The project is a 9-week program of research in prostate cancer supplemented with activities that broaden scientific background and provide inspiration for college students to continue to conduct prostate cancer research. The students from Prairie View A & M University (PVAM), will contribute to prostate cancer research themselves during the program and they and those they influence may well become the next generation of scientists who will provide answers to understand, prevent, and cure prostate cancer. Students will conduct research, attend laboratory activities, report on their research, participate in a prostate cancer research discussion group, have opportunities to attend a daily seminar series for undergraduates, career education activities, the SMART GRE Prep Course, social activities that promote networking and communication, and obtain individualized career counseling. This proposal benefits from the ability to integrate participants into a well-established summer undergraduate research program. Since 1989, the SMART Program at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas has provided from 83 to 133 undergraduates per year with summer research experiences, typically 30% to 35% of whom are from underrepresented populations, 8 from PVAM since 2003. The Matsunaga and Conte SPORE in prostate cancer and the Baylor Cancer Center, with a prostate cancer program, provide a strong research community through which undergraduates can conduct frontier level prostate cancer research. The HBCU STP will build on existing relationships and continue to strengthen the interaction between PVAM, a large state-funded HBCU, and a top-funded biomedical research institution.

It requires years for scientific efforts to yield clinically applicable results, but trainees will immediately begin sharing their knowledge with family members, friends, and college acquaintances. They will be encouraged to talk to family members about prostate cancer screening. Our alumni find they become an information source for family members and others in their community. People come to them to discuss information provided by physicians or to ask why there isn't a "miracle cure." Our alumni are not physicians but leave the program with more knowledge than the general public and often help others understand the status of research and interpret the information they have been provided by physicians

The participants selected will have an interest in prostate cancer research, a desire and ability to learn, and have demonstrated potential to be good candidates for graduate study. We will look for promising candidates who have overcome obstacles to get an education. Students will be provided a list of available prostate cancer projects and express their preference for projects, which will be honored whenever possible. Successful student/mentor/project matches allow students to use prior experience or knowledge but ensure that she/he will need to learn new techniques and concepts.

Students will spend 9 weeks conducting prostate cancer research with experienced, successful scientists. Students¿ projects will encompass topics that include how cells respond to changes in their environment, hormone or drug interaction with hormone receptors, responsiveness of tumor growth and inhibition, expression of genes that cause cancer or proteins that are produced by cancer cells, or gene therapy. Students will become an integral part of the scientific community. They will read scientific papers on prostate cancer, plan and conduct experiments, interpret their results, interact with colleagues, and make presentations at lab meetings and for the program. Mentors will note when students achieved milestones in becoming more independent researchers and encourage students to think about developing therapies for prostate cancer. The projects will focus primarily on basic research that will ultimately contribute to a better understanding of prostate cancer and hopefully lead to therapeutic or even preventative treatment for patients who are at high risk for or have prostate cancer. Projects will be defined each year as trainees are identified; therefore, we can only speculate on the types of contributions they will make, but it is reasonable to expect that some students may contribute to understanding the role of vitamin D or other cellular molecules or drugs in inhibiting or promoting prostate cell or tumor growth. They may identify biomarkers for tumor progression or create constructs for gene therapy. Students will learn about prostate cancer and general cancer research through a research discussion group focused specifically on prostate cancer and through SMART Program seminars, seminars presented for prostate cancer researchers through the SPORE and BCM Cancer Center, and seminars presented at PVAM.

Entry into Ph.D. programs will be facilitated by interacting with students, including African Americans, completing graduate training as scientists or physician scientists. Advice on applying to graduate programs will be provided through workshops and individualized career counseling. Participants will have access to the SMART GRE Prep workshops to improve their scores on the test used to determine opportunities for graduate study. The impact of the program on further study and contributions to prostate cancer research will be assessed through student and mentor evaluations and annual follow-up of alumni through surveys.