Nebraska Prostate Cancer Research Program
Abstract
Rationale for the Proposed Training Program: Prostate cancer (PCa) has the highest incidence of solid tumors in male. The incidence of PCa is 65% higher and the mortality rate due to this cancer is more than double in African-American men when compared to Caucasian men. While surgery and chemotherapy can cure the disease, in many cases it will spread and kill the patient. Better basic scientific understand of this disease is needed to enable the development of more effective clinical treatments. The development of better PCa treatments depends on the training of PCa researchers. This proposal is requesting support to train Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) undergraduate science majors in PCa research. The conception of training undergraduate HBCU students from Clark Atlanta University (CAU) at Nebraska Prostate Cancer Research Program (NPCRP) in the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) is based on long-term interactions between Dr. Ming-Fong Lin, Principal Investigator (PI) of UNMC, and Dr. Shafiq Khan, PI of CAU since 2004. They also have ongoing research collaborations. The concept of jointly training undergraduate student from CAU at NPCRP at UNMC during the summer is thus put forth. Goals of the Training Program: The goal is to train CAU HBCU undergraduate students yearly at NPCRP for obtaining experience in PCa research during the summer. The training program will support the trainees in achieving these goals, including (i) learning how to perform scientific research. For the major part of experience, the students will perform a research project in a lab. (ii) The students will attend sessions designed to prepare students for summer research and to learn about career options in biomedical sciences. (iii) The students will attend seminars that present a variety of biomedical research and acquaint them with specialized tools that are used in PCa research. The research projects support achieving these goals by that these students will have hand-on experience in PCa translational research and explore themselves to diverse biomedical sciences by attending seminars and visiting labs. The training program, mentors involved and the plan for recruitment and tracking of trainees: The plan for recruitment: CAU faculty members in Biology and Chemistry departments who are teaching undergraduates will announce the opportunity and help identify potential participants in the PCa training program. The announcement will also be posted at CAU posters, the websites, e-mail to students and the student clubs. Together, these will enable potential participants in this program to self-identify. Student applications will include transcripts, faculty recommendation letters, and a personal essay describing the student s interest in performing PCa research. They will be chosen by Drs. Lin and Chaney in consulting with Drs. Khan and Odero-Marah. Each UNMC faculty mentor will have a description of research interests appropriate to an undergraduate student and links to lab websites for students to read. Students will indicate preferences in research areas and identify potential faculty mentors. After selection, based on student interests and faculty availability, students will be matched with faculty mentors. Only one student will be assigned to any faculty mentor during a summer session. Faculty mentors will accept students based on the students applications. Tracking of Trainees: During the academic year, those students will continue research in a lab at CAU preparing for a graduate career in the biomedical sciences or medical schools. These students will be requested to keep contact with Dr. Khan s office at CAU upon their graduation. Ultimate Applicability of the Research Projects: There are over 10 NPCRP faculty members who are willing to mentor students in their own labs. The research projects fall within the Fiscal Year 2014 Prostate Cancer Research Program Focus Areas of Bi
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510459
Entities
People
- Ming-fong Lin
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Nebraska Medical Center