DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Marshall University in the final stages of the development of the Edwards Cancer Center. Through the generosity of the Edwards family, funds are being used to construct a cancer center building and to establish an endowment. The new Cancer Building is currently being constructed and will be primarily a diagnostic and treatment facility. In light of these developments we are establishing a Cancer Research Center (CRC) that will complement and interdigitate with the clinical component of the Edwards Cancer Center. As part of this CRC we are proposing a COBRE entitled "Transcription Factors in Cancer" The COBRE consists of four projects and three cores. Project 1: "Beta catenin function and retinoic acid in melanoma", Beverly, Delidow, Principal Investigator will build on preliminary findings that retinoic acd reduces nuclear content and function of beta-catenin in melanoma to explore the consequences of this multifunctional protein in progression of human melanoma. Project 2: "Retinoids, NF-kB and Mn-SOD in Neuroblastoma", Kelley Kiningham, PI. will explore the hypothesis that Mn-SOD is required for retinoid-induced differentiation and that reactive oxygen species are involved in signaling. Project 3 "Sap, a potential zebrafish oncogene", Maiyon Park, Principal Investigator investigates the exciting finding that overexpression of sap in zebrafish embryos leads to tumor formation and will determine if a human oncogene counterpart is present is some human tumors. Project 4: "The role of Ski/Sno in testicular cancer", Laura Richardson, PI, deals with overexpression and function of this transcription factor in testicular cancer. These projects are supported by Administrative, Imaging and Genomics Cores. All projects deal with retinoids or its signaling pathway in a least a portion of their research. Thus there will be a great deal of interaction regarding common assays and reagents. This critical mass of investigators working on a common scientific theme with multiple interactions, supported by strong cores provides a unique opportunity for both career development of COBRE investigators and development of a nationally competitive research center.