Scope 1: The University of Kentucky Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center (UK CNTC)

The University of Kentucky Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center (UK CNTC) will provide advanced multidisciplinary training of predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in a highly collaborative environment comprised of eminent faculty and productive laboratories in four Colleges, all located in close proximity to each other on the University's one campus. The 32 faculty members include 16 nanotechnology researchers in the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences and 16 basic biomedical scientists or clinical oncologists in the Colleges of Pharmacy or Medicine with specialties in gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, gliomas, radiation medicine, surgery, cancer screening, imaging, and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics. The interdisciplinary mentoring teams proposed build on relationships already developed among the faculty through existing collaborations involving multiple departments or among members of the Markey Cancer Center and their collaborators. Our overall goal is to foster the development of a new genre of cancer nanotechnology researcher who will fully appreciate the breadth of disciplines involved in translating novel laboratory findings to cancer diagnosis and treatment. Participants entering our program will emerge with a core expertise that can bring synergy to cross-disciplinary collaborations and a confidence and comfort level in working with an interdisciplinary team to overcome the shortcomings of current approaches in diagnosing and treating cancer. This will be accomplished through their immersion in the cross-disciplinary mentored laboratory training projects proposed, individualized problem-based instruction and focused laboratory training, participation in seminars, undergraduate and early graduate student mentoring, and outreach activities designed to educate the public. This confidence will require that participants possess both a clear understanding of the molecular basis of cancer and the unresolved clinical problems plus a sufficient expertise in nanotechnology to envision, articulate, and carryout research utilizing realistic nanotechnology solutions to these problems.