Developmental Funds

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Siteman Cancer Center (SCC) developmental funds support a successful seed grant program and will jointly support two developing shared resources, the High-Throughput Screening (HTS) Core and the Dissemination & Implementation (D&l) Core. The SCC Research Development Awards (RDA) are offered annually to SCC members to support and encourage translational, cancer-related projects. In order to promote inter-programmatic research sciences, co-investigators must be from different research areas (Basic Sciences, Translational and Clinical Research, Prevention and Control, and Oncologic Imaging). The program has been highly successful at providing new collaborations between investigators and has given investigators the opportunity to generate preliminary data that has then been used to apply and obtain external, peer-reviewed funding. The High-Throughput Core represents a multi-departmental effort with fiscal support for establishing the Core coming from the Siteman Cancer Center; the Washington University School of Medicine; the Departments of Radiology, Developmental Biology, and Cell Biology; the NCI PSO Molecular Imaging Center, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Overall, nearly $2 million has been invested in the establishment of this resource to date. This Core serves as an outstanding on-going example of how the SCC and a P50 program have leveraged university resources and continue to stimulate interdisciplinary activity throughout the WU campus. This core enables small molecule screens to identify agonists/antagonist of biologically/pathologically interesting proteins and perform sub- or genome-wide siRNA screens in live cell functional assays. The Dissemination & Implementation (D&l) Core will accelerate the public health impact of SCC work through research. This core leverages resources available across Washington University, including those ofthe Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS, the institutional CTSA), the Centerfor Excellence in Cancer Communication (CECCR) (NCI funded), and the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis (CDC funded). Goals are to increase the quantity, quality, and sustainability of D&l research, to identify specific approaches and tools to enhance the dissemination of SCC discoveries, and to apply effective strategies to disseminate evidencebased discoveries from SCC into clinical and public health practice.