Sphingoloids in Cancer Biology and Therapy

An Administrative Core, Core A, is in operation which will continue to be responsible for the overall scientific guidance and for providing seamless day-to-day management and organization. Specifically, the Administrative Core provides: (1) The Steering Committee, chaired by the PI and composed of the projectand core leaders, that meets monthly. This steering committee has been in charge of assessing progress and enhancing interactions among the projects. Also, this committee will oversee the appropriate functions of the Cores. This committee is responsible for making decisions on fiscal issues as well (e.g. re-allocation of funds) through consensus. (2) The Program Group composed of the PI, the project leaders and co- PI's of each of the projects, postdoctoral fellows and students, the director of the Lipidomics Core and Associate Directors, and the Director of the SL Animal Core. This scientific group already meets at least once a month (every third Thursday at noon for 2 hours) and will continue to do so. In these meetings the Program Group reviews progress by one of the projects and/or one of the cores. This group functions primarily to enhance the overall as well as specific scientific activities. In addition, review of key publications is undertaken in the form of a journal club. This group also discusses specific scientific and technical issues pertinent to the development of the projects and the overall program. (3) The Internal Advisory Committee. This committee has been most helpful in provide programmatic advice. This committee convenes at least twice a year for overall review and to offer advice on the future development of the program project at a scientific level. This group also helps advise and steer administrative issues within SBU. (4) The External Advisory Committee. This committee, composed of highly regarded scientists, has met once a year during the annual retreat of the Program Project, and it will continue to do so. It oversees the progress of the projects, the use of the Cores, and has been most helpful in discussions about strategy as well as most recently in discussions and recommendations on translational research. (5) Supervise the secretarial and business support of the program. The administrative manager will oversee the specific budgets of each projects and the cores, and will keep project leaders up to date on expenses versus budgets.