Summer Research Experiences in Quantitative Cancer Sciences and Emerging Technologies

Roswell Park is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Upstate New York. As a free-standing cancer center, Roswell Park has a long-standing (70+ years) tradition of developing and implementing rigorous educational programs across the training continuum, including the NCI-R25 (R25CA181003, currently in Year 10) supported program that has provided immersive research experiences in cancer sciences and oncology to undergraduate students and clinical trainees (medical/dental/nursing). Since its initial award in 2015, over 300 interns have successfully completed this program. Trainee research productivity during the previous award period has been excellent with R25 interns serving as primary authors or co-authors on a total of 35 publications in cancer-specific journals including 11 publications in high-impact journals. Leveraging these successes over the previous funding period and to meet the evolving needs of cancer research, this R25 renewal application seeks to provide research experiences to college and medical students focused on quantitative sciences and emerging technologies. Specifically, the program will train students on quantitative physical sciences including cancer imaging, genomics/bioinformatics, computational oncology, and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) based methods. The program leverages the expertise of over 50 faculty members at Roswell Park and their innovative research programs and benefits from access to state-of-the-art technologies in our CCSG-supported resources. Key metrics of programmatic reach (enrollment trends) and outcomes (knowledge gains, career choices) will be continually measured and opportunities for improvement identified based on trainee and mentor feedback to ensure successful training experiences. These experiences will allow interns to appreciate how mathematics, physics, and engineering are integrated with biology in cancer research and allow them to explore how quantitative approaches can accelerate discoveries in oncology and improve outcomes in cancer patients.