Research News - March 24, 2017

You may already know that Training Fellowships are exempt from the new 15% minimum IDC rate for Foundation, Public Charity, and Non-Profit Research Awards. 

Do you know how Training Fellowships are defined? 

Research Management has worked closely with Hospital Senior Research Leadership to provide a clear definition. You can find the revised FAQ here: 15% IDC Rate FAQ's​​

As the seasons transition and Congress conducts its annual review of the budget, we enter the time of year where we operate under a Continuing Resolution until the new budget has been approved.  On March 17, 2017, NIH issued NOT-OD-17-048 announcing the Continuing Resolution that proceeds with operations under President Obama's Appropriations Act signed on December 10, 2016, until the release of the new federal budget.  This important notice outlines how PIs and the scientific community should proceed as they work on current operating budgets from awards and prepare new budgets for funding proposals in the near future, until the new federal budget is determined.  As with many past transitions, NIH asks that we adhere to the existent and updated relevant notices, which are listed below.  Please refer to them as you plan your upcoming proposal submissions with your Pre-Award administrator and as you work with your Post-Award administrator to adjust active salaries and budgets. 

Of note, non-competing awards will be issued at a level slightly lower than the last NOA (~90%) until the new Appropriations Act is signed, but PIs at the executive salary cap may adjust to the new cap of $187,000.  See the notices which NIH has identified as the active notices for this transition period:

RELEVANT NOTICES

• Notice of Continuing Resolution
• NIH Notice on Salary Limitation - new executive salary cap
• For Postdoctoral Fellows, use The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral stipend levels and tuition/fees for FY 2017
• For Predoctoral Fellows and students, use Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2016

The Data and Research Center (DRC) is seeking input from the All of Us Research Program consortium to inform the development of the All of Us Researcher Portal. This portal will enable a variety of researchers to access and analyze All of Us data within a secure environment. 

Please complete this Researcher Interests and Needs Survey by Friday, March 24.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Celecia M. Scott at celecia.m.scott@vanderbilt.edu. We greatly appreciate your time and input.

In light of the recent Executive Order, the Research Compliance Office and Information Security Office have prepared an Information Security Advisory in regards to travel outside of the U.S. This advisory is intended to assist members of the Partners community who are traveling with mobile computing devices including laptops, tablets, smartphones and other devices.

Please click here to view the document. 

If you plan on adding interns or students to your staff for the summer, please reach out to Susan Horan a Bulfinch Temporary Service at (617) 724-6459 or Shoran@partners.org for more information.

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.

Monday, March 27, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, CNY 149, Isselbacher Auditorium - 7th Floor

“Identifying the essential functions of the E2F transcription factor”
Nicholas Dyson, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School
Scientific Director – Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

Tuesday, March 28, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, CNY 149, Room 2.204

Endothelial non-coding RNAs: taming cardiovascular disease from the dark side
Mark W. Feinberg, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Thursday, March 30, 12:00 - 2:00p.m., WebEx, Prudential Center or Assembly Row

This month, Tim White, Associate Director, PHS Infrastructure Technology Services (ITS), will discuss the recent reorganization involving Integrated Network Communications and Technical Services Operations (TSO). The PHS Clinical Systems Integration Team will also discuss its use of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). FIHR is the latest standard to be developed under the HL7 organization and is a standard for exchanging healthcare information electronically.  RSVP Online by 3/28. Contact rcc@partners.org with questions about Tech Lunch.

Thursday, March 30, 12:00 PM, CNY 149, 7th Floor, Isselbacher Auditorium

“Tissue adaptation: implications for tolerance and immunity”
Daniel Mucida, PhD, Rockefeller University

Will be broadcasted MGH Bulfinch 165
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

Monday, April 10, 12:00pm – 1:00pm, Simches Research Building, Room 3.110

Sponsored by the MGH Division of Clinical Research

Dr. Calum MacRae, MD, PhD,
Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

There are a number of practical challenges that must be overcome if the current vision for precision medicine and ‘learning’ healthcare systems is to be realized.  These include changes in the scale and timing of diagnosis and intervention, the pace of drug discovery and the information content for much of biomedicine. Pilots of potential approaches to some of these challenges will be described including efforts in co-clinical modeling of disease, phenotype discovery and the creation of platforms for pragmatic clinical trials.

Light lunch will be served.

Registration is required. Please contact Jillian Tonelli with any questions.

