The National Cancer Institute award establishes Purdue’s first cancer-focused NIH training program and prepares doctoral students for the collaborative nature of modern cancer research.
The Purdue Institute for Cancer Research (PICR) has received a five-year T32 training award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to establish the Purdue Interdisciplinary Cancer Research Training program, known as PICRT, a doctoral training program designed to prepare scientists for the collaborative, cross-disciplinary research modern cancer science demands.
The award establishes Purdue’s first NIH-funded doctoral training program specifically dedicated to cancer research. It reflects both the maturity of the institute’s research enterprise and the NCI’s confidence in Purdue’s ability to train the next generation of cancer scientists.
Among the most competitive mechanisms in the NCI training portfolio, the T32 is awarded to institutions with the faculty expertise, research environment and infrastructure necessary to support advanced doctoral training. The proposal received an exceptionally strong peer-review outcome through the NIH review process, underscoring the rigor and relevance of the program’s approach. The five-year award represents recognition of PICR’s scientific depth and long-term NCI investment in the institute’s future.
The complexity of cancer has long outpaced what any single discipline can address, and the way researchers are trained must reflect that reality.
“The cancer research is interdisciplinary by necessity, but the training has to be systematically and deeply personal,” said Dorothy Teegarden, associate director of cancer research training and education at PICR, professor in Purdue’s Department of Nutrition Science, and PICRT program director. “What we are building is the kind of mentoring environment where PhD students can discover not only how to conduct cancer research, but also where they want to take their careers and how they can make consequential contributions to the field.”
Funded trainees enter PICRT in their second or third year of doctoral study with deep grounding in a home discipline. The program then deliberately expands their perspective through interdisciplinary summer research embeddings in laboratories outside their primary field, cancer-focused coursework, NIH-style grant development, professional development and exposure to academic, industry and translational research career pathways. The program is co-led by Danzhou Yang, whose complementary research background reflects the breadth PICRT is designed to cultivate. Yang is a PICR member, associate dean for graduate programs in Purdue’s College of Pharmacy, the Martha and Fred Borch Chair in Cancer Therapeutics and Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.
PICRT’s cohort model is intentionally collaborative. Trainees move through the program together, organizing Cancer Research Day, hosting external seminar speakers and developing community-facing service projects that connect their science to the public it ultimately serves. The structure is designed to strengthen scientific leadership, communication skills and collaborative fluency across research disciplines.
PICRT draws on the full depth of PICR’s research enterprise, with more than 30 faculty mentors across 12 academic departments participating through the institute’s three scientific programs: Cell Identity and Signaling; Targets, Structures and Drugs; and Drug Delivery and Molecular Sensing. The program is supported by evidence-based mentoring practices, individual development plans and program leadership with extensive experience in both cancer research and graduate education. The award advances a sustained commitment from Purdue University and the NCI to strengthen the future cancer research workforce, and positions PICR, as it approaches its 50th year of NCI designation, as a training hub whose influence will extend well beyond West Lafayette.