Research Programs
UF Health Cancer Center Research Programs
The research priorities of the UF Health Cancer Center cut across and align with our three research programs.
Cancer Population Sciences (CPS)
Mission:
The mission of the Cancer Population Sciences Research Program is to understand and reduce cancer risks and cancer-related burden within the UFHCC catchment area.
Program Co-Leaders:
Membership:
92 members from 10 colleges and 36 departments/schools
Program Aims:
- Identify risk factors, improve cancer prevention, and optimize screening
- Reduce cancer burden by mitigating cancer-treatment toxicities, alleviating symptoms, improving palliative care and survivorship, and increasing participation in clinical trials through tailored communication
Working Group(s):
- Tobacco Control Working Group
- Supportive and Palliative Care Work Group
- Health Disparities Working Group
- Cancer Communication and Technology Working Group
Cancer Therapeutics and Host Response (CTHR)
Mission:
The mission of the Cancer Therapeutics and Host Response Research Program is to advance understanding of interactions between tumor cells, immune cells, and microbiota that mediate tumor development, progression and host responses, and to develop therapeutics that capitalize on these mechanisms and interactions.
Program Co-Leaders:
Membership:
132 members from seven colleges and 31 departments/schools
Program Aims:
- Develop novel immunotherapies for refractory cancer
- Elucidate microbiome function in cancer development and therapeutics
- Identify and validate targeted therapeutics engaging key cancer pathways with small molecules and test new therapies in clinical trials
Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)
Mission:
The mission of the Mechanisms of Oncogenesis Research Program is to elucidate the genetic and epigenetic events dysregulated during neoplastic transformation and to identify therapeutic targets.
Program Co-Leaders:
Membership:
57 members from seven colleges and 21 departments/schools
Program Aims:
- Elucidate the role of neoplastic genomic instability and epigenetic alterations in cancer
- Define the role of regulatory RNAs, including microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs in oncogenesis
- Translate MOO discoveries into novel therapeutic approaches
Working Group(s):
- DNA Damage Working Group
- Epigenetics and IncRNAs Seminar Series
- Viroholics Working Group
Research Programs in Action
The three UF Health Cancer Center research programs hold monthly meetings and annual retreats and have established working groups centered around specific research program aims.
At program-specific monthly meetings, research program members gather to address areas of common research interest, discuss current research projects, collaborate to achieve specific aims, foster professional and program development and identify member needs. Each research program also hosts an annual retreat to present research and brainstorm potential research projects that align with the program’s mission and aims. The retreats foster new inter-programmatic interactions by including members from other research programs.
The three research programs have organized working groups aligned with program-specific aims. The research program leaders work closely with the working group leaders to provide support for basic scientists and clinical investigators. The objective of these groups is to provide a platform for investigators to interact, disseminate ideas, create new collaborations and strengthen ongoing interactions, with the goal of increasing submissions of multi-PI grant applications. The working groups include research program members as well as postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and research faculty from across UF.