eRoundup for 06/12/09

Andrea Liatis was recently awarded a R36 Mental Health Dissertation Research Grant to Increase Diversity by the NIH National Institute of Mental Health for two years at $35,000 per year. The award will fund her dissertation research project entitled, The Role of the Sympathetic Nervous System in Major Depression and Inflammation.

This proposal will provide insights into possible mechanisms linking inflammation to major depression and will help identify molecular targets related to the sympathetic nervous system contributions to the relationship among stress, depression, and disease. Activation of the innate immune system may play a role in major depression and may contribute to the detrimental impact of major depression on the development and outcome of medical illnesses including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Stress, a well-known precipitant of major depression, also activates the innate immune system, and an exaggerated inflammatory response to stress is seen in patients with major depression and early life stress. Studies have shown that stress-induced increases in inflammatory responses are mediated in part through the release of catecholamines and stimulation of alpha-I adrenergic receptor subtypes. In contrast, beta-adrenergic receptor subtypes have been shown to inhibit inflammatory responses. Andrea's research will investigate the role of alpha-1 and beta-2 adrenergic receptor subtypes in increased inflammation in patients with major depression and varying levels of early life stress.

Andrea was among the first trainees in the PhD/MSCR duel degree program funded by the TL1 component of the Research Education, Training, & Career Development (RETCD) program of the ACTSI. "It is one of my career and research goals to bridge the gap between basic science and clinical research. My experience in the MSCR program has equipped me with all the necessary skills to accomplish this feat," said Andrea.  She recently completed the requirements for the MSCR and is working on her PhD dissertation. Andrea received her BS in Biology from GA Tech, is currently working towards her PhD from Emory University's Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience, and is currently being mentored by Dr. Andrew Miller. Read more...

Elizabeth E. Ofili, MD, MPH, ACTSI Co-PI and associate dean for clinical research, director of the Clinical Research Center, and chief of cardiology and professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, was quoted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the article Racial Disparities Persist in Ga. on June 10.

Beau B. Bruce, MD, ACTSI UL Scholar and Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, was quoted in Keeping Men with Intracranial Hypertension in Your Sights on Eyeworld.org on June 3.     

Morehouse School of Medicine's Clinical Research Center passed its ambulatory health care accreditation with no requirements for improvement. The announcement was featured in the June 5, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read more... 

Newsweek's Sharon Begley published a controversial column entitled From Bench to Bedside on June 5.

The Georgia Tech/Emory Collaboration (GTEC) for Regenerative Medicine and the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) have partnered to establish an inter-institutional grant program for regenerative medicine. This call for planning grants is aimed at groups requesting year two funding and new groups intending to pursue a multidisciplinary project in the area of regenerative medicine that has the potential for multi-investigator extramural funding in a three‐year time horizon. The goals of this RFA are to: 1) foster research that will unearth ideas and/or themes that will be the foundation of team‐based or center proposals; 2) develop collaborative teams around which larger proposals can be formed; and 3) produce preliminary data that will support the proposals and establish a track record for the team. Teams consisting of members from more than one institution are strongly encouraged. Awards will range in size up to $100,000 in direct costs for the first year with the possibility of similar level of support for the second and third years. A letter of intent for new submissions is due June 15. All proposals are due via email to Meg McDevitt by 5:00 p.m. on June 29. Funding is expected to commence starting August 1.Technical questions should be directed to the co‐chairs: Ravi Bellamkonda, GTEC (404‐385‐5038), Robert N. Taylor, ACTSI (404‐727‐9106), and W. Robert Taylor, GTEC (404‐727‐8921). For more information please click here. 

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.

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 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 Tuesday, June 16, from 2:00-3:00 p.m., and will feature Shawn Murphy, MD, PhD, Associate Director of the Laboratory of Computer Science at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. The series will be videocast here. Click here for more information about this series and continuing BTRIS news. 

NCI has over the last two years centralized within the SBIR Development Center (SDC) management of all its small business activities, presently comprising 300 active SBIR/STTR grants and 60 active SBIR contracts and supported by an annual budget of $108 million in fiscal year 2009. In order to increase the rate of commercialization of cancer products and services through the NCI SBIR/STTR programs, the SDC is building public-private partnerships by offering NCI Phase IIB Bridge grant awards that require matching funds from third-party investors, by sponsoring investor forums and annual grantee conferences to connect awardees with venture capital and angel investors (financial partners), and by connecting awardees with strategic (scientific) partners in big pharma and in non-profit charitable foundations.

The SDC is offering regulatory consultation services to its grantees on a limited basis (requires an application). In addition, they are trying to achieve a better balance of business development criteria versus technical review criteria in SBIR/STTR peer review at NCI, are ramping up the use of the SBIR contract mechanism to better emphasize with the small business community's commercialization goals (30% of annual budget is the goal), are heavily marketing contract and Bridge grant funding opportunities, and management initiatives to state biotechnology associations/centers, to the small business community in the cancer space, and to the media. Dr. Evans will highlight these NCI SDC topics in a twenty-minute presentation, followed by 10 minutes of discussion, during which he invites interactive discussion of the application of these initiatives to the CTSA program.

This two-day event will bring together stakeholders from government agencies, academic institutions, health care organizations, and technology companies to review the state of telehealth science and technology; identify gaps in knowledge that can be addressed through targeted research and evaluation initiatives; and explore ways to leverage evolving information and communication technologies to advance the field. The event will be held at the Main Auditorium of the Natcher Conference Center, (Building 45, NIH campus) Bethesda, MD. A workshop on the second day will yield specific recommendations to stimulate development, implementation, and evaluation of telehealth applications for clinical care, clinical and translational research, and health education and training. The ultimate goals are to broaden participation in research and improve health outcomes in medically underserved communities. For more information, please click here.

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.