Tumor Cell Biology - Carcinogensis T32 Training Grant

The Carcinogenesis Training Program, funded by an Institutional National Research Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI T32 CA009560), provides comprehensive research training to nine predoctoral students per year in cancer biology. The program serves as a focus for interdisciplinary interactions among students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty in tumor biology with special strengths in signal transduction, adhesion, motility and angiogenesis, viral carcinogenesis, tumor therapy, translational studies, chemoprevention, immunotherapy, metabolism, genetics and epigenetics.

Candidates for funding in this training program come from the pool of second-year graduate students matriculated into either the Driskill Graduate Program (DGP) or the Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Program (IBiS), rather than departmental PhD programs.

Applications should include a letter of nomination from your thesis advisor, a statement of cancer research purpose, graduate school performance evaluations and your undergraduate academic transcript. They’ll be reviewed by the program’s steering committee in the spring of each year for fall admission. The program makes every effort to attract under-represented students from a variety of backgrounds. Predoctoral applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must first apply to DGP or IBiS graduate programs.

For additional information, contact Kathleen Green, PhD.

Program Directors

Kathleen Green, PhD
Program Director
Professor, Department of Pathology
Function and regulation of intercellular junctions in tumor progression

Jindan Yu, MD, PhD
Program Co-Director
Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Molecular regulation of prostate cancer

Gina Kirsammer, PhD
Administrative Director
Research Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Program Preceptors

Xiaomin Bao, PhD
Assistant Professor of Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Dermatology
Molecular determinants of stemness

Navdeep Chandel, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Mitochondria signaling and cancer

Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Molecular biology of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma

John Crispino, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Normal and malignant blood cell development

Elizabeth Eklund, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Molecular mechanisms of hematopoiesis

Daniel Foltz, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Chromosome instability and cancer

Cara Gottardi, PhD
Associate Professor, Medicine, Pulmonary Division
Regulation of catenin-dependent signaling and adhesion

Sui Huang, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
Perinucleolar compartment and cancer

Hiroaki Kiyokawa, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry
Cell cycle regulation in differentiation and tumor progression

Carol LaBonne, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology
Mechanisms of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Laimonis Laimins, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology-Immunology
Human papillomaviruses and cancer

Huiping Liu, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine
Molecular mechanisms of metastasis

Richard Longnecker, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology-Immunology
Epstein-Barr virus and hematopoietic cancers

William Miller, PhD
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
In vitro expansion of hematopoietic cell lineages

Richard Morimoto, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology
Protein misfolding and cancer

Panagiotis Ntziachristos, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and Medicine
Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of acute leukemia

Thomas O'Halloran, PhD
Professor, Department of Chemistry
Metalloregulatory proteins

Marcus Peter, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Micro RNAs in cancer progression

Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Cytokines and signal transduction pathways

Karla Satchell, PhD
Professor of Microbiology-Immunology
Secreted factors and immune regulation

Ali Shilatifard, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Epigenetics of hematologic malignancies

Alexander Stegh, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology (Neuro-oncology) and Medicine
Pathogenesis of glioblastoma

C. Shad Thaxton, MD PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Urology
Nanotechnology for cancer therapy

Derek Wainwright, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Immunotherapy for brain tumors

Gayle Woloschak, PhD
Professor, Department of Radiology
Nanocomposites; radiation sensitivity

Teresa Woodruff, PhD
Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Regulation of ovarian follicle growth; ovarian cancer