eRoundup for 04/17/09

This is a reminder if you have not yet completed the CTSA Pharmaceutical Assets Portal Project Survey. If you are interested in learning whether investigational compounds (i.e., those that have been previously tested in humans) are available for your research please participate in the survey at www.ctsapharmaportal.org. Your participation is important in establishing the Pharma Assets Portal and may result in the development of new research partnerships and access to important clinical grade compounds for your research. Please take a moment to complete the survey.

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University's Woodruff Health Sciences Center has earned the prestigious National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Designation. With this distinction, Emory Winship realizes a decades-long goal and joins the ranks of this nation's elite cancer research and treatment facilities. Read more...

Woodruff Health Sciences Center has created the Emory Center for Critical Care (ECCC). The new center's purpose is to ensure the highest-quality critical care for patients across all facilities in Emory Healthcare, to integrate patient/family-centered care with research and teaching, and to provide more integrated, effective, and efficient use of resources. The center's founding director will be Timothy Buchman, PhD, MD, FACS, FCCM. The ECCC will benefit from Emory's new initiative and partnerships in bioinformatics as well as expertise in bioethics and research in health services and health outcomes. The ECCC will interface with the NIH-sponsored ACTSI to develop new programs that improve research and outcomes in critical care in Atlanta. Read more...

In an effort to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and promote technology training and awareness, the Translational Technologies and Resources (TTR) program of the ACTSI is pleased to co-sponsor biomedical symposia and other educational events related to translational technologies in research. Limited funds ($5,000-$10,000 per event) are available through the TTR program for co-sponsorship of educational events that align with TTR and ACTSI goals. To apply for funds to support your upcoming biomedical symposium or educational event, please complete an application.  Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. For more information about this educational partnering opportunity, please Deb Smith.

The recent ARRA legislation provides an unprecedented level of funding ($8.2 billion in extramural funding) to the NIH to help stimulate the U.S. economy through the support and advancement of scientific research. To read more, visit http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/.

NCRR announces the availability of CTSA Administrative Supplements to support research on pediatric outcome measures relevant to the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA). These are one-year awards in an anticipated amount of $50,000-$500,000 per project. A maximum of $5,000,000 may be provided for this solicitation. Applications should be submitted to NCRR's, Dr. Mary Purucker, using form PHS 398 and accompanied by a cover letter. This solicitation closes April 30, at 5:00 p.m. EST. Awards will be made by September 30. Click here http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-RR-09-005.html for more information. These awards are being made in partnership with the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD). Please direct any administrative questions Dr. Purucker. Scientific or technical questions related to the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act should be directed to NICHD's, Dr. Anne Zajicek.

Solicitation of Assays for High Throughput Screening (HTS) in the Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network (R03) encourages HTS assay applications from investigators who have the interest and capability to work with the Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network for chemical probe development. Read more. 

Investigators and U.S. institutions or organizations with active NIH research grants may request administrative supplements from NCRR for the purpose of accelerating the tempo of scientific research on active grants. Support for these supplements will come from funds provided to NIH through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) of 2009, Public Law 111-5. Consistent with the intent of the Recovery Act, the purpose of this program is to promote job creation and economic development along with accelerating the pace and achievement of scientific research. The NCRR administrative supplement application due date is May 18, 2009. View Administrative Supplements' Areas of Interest...

Midcareer Investigator Award in Mouse Pathobiology Research (K26) seeks to support established, outstanding pathobiologists by providing protected time for mouse pathobiology research and mentoring of beginning investigators. The target candidates are scientists engaged in mouse pathobiology research who are within 15 years of their specialty training. Read more.

NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) is designed to facilitate a timely transition from a mentored postdoctoral research position to a stable independent research position with independent NIH or other independent research support at an earlier stage than is currently the norm. Read more

The Clinical Research Curriculum Award (K30) is intended to stimulate the inclusion of high-quality didactic training as part of the career development of clinical investigators from diverse scientific backgrounds and disciplines. These programs prepare undergraduate, predoctoral or postdoctoral candidates to conduct research in team settings that are highly interdisciplinary and collaborative. Read more. 

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announces a new funding opportunity to enhance the development of clinical partnerships and translational research in the study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) - Partnerships for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Clinical Translational Research (U19): RFA-AT-09-002. For more information please click here. The NCCAM also announces a new funding opportunity that encourages investigator-initiated applications that propose to develop, enhance, and validate translational tools to facilitate rigorous study of CAM approaches that are in wide use by the public - Translational Tools for Clinical Studies of CAM Interventions (R01): PAR-09-066. For more information please click here.

