The project is a constituent of the NIH Graduate Partnership Program and serves to coordinate the doctoral research training and the university-NIH interface. The project provides trainees with molecular and comparative pathology educational content suitable for graduate credit at partnership universities. The Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Molecular Pathology Unit (MPU) staff has responsibility for training and mentoring trainees. Trainees undertake pre-dissertation research within the MPU for which they receive university graduate course credit applicable for earning the Ph.D. degree as comparative biomedical scientists. The veterinary pathologists undertaking research training integrate pathology into the range of intramural research. Program graduates finished PhD degree programs in molecular pathogenesis of melanocytic precursor lesions in melanoma; role of IL-27 in inflammatory bowel disease; and molecularly targeted therapy of Ewing's sarcoma. Current research topics include modeling therapy of multiple myeloma, therapeutic radiation brain injury, imaging biomarkers of tuberculosis exacerbation. The educational infrastructure within the training consortium includes university collaboration with the Molecular Pathology Unit and builds upon an interdisciplinary and comparative orientation to problems in biomedical science. Program and trainee accomplishments for fiscal year 2019 include: Presently there are 10 comparative biomedical scientists-in-training, supported by all NIH collaborating institutes. There are 3 program graduates who obtained PhD degrees during the reporting period. For the period of 2018 to present, current trainees have authored or co-authored 17 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles including 14 research manuscripts, 0 review articles, 3 clinical articles published in the following journals: Oncology, Nat Commun, J Pathol Inform, Genome Biol, Exp Neurol, Lung Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Front Immunol, Oncotarget, J Vet Diagn Invest, Inflamm Bowel Dis, Vet Pathol, Intl J Mol Sci. Four veterinary students participated in the 2019 NIH Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research (SIPBR) and trained in the labs of NCI, and NIA. The program organized and hosted a 2018 CBSTP program scientific symposium and career development conference.