Thursday, April 20, 1:30 - 2:30pm, 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)
In collaboration with the Harvard Catalyst, REDCap is a free, secure, web-based application hosted by Partners Research Computing and designed to support electronic data capture for research studies. To learn more about REDCap visit: http://rc.partners.org/edcredcap.
This session is to help REDCap users design databases and surveys. Learn about study start up, project life cycles, data management, and how to program data fields and branching logic. This is a general overview demonstration and then time is devoted to user’s Q&A and design questions.
Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how to access REDCap and request new projects
2. Learn the different types of projects REDCap can support
3. Learn how to collect data, the different methods to send survey invites and to collect data directly from participants (self-report) in clinic
4. Learn how to program data collection instruments and utilize the program features

Target audience: Researchers that have evaluated and decided to use REDCap and/or have started a REDCap project. Users may first want to view our online videos prior to attending: https://rc.partners.org/redcapgettingstarted

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

Thursday, April 27, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Boston Children's Hospital Karp Research Building, 1 Blackfan Circle, 4th Floor Atrium, Boston, MA 02115

Are you ready to see your research move towards becoming a product?
Fast Pitch for Funding is an event hosted by the Boston Biomedical Innovation Center, that provides you the opportunity to pitch a team of experts on your research. You will receive immediate feedback with the opportunity to apply for our grant programs which can provide up to $350,000 per project, business coaching, and project management.

• Pitches for awards should fulfill unmet clinical needs in the areas of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders.
• Pitches should emphasize potential commercial value.
• Presentations should be no longer than 10 minutes.
• Pitch slide decks are welcome but not expected.
• For more information, please feel free to contact us.

Click here for more information. Please feel free to contact us with any questions at 857-307-2440 or info@b-bic.org with Fast Pitch in the subject line.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has launched a national competition to select new HHMI investigators. We invite researchers to apply who bring original and innovative approaches to the investigation of biological problems in biomedical disciplines, plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and computational biology. Physician scientists are encouraged to participate in the competition. We expect to appoint up to 20 new investigators.

We ask that you encourage appropriate scientists to participate in this open competition. Eligible candidates apply directly without an institutional nomination, and there are no limits on the number of applicants or awardees from any of the over 200 eligible institutions. More information about the HHMI Investigator Program and this competition may be found on our website: http://www.hhmi.org/inv2018.

In brief, candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria at the time of the application deadline:

• PhD and/or MD (or the equivalent).
   
• Tenured or tenure-track position as an assistant professor or higher academic rank (or the equivalent) at an eligible U.S. institution, which would become the host institution.
   
• More than 3, but no more than 12, years of post-training, professional experience. To meet this requirement, the applicant’s professional appointment(s) must have begun no earlier than June 1, 2005, and no later than September 1, 2014.
   
• Principal investigator on one or more active, national peer-reviewed research grants with an initial duration of at least three years, such as an NIH R01 grant. Mentored awards, career development and training grants do not qualify. Multi-investigator grants may qualify.

The deadline for submission of all application materials is June 27, 2017, at 3:00 p.m., Eastern Time.
The HHMI review process will include evaluation of applications by distinguished scientists, leading to the selection of semifinalists by early 2018. Following further review, finalists will be selected in the spring of 2018, with appointments to begin as early as September 1, 2018. Institutions with finalists who have not previously hosted an HHMI investigator will be required to enter into a collaborative agreement with HHMI.

HHMI welcomes a diverse and broad applicant pool. Individuals from gender, racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in biomedical research at the career stages targeted by this program are encouraged to apply. As an equal opportunity employer, HHMI does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is accepting applications for the April 3rd deadline for the Deliberative Interim Support Funding.  April is the second of three standing deadlines for these awards in Fiscal Year 2017.  The next deadline will be August 1, 2017.  

What are they?
This is open to Principal Investigators during a lapse or delay in their research funding from the NIH or another Federal agency (e.g., the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense).  Investigators must have applied for independent, long-term support (R01, R21, U01 and P01).  The Deliberative Interim Support process is open to:

1. Investigators whose grants were not scored or whose scores were not translated into a percentile ranking.
2. Investigators whose grants received scores >20th percentile.
3. Investigators who have already received Formulaic Bridge Funding or Deliberative Interim Support on their A0 grant application and are now requesting support for their A1 or A0 resubmission.  Investigators in this category must apply through the Deliberative Interim Support process for their A1 and A0 resubmission regardless of the score they received on their resubmitted grant.

When is the deadline?
Monday, April 3, 2017 - 5:00 PM

How do I learn more and apply?
Deliberative Interim Support Funding - Click here

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 Center for Genomic Medicine is soliciting applications for pilot projects that will lead to greater collaboration and catalyze progress towards completing the genomic medicine cycle. Proposals that align with the goal of the center, noted below, will take priority.

