The primary goal of the COBRE is to build upon the critical mass of basic science and translational cancer researchers that has been developed during Phase I funding of the Cancer Biology Research Center. Phase II will focus on cancer research with direct translational relevance to human patients. Thus four of our five project leaders are physician scientists with expertise spanning basic, translational, and clinical cancer research. It will be a goal to translate our laboratory findings into human clinical trials. There will be an emphasis on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and the importance of the immune system in treatment of patients with this disease. Continued COBRE funding will allow us to establish a core of established researchers in this area who will be competitive for external peer-reviewed program project grant support, helping us to reach sustainability beyond COBRE funding. A second theme of childhood cancers will be developed over the period of Phase II funding. Continued support of research core facilities will aid our investigators in obtaining critical preliminary data for the submission of competitive grant applications. We will train students at multiple levels to help build the regional cancer research work force. We expect PhD and clinician scientists who train in our laboratories to establish successful careers as cancer researchers. To accomplish these goals we have established several specific aims as follows: 1) to support the research of 5 Project Leaders allowing them to establish competitive, funded research programs. Support will include mentoring, opportunities to participate in training of students, gaining further skills in lab management, grant writing and reviewing, and publishing. 2) to establish effective advisory committees to guide further development of the center. This will include an Internal Advisory Committee and an External Advisory Committee. Each committee will be made up of highly regarded and established investigators with expertise relevant to the goals of the center. 3) to support two Core Laboratories that will provide essential services in support of the Project Leaders and other investigators. The 2 Core Laboratories will be Molecular Pathology (Core B) and Flow Cytometry (Core C). Both cores were initiated with Phase I funding and will be heavily used by all Phase II project leaders. 4) Provide pilot project funding with the goal of supporting projects related to the overall theme that have the potential to lead to further external funding, thus enhancing the overall center. Overall, we expect to become well established in the areas of head and neck cancer and childhood cancers, thus being competitive for program project type funding (e.g. P01) that will bring long term stability to our center. In this pursuit, we expect to further develop our expertise that allows basic discoveries to be translated into clinical trials in human cancer patients.

This funding will further establish a research center with expertise in basic, translational, and clinical cancer research. A major theme of the center will be head and neck cancer and the role of the immune system in improved therapeutic approaches. The overall goal will be to support the research of five investigators who will impact cancer treatment by taking laboratory findings into clinical trials.