Overview and Goals
The UPCI Molecular Virology Program (MVP) is a basic research program designed to coordinate and focus the diverse molecular virology research personnel and resources on important fundamental problems in cancer research, and to expedite the translation of basic studies to clinical applications within UPCI. The Program has the following specific aims:
- To elucidate basic mechanisms of viral transformation at the cellular level
- To characterize AIDS-related malignancies and investigate the epidemiology, immunology and virology of immunodeficiency-related cancers caused by tumor viruses
- To develop novel viral vectors for gene therapy of cancer
- To discover new agents involved in human carcinogenesis and develop new genomic approaches to pathogen discovery
To accomplish these goals, the MVP has assembled a team of 28 highly interactive and productive faculty researchers, focused on 4 research themes: Viral Oncology (VO), AIDS-Related Malignancies (ARM), Viral Vectors for Human Gene Therapy of Cancer (VVGT), and New Pathogen Discovery (NPD). The organization of the MVP represents a consolidation of well-established research groups that have an impressive track record of individual and collaborative research productivity.