Despite advances in neurosurgical techniques, radiation therapy and chemotherapy and the efforts of a dedicated group of investigators, the prognosis for patients with malignant gliomas remains poor. Research at M. D. Anderson and other centers over the past several years has resulted in new treatment approaches, including the use of signal transduction inhibitors and novel gene therapies. Translational efforts are underway to correlate clinical response with specific tumor markers and pharmacokinetic studies. Gene profiling studies are ongoing to discover new potential therapeutic targets and prognostic markers. Continued collaborative research efforts are needed to advance treatments by enhancing accrual to clinical trials that test new treatment modalities and provide the important materials for correlative biologic studies. The North American Brain Tumor Consortium (NABTC) represents a multi-institutional effort to combine the strengths of centers of excellence in brain tumor treatments to rapidly test new therapies while concurrently testing scientific hypotheses that will lead to future discoveries and advances. M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is one of seven NABTC clinical centers. The Pharmacokinetics Center is at the University of Texas, San Antonio. The Coordinating Center for the NABTC is at UCSF and the Data Management Center is at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The continued participation in the consortium by the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center represents an opportunity to play a critical role in the advancement of new therapies. New laboratory discoveries in the area of signal transduction modulation and gene therapies are planned for future clinical trials. Novel chemotherapy trials using combinations of agents as well as trial design strategies, such as the factorial designs, are undergoing preliminary testing at M. D. Anderson for future NABTC studies. The infrastructure at M. D. Anderson provides the critical elements to pursue these research objectives. The efforts directed at primary brain tumors represents the multidisciplinary collaborations of members of the Departments of Neuro-Oncology, Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, Neuropathology, Neuroradiology and Biostatistics. The institutional efforts at M. D. Anderson as a component of the NABTC will be an integral part of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) and the Radiation Research Program (RRP) of the Division of Cancer Treatment. The NABTC continues with the long-term goal of developing more effective treatments for patients with primary brain tumors, particularly malignant gliomas, combining longevity with the quality of survival.