Chicago State University (CSU) is an institution with a predominantly African-American student body. Located on the south side of Chicago, CSU serves the highest proportion of black students of all public universities in the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa-Wisconsin contiguous four-state region and it is the largest producer of black baccalaureate black recipients. The CSU SCORE proposal addresses the need to increase the numbers of CSU minority students entering doctoral programs in the biomedical sciences. The proposal is a response to the NIH initiative to significantly improve the research capabilities of minority and minority serving-institutions. The quantitative goals of the CSU SCORE Program are (i) increase the number of junior faculty engaged in biomedical research, and (ii) to increase the number of biomedical research publications from CSU teaching faculty. The qualitative goal of the Program is to create a research environment at CSU which encourages students to point their career goals to leadership positions in biomedical research. The Program will organize its activities around five faculty-led research projects in biology, chemistry and psychology. Project 1. Dr. Mark Erhart-Evolutionary History of the Mouse t Complex: A Molecular genetics Approach. Project 2. Dr. John Leitzel-Amide-Linked DNA: Hybridization Behavior and template-Directed Synthesis. Project 3. Dr. Eric Peters-Fluctuating Asymmetry in Terrestrial Isopods as an Indicator of Hazardous Metal Exposure. Project 4. Dr. Kevin Swier-L major Infected Macrophage Activation of Naive T cells. These projects will offer CSU students a wide range of research subjects which also serve as on-campus activities for students who participate in the developmental projects of the CSU RISE and BRIDGES Programs. The funding of the Program will accelerate the realization of the institutional goal of becoming a major focal point of opportunities for under-represented minorities in biomedical research in the Chicago metropolitan area. The achievement of the Program goals will, in time, have a significant impact on the number of minority biomedical Ph.D. scientists produced in the Midwest.
