Research News - February 14, 2014

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Core of the Week: CCIB DNA Core

CCIB DNA Core
Directors: Nicole Stange-Thomann, Ph.D.
Locations: 38 Sidney Street, Suite 100, Cambridge, MA 02139

The Center for Computational and Integrative Biology (CCIB) DNA Core provides conventional Sanger DNA sequencing, Oligonucleotide Synthesis, custom molecular biology services, and high-throughput laboratory research automation services including project design and implementation.

To learn more about the CCIB DNA Core, please click here.

2. Partners Government Affairs Update -February 10, 2014

Please click here to read the Partners Government Affairs Update.

EVENTS

1. Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) 2014: April 2 & 3, 2014

The 67th Annual Meeting of the MGH Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) is being held on April 2 & 3, 2014. The agenda for SAC 2014 is now available online! We hope that you will be able to attend at least part of the SAC events on April 2 & 3!

2. MGH Seminar Series in Cell Biology

Tuesday, February 25, 2014, 3:00 PM, Conference Room A, CNY Bldg. 149-West, 1st Floor (behind security desk)

Sponsored by the Division of Nephrology

"Sensing and Signaling DNA Damage by the Checkpoint Kinases"
Lee Zou, Ph.D.
Professor of Pathology
Harvard Medical School
Associate Scientific Director
MGH Cancer Center

Host: Roy J. Soberman, M.D.
Contact: Christine Plouffe, cplouffe@partners.org, 617-724-1502

3. Partners Innovators Forum: Accelerating Innovation in the Electronic Era of HealthCare

Thursday, March 6th, 5-7 PM, MGH Simches Research Center Auditorium

The Partners HealthCare community is invited to attend the Partners Innovators Forum, a monthly 5-part education series focused on contemporary issues in academic innovation. The Forum is free for the PHS community and is also open to the public. Sessions will rotate between MGH and BWH.

Accelerating Innovation in the Electronic Era of HealthCare
The commercial potential for the vast amount of valuable health care data being generated is unprecedented. At the same time the path to market is complex, requires new collaborations and presents differing rewards. A panel of top health IT leaders will address how innovation advances in this new environment and how it gets to market.

To register go to: www.partnersinnovatorsforum.eventbrite.com

Walk-in registrations will be available on the day of the event.

4. Connecting Immunologists across Harvard: Junior Faculty Retreat

Monday, March 31, 2014, 12:30-4:30pm, Reception to follow; The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, 400 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139

Please join us for a half-day retreat hosted by the Harvard Institute of Translational Immunology. Open to instructors and assistant professors, this faculty retreat will convene immunology faculty
from across Harvard. Throughout the retreat, you'll engage with other immunology faculty,
discussing the unique opportunities - and challenges - in this field. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with other junior faculty, and share research ideas with one another.

Featured Talk:
"So You Want to Run a Lab? Hiring and Leading Successfully"
Vincent Chiang, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Registration is required by March 25. Please click here to register. Please email us with any questions.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

1. MGH ECOR Deliberative ISF and Sequestration Relief Funding

The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is accepting applications for the April 1st deadline for the Deliberative Interim Support Funding & Sequestration Relief Funding. April is the first of three standing deadlines for these awards in 2014. The next two deadlines will be August 1st and December 1st.

What are they?
Deliberative Interim Support Funding
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 transferred into a percentile ranking.
2. Investigators whose grants received scores >20th percentile.
3. Investigators who were awarded Formulaic Bridge Funding (grants with scores < or = 20th percentile), and are now requesting additional financial support (in excess of $75,000 for RO1s, and $37,500 for R21s).
4. A PI who has already received Formulaic Bridge Funding or Deliberative Interim Support on their A0 grant application must apply through the Deliberative Interim Support process for their A1 resubmission regardless of the score they received on their A1.

Sequestration Relief Funding
This is open to Investigators that have experienced a funding shortfall as a result of sequestration and do not qualify for either Formulaic Bridge Funding or Deliberative Interim Support.
For eligible applicants:

1. The total funded amount, if awarded, will be sourced 50:50 with the Department. For example, if a PI applies for $100,000, then $50,000 will be sourced from ECOR funds and $50,000 will be sourced from Departmental funds.
2. All applications for additional funds must include the Chief's Letter of Support & Cost Sharing Authorization Form for ECOR Funding.

