Research News - March 10, 2017

On March 6, 2017, President Trump issued a new Executive Order which, after revoking the January 27, 2017 order, updates and clarifies the policies set forth in that original document.  The categories of international visitors affected by the travel ban are now clearer, as is the time-frame for when the 90-day ban will begin.  If you are a foreign national or work with one, please review the updated guidance from PIPS before the ban takes effect on March 16, 2017 to determine to whom the new restrictions apply.

As policies continue to shift, please continue to look for new information, tips, and analysis on the PIPS website, and if you have questions about your specific set of circumstances, contact pips@partners.org.

Click here to read the latest news from the NIH Office for Extramural Research.

Wednesday, April 5, Simches Auditorium 3.110

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend!

The annual MGH Celebration of Science and the Warren Triennial Prize and Symposium will be held on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 in Simches Auditorium (3.110), broadcasting to Isselbacher Auditorium at CNY 149. Click here to view the full agenda!

More information on the event, as well as our Celebration of Science book, will be sent in the near future. Stay tuned!

Please note that there will not be a formal meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) or a poster session this year.

Tuesday, March 28, 10:30 am - 3:30 pm

The MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Scientific Advisory Board invites faculty, fellows, residents, nurses and other trainees at MGH to submit abstracts describing their original child health-related research. Selected researchers will offer poster presentations at the Ninth Annual MGHfC Research Day on Tuesday, March 28 from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.

Held on the third floor of the Simches Research Center, MGHfC’s Research Day highlights recent accomplishments and advances from MGHfC researchers, as well as scientists from the broader pediatric research community. Three outstanding abstracts will be awarded a $1000 travel grant for travel to a scientific meeting of the presenter’s choice in the following year.

For more information on MGHfC Research Day and details on submitting abstracts, visit http://www.massgeneral.org/children/research/research-day.aspx.  Authors should be in attendance from 2:15 to 3:30 pm for announcement of the travel awards.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

The ORCD's Research Fellow Poster Celebration will take place on May 18, 2017. The annual Poster Celebration highlights the excellent research being done by MGH postdoctoral fellows. The Call for Abstracts is now open! All MGH postdocs are invited to submit your research abstract now to present your research to the MGH community at this high-profile event. Abstracts/posters will be evaluated by a review committee, and the top presentations will receive awards and cash prizes.

Abstracts are due at 5:00 pm on Mon, Mar 13.

Please click here for instructions and to submit your abstract.

March 23, 2:00 - 3:00pm, Simches Room 3.120

Sponsored by the MGH Division of Clinical Research and the MGH Biostatistics Center

Lynn Simpson, Research Data & Analytics Services Manager and Jeremy Alphonse, EDC Project Analyst

Enterprise Research Infrastructure & Services (ERIS)
As of October 1, 2016: Enterprise Research Infrastructure & Services, ERIS, has an enterprise license for LabArchives for all researchers to use at no cost. LabArchives is a web-based application designed for scientists to organize and share laboratory data with their study team, department, across Partners institutions and with external collaborators. Access rights are controlled by the notebook owner and can be modified to suit the individual needs of each researcher, educator, or contributor.
This session is for LabArchives users, new and current, to meet and discuss how sites/labs are using the application, lessons learned, and share knowledge. Coffee and snacks provided!

More information and how to access LabArchives is available on the Research IS Computing website.

Registration is required. Contact Tiereny Morrison-Rohlfs with questions.

Tuesday, March 28, Broad Institute Auditorium

The geXc ‘Genomic Exchange Community’ symposia series is excited to announce its next event, geXc Broad 2017, being held on March 28th 2017 at the Broad Institute Auditorium. D-MARK Biosciences is delighted to co-host this event with the support of the Broad Institute.

geXc is a grassroots initiative with an intent to improve Genomics through collaboration and innovation. As we observe more and more diversity in genomic technologies and applications, impacting virtually every aspect of life, the need to educate, communicate, share information, and build community, becomes more and more necessary.  geXc Broad 2017 is an educational symposium, a forum for learning, sharing, and networking. You will learn from regional academic and industry leaders in Genomics, who speak about their experience and the power of Genomics, and some of the challenges they are facing in production, management, and storage of Genomics data. 

Please visit www.gexcsymposia.com for more information, you will see that we have a fantastic list of speakers and a packed schedule!

