Cancer is the 2nd major cause of human morbidity and mortality. Consequently, PhD and MD/PhD researchers trained in Cancer Biology and professionally involved in cancer research are a critical national health need. It is our view that a truly interdisciplinary graduate curriculum with a major focus upon the biology of cancer that interfaces with clinicians engaged in cancer diagnosis and treatment provides an excellent means of training specialists with a sufficient breadth of perspective for a successful independent career in cancer research. This is an application for renewal of a training grant currently in its 20th year to support 6 pre-doctoral candidates principally from the Graduate Program in Cancer Biology (GPCB) at the Wayne State University (WSU) and the Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI). Trainees will include both PhD and MD/PhD candidates and are selected from our diverse candidate population, including underrepresented minorities. Training draws from the outstanding clinical and research facilities at WSU/KCI and the expertise of 17 training faculty in areas ranging from fundamental processes involved in neoplastic development, invasion and metastasis, to cancer therapy and prevention. A cornerstone of our training environment is the GPCB, comprised of over 50 faculty from academic and clinical departments throughout our university, that provides a unique educational environment through extended cancer courses, lectures, seminars and symposia that culminates in a PhD in Cancer Biology. Graduate students will have the opportunity to become familiar with state-of-the-art methods in molecular and cell biology and will receive clinical exposure to the cancer problem through """"""""rounding"""""""" with oncologists at the KCI Cancer Hospital and attendance at KCI Grand Rounds. Training of the most outstanding graduate candidates from the GPCB will be significantly enhanced by a 2 year appointment to this NCI-sponsored training grant. The training experience for the T32 trainees will enable each to pursue a successful career in cancer research. During the past 20 years, this T32 CA009351 grant has trained an impressive group of cancer biologists who are currently contributing to basic scientific and translational cancer research efforts at research institutes throughout the United States. In accomplishing this, the training program has significantly contributed to meeting the critical national need for domestic and US-trained PhDs with a long term career commitment to cancer related research.
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