The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Genomic Medicine (CGM) is leading an effort to complete the genomic medicine cycle – from genetic discoveries to mechanism to the clinic – by assessing where genomic medicine will have the greatest impact on human health, and by driving efforts to implement genomic medicine in those areas, at MGH and beyond.  The Cycle is a paradigm for disease research that begins by comparing human phenotypes and genetic variation to identify genes of importance in human disease, then moves on to characterizing the mechanisms by which the underlying DNA differences lead to disease, and is completed when the knowledge gained delivers benefit back to patients in the forms of improved diagnosis, disease management and treatments.

Eligibility & Criteria: In order to promote and spark new collaboration both within the CGM and across the MGH, all applications must have two investigators. The primary investigator must be a faculty member in the CGM at the level of Assistant Professor or above. The second investigator (Instructor level or above) may be a faculty member of the CGM, of another thematic center in Simches, or more broadly at MGH. The goal is for the two investigators to spearhead a new collaboration and project, and should therefore not have a history of existing collaboration. Proposals can fall anywhere within the scope of the Genomic Medicine Cycle; with those that involve clinical translation, clinical collaborators or that benefit the greater CGM community being particularly encouraged.

Funding: In this initial call, we anticipate funding up to four $100,000 direct cost proposals in the Fall of 2017. The project duration is anticipated to be 10/1/17-9/30/19. Investigator salary and fringe is capped at $5,000 total for each faculty member, but funds may otherwise be used as appropriate to support the project. Personnel hired by this grant must be primarily based within the CGM.

Deadline: The first round of proposals will be due no later than June 15, 2017 at 11:59PM.

For more information, please click here.

We are pleased to announce the 2017 call for preproposals for Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) program is now open. Pfizer CTI program collaborates with leading academic medical centers, the NIH, and foundations to speed the translation of novel targets to the clinic.

Who Should Apply
Researchers working with validated drug targets that are tractable with biologic modalities such as antibodies, peptides, proteins, ADCs and/or fusion proteins, who are interested in developing a novel therapeutic agent to address an unmet clinical need should apply.

Therapeutic Areas of Interest for Spring 2017

• Oncology
• Inflammation and Immune disorders
• Cardiovascular metabolic diseases
• Neuroscience
• Rare monogenic genetic diseases

Pre-proposals
Submission entails a brief, non-confidential 2-3 page overview of the target, mechanism (including evidence for disease linkage), and the proposed therapeutic drug. At a high level, the pre-proposal should suggest how the therapeutic hypothesis could be tested in the clinic.

Template of the preproposal can be downloaded from the website below: http://innovation.partners.org/about/special-programs.

Preproposals should be submitted via email to Partners Innovation at:  phsstrategicalliances@partners.org.

Deadline for Submission: April 24, 2017

Questions: If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact Seema Basu at ssbasu@partners.org.

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.

• 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 3/24/17

• Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALS) / The Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Program - BRIDGE GRANTS, ALS Association (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association)
• TREAT ALSTM Clinical Management Grant Program (Clinical Management Grant), ALS Association (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association)
• Neonatal Resuscitation Program (Young Investigator Award and NRP Research Grant), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• ASH Bridge Grant Program, American Society of Hematology (ASH)
• Genetics and Public Policy Fellowship, American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
• Fellows Award, MQ: Transforming Mental Health 
• Independent Grants for Learning & Change (IGLC): Track 2 - Call for Grant Applications (CGA) - Addressing Knowledge Gaps in the Science of Biosimilars for the Specialist (Educational Area: CGA - US Biosimilars Knowledge Gaps), Pfizer, Inc.
• Independent Grants for Learning & Change (IGLC): Track 2 - Call for Grant Applications (CGA) - Understanding the Dietary Gap and the Role of Multivitamin/Mineral (MVM) Supplementation (CGA - MVM), Pfizer, Inc.
• Biomarker Development/Validation, Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN)/Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development (CReATe) Consortium 
• Research Grants, Worldwide Cancer Research

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

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

Deliberative Interim Support Funding
Application Deadline: April 3, 2017

The Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award
Letter of Intent Deadline: April 5, 2017

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

Biomedical Research and Technology Development Needed to Support Astronaut Health During Exploration Missions
Letter of Intent Deadline: April 10, 2017

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

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

geXc Broad Symposium 2017 – March 28

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

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

The Implementation of Precision Medicine: Integrating Translational Research and Care Redesign – April 10

Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Study Subjects – April 18

Introduction to Bioinformatics – May 4 & 11

FY16 NIH Market Analysis

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