What are SPORES and why are they unique?

1. At the National Cancer Institute, SPORE stands for Specialized Program Of Research Excellence and is the “engine” created by the NCI in 1992 to translate basic science discoveries to the clinic (“Translational Research”). Currently, 58 SPOREs are performing translational research in brain, breast, gastrointestinal (GI), genitourinary (GU), head & neck, lung, ovary, pancreas, prostate, and skin cancers and in leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.
   
   
2. A SPORE maintains state-of-the-art research that contributes to improved screening, detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of organspecific cancers (or related groups of cancers). Within the NCI SPORE program, investigators design and conduct a wide spectrum of research activities, contribute significantly to the development of specialized research cores and improved research models, and conduct collaborative research projects with other institutions. The SPORE program was developed to promote multidisciplinary research in basic laboratory science, epidemiology, and clinical science.
   
   
3. SPOREs have roots in patient advocacy! In 1991, 25 patient advocates met to discuss the systemic disconnect between basic and clinical science research within the National Cancer Institute (NCI). As a result, SPOREs were the first program grants to focus on translational research, which turns scientific discoveries and observations into results for cancer patients and for the public. Patient advocates remain involved with all SPORE activities.
   
   
4. The SPORE program is the NCI's starting point for translational research that has made “team science” a reality by focusing on cancers that real people are suffering from on a day-to-day basis. SPOREs involve scientific research designed to answer specific biological questions that will lead to the improvement of life for people with specific cancers. Many SPORE projects study genetic or other biological mechanisms of cancer and try to reverse the cancer-causing process.
   
   
5. SPOREs include research projects by dedicated investigators, who collaborate with other investigators nation-wide to create an infrastructure for translational research. SPOREs combine their resources to ask questions that no one institution can address alone.
   
   
6. SPOREs are designed to move novel ideas, which have the potential to reduce cancer occurrence and mortality and to improve survival and quality of life, quickly from the basic science laboratory to the clinic.
   
   
7. SPOREs are action-oriented. Discoveries in the basic science laboratory go to the clinic in the form of clinical trials as quickly as possible, and results in the clinic are communicated back to the basic science investigators. SPORE patient advocates help the SPORES by 1) maintaining a translational focus through result-oriented questions asked from the patient's point of view; 2) assisting the investigators as needed; and 3) educating the public about the NCI SPORE program and the importance of its translational research.

More information about the NCI SPORE program can be obtained from its website at: http://spores.nci.nih.gov