eRoundup for 05/22/09

Biotech research center to open in Atlanta
David S. Stephens, MD, ACTSI's principal investigator and vice president for research in Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center, was quoted on May 19, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

The Health Systems Institute (HSI) is pleased to announce its 2009-2010 seed grant funding program for collaborative and interdisciplinary projects to stimulate research with direct relevance to health and healthcare delivery. Now in its fourth year of funding, the Health Systems Institute is partnering with colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Management, Sciences, and Research Centers at Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Emory University's School of Nursing, the Georgia Tech and Emory Predictive Health Institute, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and Atlanta Veteran's Administration R&D Center of Excellence. The research must relate directly to research thrusts and applications in healthcare identified in the call, and the objectives of the project should include an outcome that will benefit recipients of healthcare. Evaluation of each proposal will be on the basis of scientific merit, potential health care impact and significance, the potential for commercialization and the potential of the project to obtain further support upon expiration of seed grant funds. Applications are due May 29, at 5:00 p.m. and all investigators who intend to submit a proposal in this cycle are requested to submit a non-binding letter of intent by May 18, at 5:00 p.m. For more information please visit www.hsi.gatech.edu/seedgrantcfp/.

NCRR just released a new ARRA funding opportunity entitled Enabling National Networking of Scientists and Resource Discovery (U24) (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RR-09-009.html). The goal of the initiative is to develop, enhance, or extend infrastructure for connecting people and resources to facilitate national discovery of individuals and of scientific resources by scientists and students to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and scientific exchange. Six diverse institutions must collaborate in an application. The receipt date is June 15; with funding by September 2009.

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.

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.

In the midst of the numerous recovery act funding announcements from the NIH, the CCPH noticed a dramatic rise in inquiries from community-based organizations that are either applying directly for NIH funding or as partners of academic institutions that are the lead applicants. This conference call is the first in a series that will focus on responding to the most frequently asked questions. Each call will include speakers who will provide answers and insights from their direct experience, helpful handouts, and links to relevant resources.  Call notes and handouts will be posted on the CCPH website for future reference. The first call is scheduled for June 3, from 3:30-5:00 p.m. and will address the "why and how" of obtaining a federally negotiated indirect rate, a federal wide assurance for human subjects research, and registration through grants.gov and NIH eraCommons. Speakers on the call will include Elmer Freeman, Executive Director, Center for Community Health Education, Research, and Service in Boston, MA and Loretta Jones, Executive Director, Healthy African American Families II, Los Angeles, CA.  Learn more about their organizations online at www.cchers.org/ and www.haaf2.org/. To register for the call, please click on this link: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/ccphuw/77771.

This seminar will focus on challenges and solutions for collecting DNA and RNA samples, including an overview of how Oragene products can integrate into your workflow from collection to genetic analysis. The seminar will be held on Friday June 5, from noon -1:00 p.m. at Emory University's Whitehead Biomedical Research Building (615 Michael Street), Conference Room 300. All participants will receive complimentary test kits. Should you wish to attend, please RSVP to the following email address:  anusha.gandhi@dnagenotek.com . Alternately, you may sign up for one of these seminars online by registering here. Lunch and refreshments provided.

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.