests of research groups overlap, and many additional scientific activities which combined can result in a unique entity in American science: a major research capability in a minority public university. Minority scientists are significantly under-represented in gene structure and function areas. Specific initiatives to increase the number of minority faculty and staff at Hunter and to facilitate career development for the graduate and postdoctoral students who will become the independent minority scientists of the future are integral to our proposed development.
