PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Clark Atlanta University (CAU) is a comprehensive institution of higher education with a distinct Black-American heritage, and federally accredited as a historically black college/university (HBCU) by the US. Department of Education. The Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development (CCRTD) was established at CAU in 1999 with support from the NIH/RCMI program focused on research in cancer biology, drug discovery and social/behavioral aspects of cancer. In 2004, CAU focused the research program on prostate cancer and its impact in the African-American community. In 2005, the Center was designated as CAU’s 1st university-wide Center of Excellence with the following objectives: A) Develop a group of internationally known scientists that will execute high-impact basic research in cancer, and contribute in the development of successful therapeutic, community and translational strategies for cancer; B) Train undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in cancer research, and, hence, develop and produce future generations of African- American scientists of the highest caliber; and C) Establish educational programming to increase awareness for prevention, early detection and treatment of cancers, especially those which disproportionately affect the African- American community. As a consequence of targeted recruitment of faculty and staff over the past 19 years, CCRTD is currently one of the largest centers of its kind in the nation with a unique and comprehensive program whole dedicated to prostate cancer. We’ve recruited 9 external tenure-track faculty members to CAU with diverse expertise in biomedical sciences, and have expanded our social/behavioral faculty with 3 faculty from Social Work (2) and Public Administration (1). To provide state-of-the art research infrastructure, the CCRTD has developed research core laboratories to support research activities of faculty, staff and students which have undergone significant expansion throughout the past several years. We are also actively engaged in the research training and education of both undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, our community education and outreach unit has established dynamic educational and outreach programs for African-American men, their families and caretakers, and community-at-large in Southwest City of Atlanta and beyond. The current proposal seeks to expand and enhance the research agenda and community engagement activities at CCRTD through (1)transitioning the basic science research to early and beginning translational outcomes, expanding our research agenda in social/behavior sciences, recruiting faculty in health disparities research, and developing robust projects in biomedical or social/behavioral research of prostate cancer activities for junior scientists; (2)acquire new equipment to upgrade the current research core laboratories, renovate space to house new equipment and current equipment, and renovate data archit...