Tuesday, March 14, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, CNY 149, Rm. 2.204

Decoding the Resolution of Inflammation: Resolvins & Specialized Pro-resolving Mediators
Charles Serhan, PhD, DSc
Director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics
and Reperfusion Injury (CET&RI)
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Thursday, March 16, 12:00 PM, CNY 149, 7th Floor, Isselbacher Auditorium

“Neutrophils license NKT cells to regulate autoreactive B cell responses”
Mikael Karlsson, PhD, Karolinska Institute

Contact Person – Fiona Chen (617/726-1527)
http://www.massgeneral.org/ciid/ourseminars/seminarseries.aspx
The MGH Immunology Seminar Series is supported in part by donations from Amgen and Sanofi

Information on funding opportunities offered through the HMS Foundation Funds is now available.
For some awards, MGH receives invitations to submit their own nominations. In this case, MGH faculty must first apply for the MGH nomination through ECOR and a committee at MGH will select the final MGH candidate(s) to submit applications to the foundations. 

Click here to view a chart listing the HMS Foundation Funds that are currently available and the Institution that MGH faculty should apply through.

ECOR handles the application process for a number of limited submission opportunities through MGH. The following funding opportunities are now open and accepting letters of intent.  Please click the links for more information.

• ADA Pathways to Stop Diabetes – Deadline 3/20/17
• Breast Cancer Alliance – Deadline 3/13/17

Please direct all inquiries regarding the application process at HMS to Clare Lamont, Program Coordinator, Office for Academic and Clinical Affairs, 617-432-7463, clare_lamont@hms.harvard.edu. 

If you have questions regarding the MGH application process, please email MGH ECOR, ecor@mgh.harvard.edu. 

The NIH ORIP's Shared Instrumentation Grant (S10) program, also known as a SIG, supports the purchase of research equipment in the $50,000 to $600,000 price range. Examples of instrumentation supported by SIG funding include nuclear magnetic resonance systems, electron and confocal microscopes, mass spectrometers, protein and DNA sequencers, biosensors, X-ray diffractometers and cell sorters. For research equipment exceeding the $600,000 price range, investigators may apply for the High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Grant Program.
The MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) has again committed funding to provide institutional support this year for Shared Instrumentation Grant (S10) and High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Grant proposals. ECOR has made this commitment because it recognizes that institutional support greatly increases the likelihood that a S10 or HEI application will be funded.
Several required application components for submitting an S10 grant to the NIH were changed in 2014 for this call and ECOR will be preparing this information and including it with the institutional letter of support.  The changes include:

• The institution must now explicitly state a commitment to provide financial support for the proposed financial plan should a shortfall be experienced due to a lack of other grant funding or chargeback/volume fluctuations (see Sect. IV).
  • A separate communication will be sent directly to department chiefs addressing the support of financial plans for submitted applications.
• The institution must also provide a Letter of Support that includes a table that provides information about instrument performance of all previous S10 awards for instruments awarded or installed within the past five years.
  • To meet this requirement, any recipient of an S10 award from 2012-present will be asked to provide specific details that will be used to support all shared instrumentation grants going forward. A separate email will be sent directly to the PIs to which this applies.

How to Apply
Due to increased administrative components required for these grants to be submitted for review going forward, we ask that any investigator who will be seeking institutional support to fill out a Request for Consideration form and email the completed form to ecor@mgh.harvard.edu no later than Friday, March 17.

Preliminary applications are now being accepted by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) for the Charles H. Hood Foundation 2018 Major Grants Initiative to Advance Child Health research award.  

What are they?
Major Grants Initiative to Advance Child Health research award
The Charles H. Hood Foundation 2018 Major Grants Initiative to Advance Child Health supports outstanding investigators conducting innovative and transformative research in child health. The overall goal of the Program remains the funding of translational or clinical research that will improve child health clinical outcomes, or improve health care access, affordability, and quality. For the 2018 grant cycle, the Hood Foundation requests applications related to either of two areas of child health research: Neonatology or Brain Science and Child Development. 

The Major Grants Initiative is a component of the Hood Foundation’s research funding portfolio. Since 1942, the Foundation has supported investigators at New England research institutions to improve the health and quality of life for children. The Hood Foundation Child Health Research Awards Program has launched the careers of close to 600 junior faculty whose discoveries have contributed to significant improvements in child health. Since 1989, the Foundation has also supported 47 Postdoctoral Fellows conducting projects spanning the continuum from basic laboratory research to clinical and health services research.

MGH is eligible to nominate one candidate.

When is the deadline?  
MGH Internal Preliminary Application Deadline:  Monday, April 10, 2017 - 3:00 p.m.

How do I learn more and apply?
2018 Major Grants Initiative to Advance Child Health research award - Click here

The Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award recognizes physician-scientist innovators throughout the U.S. whose research has the potential to change standard of care. The Scholar-Innovator Award provides research and drug development support to help bridge the gap between basic discovery and the clinic.

