MicroRNAs, epigenetics and RNA alternative splicing in cancer health disparities: The Lee laboratory has 25-years of experience in the application of molecular, genomics, computational approaches and animal models to elucidate genetic networks and pathways promoting cancer progression (e.g. metastatic potential, epithelial-mesenchymal transition). My laboratory is currently investigating the hypotheses that race-specific microRNA-mRNA networks and race-specific, aberrant alternative RNA splicing may underlie a biological component of prostate cancer disparities between the African (AA) and European American (EA) populations. We have identified and cloned race/population-specific splice variants of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. By applying in vitro molecular techniques and mouse xenograft models to functionally characterize these variants, we demonstrate that many AA-specific/-enriched variants encode more aggressive signaling oncoproteins and/or resistance to clinically relevant small molecular inhibitors.