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The Cancer Biology Program, which was formed in 1991, is comprised of seven laboratories that provide opportunities for new research directions that complement and benefit from the epidemiology and cancer prevention components of the Public Health Sciences Division. Major aims of the program are the establishment of biological mechanisms for the action of risk factors involved in the etiology of cancer and the development and application of quality-controlled biochemical testing of specimens from studies within the division. The faculty members and staff of this program have a strong background in interdisciplinary studies and function as a bridge between the basic cell and molecular biology components of the center and the public health focus of this division.

The Core Laboratory is the major site for processing and storing biological samples acquired in epidemiological and cancer prevention studies and conducts an ever-increasing range of biochemical and molecular tests. The faculty and staff of the laboratory participate on numerous grants and contracts in the division. Independent studies have also been initiated, for example on glutathione transferases (Primary Investigator Chu Chen). A second component of the Core Lab provides pathology and histology analysis in support of a number of studies both within the division and center-wide, as well as the initiation of research projects in breast and anogenital cancer (Primary Investigator Peggy Porter.)

Major projects in the individual laboratories involve research into papillomaviruses and the etiology of anogenital cancers (Galloway, Porter), genetic changes in the disease progression of Barrett's esophagus (Reid), the generation and role of DNA strand breaks in carcinogenesis (Kemp), and breast cancer studies (Galloway, Porter). All of these projects have an emphasis on the prime role of genetic instability in cancer initiation and progression and on the importance of understanding the mechanisms involved in the perturbation of cell cycle controls. In many of these studies, interdisciplinary collaboration between molecular biologists, epidemiologists, statisticians and clinicians is essential for specimen acquisition, testing, experimentation and analysis. The Cancer Biology Program serves as both an essential participant in public health science studies and as a paradigm for the development of interdisciplinary research programs at the Center.