When is the deadline?
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - 9:00 PM

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

2. HMS Foundation Funds: Opportunities for Faculty and Fellows

Information on funding opportunities offered through the HMS Foundation Funds will be available online on February 19 at: www.hms.harvard.edu/foundationfunds

Each year several foundations invite HMS junior faculty members and postdocs to apply for their fellowships and grants, which serve as critical funding at the early stages of a research career. For awards that limit the number of applicants from Harvard, interested investigators must first apply for the HMS nomination through the HMS Foundation Funds, and a committee will select the final candidates to submit applications to the foundations.

The following opportunities may be applied to via HMS:

• Brain Research Foundation Scientific Innovations Award
• Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists
• Burroughs Wellcome Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases
• Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program
• Grunebaum Cancer Research Fellowship
• Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship Program
• Searle Scholars Program
• W.T. Grant Scholars Program

Researchers interested in applying for any of the awards listed above can apply for the HMS nomination by submitting an application online no later than April 1, 2014 at 5:00PM.

Please join us for an informational forum:
- March 11 12:00-1:00pm at HMS in the Armenise Amphitheater. Lunch will be provided.

Please direct all inquiries to Betty Carbunari, Office of the HMS Dean for Academic and Clinical Affairs, 617-432-7463, Betty_Carbunari@hms.harvard.edu

The selection process for the following opportunities is handled by MGH ECOR. To view MGH's internal process on applying for limited submission funding opportunities, please click here.

• ADA Pathway to Stop Diabetes: Diabetes Research Accelerator Award
• ADA Pathway to Stop Diabetes: Diabetes Research Career Initiator Award
• Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research
• Jose Carreras International Leukemia Foundation E.D. Thomas Fellowship
• Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Grant
• Pew Scholars Program in Biomedical Sciences

If you have any questions regarding applying for a limited funding opportunity through MGH, please contact Erin McGivney at 617-643-6471.

3. Limited Submission Funding Opportunities

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

In the event that there is more than one MGH investigators interested in applying 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.

• Superfund Hazardous Substance Research and Training Program (P42)
• Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers (EHS CC) (P30)
• Botanical Dietary Supplement Research Centers (BDSRC) (P50)
• Alzheimer's Disease Core Centers (P30)
• Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (P50)
• Jointly Sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (T32)
• Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Grant - NEW!
• Cystic Fibrosis Research and Translation Core Center (P30)
• American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Research Awards

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.

4. Private Funding Opportunities

Please contact Corporate & Foundation Relations in the Office of Development at devcfr@partners.org 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.

• Distinguished Scientist Awards, Sontag Foundation
• NHF-Baxter Clinical Fellowship Program, National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF)
• NMF Victor A. McKusick Fellowship Program, National Marfan Foundation (NMF)
• Large Grants for Research on Gambling Disorders, National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG)/Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders
• Early Investigator Grant Program, National Marfan Foundation (NMF)
• Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation
• Research Program, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.

5. NIH Update for Week Ending February 14, 2014

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

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Reminders of recently posted funding opportunities, deadlines and events

2014 Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award
Application Deadline: February 17

ADA-CDA Joint Postdoctoral Award
Application Deadline: February 17

Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education
Application Deadline: February 28

MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards
Application Deadline: March 4

Pilot Funding: Up to $500,000 for Novel Approaches to Crohn's Disease Proposals
Application Deadline: March 13

Study Electronic Data Capture: REDCap and StudyTRAX - February 26

Hands-on MORA Training: Managing Monitor Online Record Access - February 28

Genetic Literacy: A Guide to Understanding the Language and Concepts of Modern Genetic Research - March 4

Problem-Based Biostatistics for Clinical Investigators - March 6, 13, 19, 27

Introduction to Survey Design - March 6, 13, 19, 26

Executive Committee On Research (ECOR) Massachusetts General Hospital

50 Staniford Street, Suite 1001, Boston, MA 02114

ecor@partners.org