Multi-Level Support for Research Grant Recipients
Harrington Discovery Institute is committed to providing Scholar-Innovator awardees with a full level of support, including:

• $100,000 guaranteed, opportunity to qualify for up to $700,000/2 years
• Pharmaceutical industry drug development expertise and project management support through our Innovation Support Center

April 5, 2017 - Letter of Intent Deadline
May 31, 2017 - Full Application Deadline (For those invited)

For more information of eligibility and to apply, please click here.

The newly established Translational Research Institute (TRI) headquartered at Baylor College of Medicine seeks innovative and disruptive technologies, techniques and countermeasures to enable and enhance human exploration of deep space. We are soliciting proposals from any US-based biomedical researcher or company, regardless of previous NASA funding.

Funding topics of current interest are:

• Omics capabilities for use during spaceflight missions
• Long duration medication stability
• Human brain imaging
• Inflight surgical capabilities
• Increasing organisms’ resistance to radiation
• Pharmaceuticals that preserve muscle mass
• Inflight production of fresh food
• Microbiome based therapies for improving health in spaceflight
• Lymphatic imaging in microgravity

The details of this TRI research announcement (NNJ16ZSA001N-TRI) may be viewed at https://www.bcm.edu/centers/space-medicine/translational-research-institute under Funding.

Proposers must submit a letter of intent through nspires.nasaprs.com by April 10, 2017 in order to submit a full proposal. A pre-proposal webinar, during which TRI management will answer questions regarding the research announcement, will be held on March 23, 2017 and is open to all interested proposers.

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is funded by a cooperative agreement from NASA to Baylor College of Medicine with consortium partners California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Institute’s mission is to lead a national effort in translating cutting-edge, emerging terrestrial research into applied space flight and to support human risk-mitigation for exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit.

We ask that all MGH Investigators interested in applying for any limited submission award submit a Letter of Intent (see detailed instructions below) to the MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) by the deadline indicated for each award to be considered to receive an institutional nomination.

Process
Submit a one- to two-page Letter of Intent (LOI) to the MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) via email to ecor@partners.org.  In addition to your LOI, please include an NIH Biosketch.

The letter of intent should include:

• Name of the Principal Investigator with appropriate contact information
• A descriptive title of the potential application
• Brief description of the project
• Brief description of why you specifically should be selected to receive institutional nomination for this award

If there is more than one MGH investigator interested in applying for each limited submission award, the LOIs will be used to assess candidates and a review and selection process will take place.

Current Limited Submission Funding Opportunities
Please click here for more information and for our internal deadlines.

• Breast Cancer Alliance (BCA) - Exceptional Project Grant
• ADA Pathways to Stop Diabetes
• Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education (R25)

If there is a limited submission funding opportunity you do not see listed above or you have any additional questions, please contact Erin McGivney at 617-643-6471.

Please note that any grant that brings in less than 15% in indirect costs (IDC) will need to be supplemented up to the 15% equivalent by existing investigator or departmental sundry funds. Resolution of this issue must occur prior to submission of the award.

Please contact Corporate & Foundation Relations in the Office of Development at devcfr@mgh.harvard.edu if you wish to submit a proposal in response to any of these funding opportunities.  Note that proposals are still routed through the standard InfoEd/Research Management process.

Week of 3/10/17

• AARP Foundation Grant Competition:  Identifying Evidence-Based Solutions for Vulnerable Older Adults, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation
• Joseph E. Wagstaff Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant, Angelman Syndrome Foundation, Inc. (ASF)
• Grants, Gladys Brooks Foundation
• Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, Cystinosis Research Foundation
• Greater Value Portfolio, Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation
• Pediatric Research Grants, Gerber Foundation
• Independent Grants for Learning & Change (IGLC): Track 2 - Call for Grant Applications (CGA) - Clinical Advances in Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC) Supporting Local and Regional Activities for Community Oncologists, Pfizer, Inc.
• Pfizer Independent Grants for Learning & Change (IGLC): Request for Proposals (RFP) - Rheumatology Fellowships, Pfizer, Inc.

For the latest National Institutes of Health notices, requests for applications, and program announcements, follow this link: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/WeeklyIndex.cfm

Deliberative Interim Support Funding
Application Deadline: April 3, 2017

MGH ECOR Formulaic Bridge Funding Support
Application Deadline: April 7, 2017; 7th day of each month

KL2 Catalyst Medical Research Investigator Training (CMeRIT) Award
Application Deadline: March 30

Boston Biomedical Innovation Center (B-BIC) Accepting PILOT & DRIVE Grant Pre-Proposals

Child Health Symposium - Putting Kids First: Facilitating Multisite Pediatric Trials – April 4

Harvard Digestive Diseases Center (HDDC) Spring Symposium – April 4

Looking for something you saw in a previous Research News release? Check out our archive!