Research Project
10328018
SUMMARY A critical gap often exists at institutions serving underserved health disparity populations and underrepresented students (ISUPS) between access to Genomics technologies and the high costs associated with the required instrumentation, technical proficiency, and analytical expertise. The Genomics Core (GC) addresses this gap by providing expert and affordable access to high-throughput genomics technologies on a reduced fee basis for all Partnership investigators. The GC benefits the entire Partnership by providing innovative approaches to explore early project ideas, and by working with Partnership investigators and their trainees to facilitate the use of genomics technologies to build sustainable cancer biology and cancer disparities research. To accomplish these goals, the GC (through the auspices of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy, CPCT) provides front-line genomics-related technologies, as well as bioinformatics support for data analysis, to Partnership investigators through an affordable reimbursement model. The GC proposes to accomplish these goals through the pursuit of four specific aims designed to build capacity for biomedical and cancer research and training at UMass Boston by bridging a gap in the availability of cutting-edge genomics-based tools; support Partnership investigators who wish to pursue early project ideas, especially those that require innovative and/or technically challenging genomics approaches; bridge a training gap between students and high-level genomics-based technologies, and provide bioinformatics analysis of data generated in the core. In this application, the GC specifically supports FP2: Targeting androgen receptor signaling in prostate cancer in men with African Ancestry ? Steven Balk (DF/HCC - BIDMC) and Changmeng Cai (UMass Boston) and PP2: High frequency of CHD1 loss in BRCA2-deficient African American prostate tumors drives treatment resistance ? Zoltan Szallasi (DF/HCC - BCH) and Shailja Pathania (UMass Boston).
