Project Period :March 01, 2007 -
February 28, 2008
Funded By : Department of Defense, Undergraduate Collaborative Summer Training Program To Inspire Students In Prostate Cancer Research
Grant No. : W81XWH-07-1-0274
PI :
Paul Godley, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.P.
Shaw University Mentor:
Daniel L.
Howard, Ph.D.
Program Director:
Gwendolyn Sancar, MD, PhD
Program Manager:
Mary Anderson
SUUPPRT is a collaborative project between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), a Research I university renowned for its multidisciplinary approach to cancer research, and Shaw University, the oldest Historically Black College/University in the South. The long-term goal of SUUPPRT is to increase recruitment of Shaw University students to UNC's graduate and professional schools with prostate cancer training or research programs.
SUUPPRT seeks to immerse promising undergraduate students with an interest in prostate cancer research into the research culture and to provide these students with the career guidance and preparation necessary to successfully matriculate to UNC-CH or other Research I universities.
Each year four Shaw University students who show exceptional academic promise will be admitted to SUUPPRT. Thirteen (13) different principal investigators at UNC-CH, engaged in diverse areas of prostate cancer research such as tumor biology, host factors, epidemiology and public health, serve as research mentors for a ten (10) week summer research experience for SUUPPRT students. During this time students engage in original research projects
and learn principles of experimental and project design, execution of procedures inherent in the design, and data analysis and interpretation. A series of weekly discussions and seminars with faculty from UNC-CH, Shaw University and Duke University introduce the students to the spectrum of research into prostate cancer. Weekly lectures on genetics and molecular biology provide the background necessary to understanding modern prostate cancer research.
Students also participate in weekly seminars and workshops in which
they meet minority role models and discuss issues such as the life
of a graduate student and of a research scientist, and the life of a
practicing physician or a research scientist.
SUUPPRT is built on a strong foundation of existing collaborations between Shaw University and UNC-Chapel Hill. The two universities have formed the Shaw-UNC Center for Prostate Cancer Research as well as the UNC-Shaw Partnership for Health Disparity Research, and collaborate on several funded research projects devoted to these two areas. Thus SUUPPRT students will be nurtured in a highly successful collaborative environment devoted to understanding the origins of prostate cancer, treating those afflicted by this disease and preventing it in future generations.
