DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Southern California was founded in 1971 and has been continuously supported by a Cancer Center Core Support Grant since 1973. It has developed into a major regional and national resource for cancer research, treatment, prevention and education. Center facilities have been built and developed with support from the NCI, the University and the Kenneth Morris Jr. Cancer Hospital, which is an integral part of the Cancer Center. The Center underwent a major expansion with the addition of the Norman Topping Tower in 1996 and is currently building a third facility, the Harlyne Morris Translational Research Tower. The Center's 191 members are organized into five thematic and five translational research programs, including a "bridge" program in developmental therapeutics. The thematic programs are headed by senior investigators in the fields of molecular genetics, epigenetics and regulation, tumor microenvironment, cancer epidemiology and cancer control research. The translational programs, which provide focus to our multidisciplinary research efforts, are in developmental therapeutics, genitourinary cancers, gastrointestinal cancers, women's cancers and hematologic and viral-associated malignancies. This application is for: 1) partial salary support for the Center's senior leadership, who are responsible for planning and overseeing our research efforts; 2) support for program planning and evaluation to keep the Center at the forefront of cancer research; 3) support for the administrative infrastructure of the Center; 4) partial support for the Center's 13 shared resources which facilitate the conduct of our peer-reviewed research; and 5) support for developmental funds to help us recruit new investigators in areas we have targeted for expansion. Continued funding from the Cancer Center Core Support Grant will allow us to build on our strengths in basic and population-based research and to translate our underlying expertise into strong, peer-reviewed funded research programs focused on cancers of major consequence in this country. Cancer Center members currently hold grants totaling $91 million in direct costs, with $40 million of that coming from NCI (all exclusive of the CCSG).