DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of the Delaware INBRE application is to develop, over the five year term of the grant, a state-wide pipeline of capable and competitive medical research personnel. Success will be judged by a significant increase in the number of submitted and awarded NIH funded research grants and a significant enlargement of the pool of individuals and teams who can compete successfully for NIH grants. The pipeline will benefit from the effective infrastructure of people, processes, procedures and instrumentation that was established under the Delaware BRIN program. The pipeline will tie into all the institutions of higher education in the State and include an emerging medical research initiative underway in the State's health care system. All levels of research potential will be involved- undergraduate, graduate, post doctoral, faculty, medical interns and medical research personnel. For the application a 'first draft' strategic plan has been developed for each of the participating institutions, including a memorandum of understanding containing institutional commitments. This will be continually upgraded during the term of the grant. Also, a portfolio of research projects, selected competitively, has been developed at the research-oriented institutions. The research projects will encompass three research themes-Biomedical Translational Research, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology. The research programs will be led primarily by junior faculty, each with undergraduate involvement and a senior faculty member as mentor. Outreach programs, including internships, personnel exchanges, education and training programs, seminars etc., will be established to strengthen the undergraduate education and training capability of the non-research institutions and to increase the flow of knowledge into the pipeline. The process will be administered by the same team that managed the successful Delaware BRIN grant.