The overall goal of the Emory Winship Cancer Institute (Emory WCI) Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) for Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) is to improve prevention and treatment of head and neck cancer with emphasis on new discoveries, rapid translation to patients who are suffering, disability and morbidity caused by this disease. The SPORE program will consist of four major translational research projects, two research cores, an administrative core, a developmental research program, and a career development program. The four main projects are: (1) Chemoprevention with Green Tea Polyphenon E and EGFR-TKIs in HNC; (2) Targeting Death Receptors-Mediated Apoptosis for HNC; (3) Developing Novel Small Molecule of Curcumin Analog for HNC; (4) Biodegradable Nanoparticle Formulated Taxol for Targeted Therapy of HNC. The two research cores (Specimen Resources and Pathology Core, Biostatistics and Data Management Core) will assist the main research projects, developmental research projects, and career developmental investigators in performing head and neck cancer translational research. The Administrative Core will provide scientific and financial oversight for the SPORE program. The Emory WCI HNC SPORE investigators will work closely together as a team to achieve the goals of the program and will also interact with investigators from HNC SPORES at other institutions and other research programs to improve outcomes for head and neck cancer patients.              Last update: August 11th, 2006 by Robert Fu & Edwin Shin