Prairie View A&M/Baylor College of Medicine SMART Summer Undergraduate Prostate Cancer Research Project; Annual summary, 15 Mar 2007-14 Mar 2008

摘要

The goal of this project is to encourage undergraduates to enter careers in prostate cancer research. This project involves BCM faculty presentations at Prairie View A & M University and a 9 week summer prostate cancer research experience at BCM for up to 5 undergraduates/year from PVAMU (4 participated in 2007; 5 or 6 will be recruited for 2007.) Participants attended a weekly research discussion group focused on prostate cancer. Students make PowerPoint presentations on their work at the end of the program. The participants are co-registered in the SMART Program at Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.tmc.edu/smart) and have access to elements of the SMART Program including a interdisciplinary seminar series, career development activities and career counseling and the SMART GRE Prep Course. Four students participated in the 2007 program. One student showed that a CYP24 inhibitor potentiated vitamin D mediated growth inhibition, another examined combination treatments in prostate cancer cells, a third studies transition to myofibroblasts, and the fourth studied actions in dendritic cells. Student made multiple presentations. Participants reported significant gains in knowledge and skills.