Instrument Development for Biomedical Applications (R21) solicits innovative applications for the development of new or improved instrumentation for biomedical research. Projects should propose tools that can be used by a wide range of biomedical or clinical researchers, and are not limited to a specific organ or disease. Read more

Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH will also speak at Morehouse School of Medicine on April 17, and discuss The Meaning of Translational Research and Why it Matters. The lecture is hosted by the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute and will be held in the MSM, MRC Building, Room G-14 at 11:00 a.m. Dr. Woolf is a professor of family medicine, epidemiology and community health at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. He recently published an article in JAMA on the meaning of translational research and is a popular speaker on the subject. 

The Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS) team invites you to a series of lectures focused on informatics in biomedical and translational research. This series brings leading figures in the study and use of translational information systems from academic centers across the U.S. and will promote discussion about the future of informatics within the NIH intramural program. The next seminar will be on April 21, from 2:00 until 3:00 p.m. and will feature Henry Lowe, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics), Director of the Center for Clinical Informatics, and Senior Associate Dean for Information Resources and Technology, Stanford University School of Medicine. The series will be videocast here. Click here for more information about this series and continuing BTRIS news.

The NCRR and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development hosts a web-conference on April 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The purpose is to learn in a structured manner about different models for IRB evaluation of multisite pediatric research protocols. Presentations from experts on regulatory and policy expectations will begin the conference followed by discussions of examples of different models of facilitated IRB review. The web-conference is open to anyone with interest in facilitated IRB review of multisite pediatric research. To access the web-conference go to http://videocast.nih.gov/.

Morehouse School of Medicine's Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine and Master of Public Health Program present the Public Health Noon Seminar on Thursday, April 23, from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the NCPC Building, Room 306. The topic International Perspectives on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) will be discussed by moderator Khin Khin Soe, MBBS, MPH (Burma) and panel members Ariyaratne Manathunge, MS, MD (Sri Lanka), Getrude Ncube, MPH (Zimbabwe), William Ako Takang, MD (Cameroon), and Ana Maria Tudor, MD (Romania). Click here for more information.

Dr. David Stephens will serve as the moderator on a panel focused on NIH CTSAs and the ACTSI, Maximizing the Potential of CTSAs for Carrying out Multicenter Clinical Trials, and Translational Informatics and Establishing Clinical Trials at Specific CTSA Sites during the meeting of The Society of Clinical Trials from 3:00-4:00 p.m. on May 5. Mike Kutner, PhD, ACTSI Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) program director and Joel Saltz, MD, PhD, ACTSI Biomedical Informatics Program (BIP) director will serve as panel members. The meeting will be held from May 3 until 6, in Atlanta at the CNN Center's Omni Hotel. For more information and registration please visit www.sctweb.org.

The ACTSI's Community Engagement & Research Program (CERP) presents a Research-Community Workshop on Obesity. Morehouse School of Medicine and Emory University Rollins School of Public Health faculty cordially invite you or your representative to attend the workshop on Wednesday, May 20, at Morehouse School of Medicine. Click here for more information.

The Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) presents The Role of MYH9 Polymorphisms in Glomerular Disease presented by Jeffrey Kopp, MD, Captain, U.S. Public Health Service and Staff Clinician, Kidney Disease Section, NIDDK, NIH. The lecture will be held on May 27, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Emory School of Medicine (1648 Pierce Drive NE), Room 120. For more information please click here.

The Society for Clinical Trials meeting in Atlanta on May 3, is hosting a one-day short course on clinical trials. To register please click here. Early registration, by March 20, is $325 and advanced registration, by April 15, is $350.

Current medical students at Emory University School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), and other health professional trainees pursuing doctoral degrees in public health, biomedical engineering, nursing and other fields at Emory, MSM and GA Tech can apply for short-term (3 month) stipends ($5,190 of salary support) funded by the Research Education, Training and Career Development (RETCD) program of the ACTSI. This mechanism will support medical and graduate students who are interested in a short course program focused on clinical and/or translational research under the mentorship of a successful, federally funded faculty mentor. Application for the short-term training program includes several components that should be submitted electronically by emailing TL1Applications@erooms.emory.edu. For more information please visit www.atlantactsi.org/areas/retcd/documents/TL1_three-month_program-9-30-08_FINAL.pdf.