CANCER BIOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM

This competing renewal application requests a second five-year support by the Ruth Kirschstein NationalResearch Service Award (T32) for our ?Cancer Biology Training Program? based at the University of TexasHealth Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The goal of the CancerBiology Training Program is to educate and train the next generation of cancer researchers (pre- andpostdoctoral trainees) to meet the growing demands for scientists trained in multiple facets of cancer biology.Since the start of the T32 award in August 2011, all trainee positions (1 predoctoral and 3 postdoctoral) havecontinuously been filled. As a result, to date four predoctoral students and seven postdoctoral fellows havebeen appointed as T32 trainees including three from populations that are underrepresented in the biomedicalsciences. Going forward, we request funds to support the same number of predoctoral (1) and postdoctoral (3)trainees. Trainees will be selected for their academic achievements and their dedication to cancer research.The training program has 28 faculty mentors (19 full professors, 6 associate professors, and 3 assistantprofessors; 22 men and 6 women) from 8 departments who have full faculty privileges in the Graduate Schoolas well as in the NCI-designated Cancer Center, the Cancer Therapy and Research Center (CTRC), and withdiverse expertise that provides depth and breadth of research opportunities for trainees. The mentors, whoshare several collaborative projects and are very interactive, have a strong record of funded research (averagedirect costs >$500K per mentor in the current year) as well as in mentoring predoctoral and postdoctoralfellows. The Training Program includes predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees who are appointed for a period oftwo to three years. The training curriculum (including two cancer biology core courses, a cancer biology journalclub, and a drug development lecture series) stresses both basic and translational approaches to provideoutstanding training for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees in broad range of contemporary topics in cancerbiology and to give them a solid background in oncology necessary for their success in research both near-term and long-term. The curriculum, which has recently been revitalized with introduction of new didactics inbioinformatics, also emphasizes training in scientific communication with opportunities to improve both oral andwritten skills. The training program leverages the growing basic and clinical research opportunities on campusand active seminar series, especially at CTRC ? the only NCI-designated Cancer Center in South Texas, andstrong across-the-board institutional support from the PI's department chair to the university president. Thissole NCI-funded T32 Training Program at our institution is uniquely poised to train a diverse cadre of upcomingcancer researchers because a large number of underrepresented minority (URM) trainees are attracted to ourprogram making this a unique opportunity to enrich the diversity in the pool of future independent investigatorsworking in cancer research.