The grant will provide $2.5 million in the first year, with total recommended funding over the five-year period of more than $13 million. The grant recognizes VICC's researchers for their innovative leadership in the development of new ways to treat and prevent breast cancer.

Vanderbilt-Ingram teams also hold SPOREs in lung and gastrointestinal cancer, each providing $12 million-$13 million in funding over five years.

The NCI began the SPORE program 11 years ago to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the clinic and to foster innovative research with clear potential to make improvements in cancer treatment and prevention. Currently, 55 SPOREs are distributed among 24 institutions, according to the list provided at the recent 11th SPORE Investigators' Workshop hosted by the NCI.

"To be awarded a SPORE, centers have to be doing research that the NCI believes will really make an impact on the disease," said Dr. Carlos L. Arteaga, Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and director of the new SPORE. "It is wonderful to have a seat at the table with the top breast cancer research centers in the country."

The proposal submitted by Arteaga and his colleagues scored in the highest possible range of "outstanding." Arteaga noted that this score reflects "the fact that the NCI and peers have very high expectations of us, and we are ready to meet those challenges."

SPOREs are organized at cancer centers around a specific type of cancer. Each project must involve both basic and clinical scientists, must include a population-based research component, and must focus on translational research. This translational f
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Contact: Cynthia Floyd Manley
cynthia.manley@vanderbilt.edu
615-936-5711
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
11-Aug-2003