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.

As of 2014, there are approximately 14.5 million cancer survivors within the United States and this populationis projected to grow to 19 million by 2024. Cancer survivors exhibit an accelerated aging phenotype that ishypothesized to be a result of their exposure to chemotherapy. Despite the preponderance of evidencesuggesting that this accelerated aging phenotype happens, there are few basic science initiatives poised tostudy the underlying molecular mechanisms and their therapeutic implications.

Cocaine use disorder is a chronic disease that takes a huge toll on society, and there is currently a lackof understanding of the cellular and circuit adaptations that take place in response to contingent drug use.While studies have examined excitatory signaling, there has been less focus on inhibitoryneurotransmission in brain regions that play a central role in addictive behaviors.

Even though ketamine has been heralded as a significant advance in the development of novel and rapidtreatments for depression, the acute psychotomimetic and reinforcing effects of this drug limit its utility.Previously, we demonstrated that activation of a circuit from the ventral hippocampus to the medial prefrontalcortex is both necessary and sufficient for ketamine?s sustained antidepressant-like effects in rats.