Research News - April 11, 2014

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Save Money on Software Licenses

You can now purchase MATLAB & Stata licenses for individual machines at considerable savings year-round through the Partners Research Computing Core Facility. This is a change from the semi-annual group buy. The new annual subscription service model includes upgrades, maintenance and is available for Mac & Windows systems. Please visit the website for full detail and subscription cost (internal link). If you wish to purchase a license, please email rcc@partners.org and include the # of licenses as well as a Research Fund # for chargeback. Access to MATLAB & Stata is also available via the ERIS HPC Infrastructure; contact hpcsupport@partners.org for more information.

2. Core of the Week: CCIB Monoclonal Antibody Sequencing Core

CCIB Monoclonal Antibody Sequencing Core
Director: Ashok Khatri
Location: 149 Thirteenth St. Room #4-323A, Charlestown, MA

The primary goal of the CCIB Monoclonal Antibody (mAB) Sequencing Core facility is to provide advanced de novo protein sequencing technology services to CCIB and the Partners research community. The Core Facility, established originally as a resource for protein/peptide sequencing for the CCIB, is now formally established as an institution-wide resource focused on the sequencing of monoclonal antibodies and other novel proteins/peptides. The mAB Core Facility primarily provides the services of protein/peptide purification, amino acid sequencing, and mass spectral analysis for the determination of the primary sequence of monoclonal antibodies. Investigators from throughout the MGH consult with the staff of the Core Facility to facilitate the most effective use of the resources.

To learn more about the CCIB Monoclonal Antibody Sequencing Core, please click here.
 

3. PHS Research Management Message - April 11, 2014

Please click here to read the most recent Partners Research Management Message.

• Update on Salary Controls for Expiring Projects
• New Improvements to the Insight Agreements Module
• New Features from the Insight 3.5 Release
• Portal Project: Review of Functionality and Design at BWH and MGH
• New and Upcoming RM Training Courses
• Salary & Payroll Deadlines for April 2014
• The Boston Biomedical Innovation Center (B-BIC) Accepting PILOT & DRIVE Grant Pre-Proposals
• Government Affairs Update 3/28/14: Senate Approves Pediatric Research Bill

EVENTS

1. CRP Spotlight Series: Epic Research Functionality Overview

Wednesday, April 23, 12:00pm - 1:30pm, Simches Room 3.110

Sponsored by the MGH Clinical Research Program and the Partners eCare Research Team

Join us for a discussion on Epic research functionality and the impact it will have on your current workflow. This overview will introduce you to Epic and provide you with the information necessary to begin talking about how you and your colleagues will incorporate these changes into your workflow.

You will be provided with a high level overview of the research activities that will be conducted through Epic. These activities include:

• Subject/Patient Enrollments to Specific Protocols
• Scheduling of Appointments/Registration of Patients
• Research Charge Review

**Lunch will be provided**

Registration is required. Contact Jillian Tonelli with further questions about this session.
 

2. Research Nurse Book Club

April 22, 2014, 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Garrod/Mendel Conference Room

The mission of the Research Nurse Roundtable is to provide a forum for nurses who work in clinical research to discuss issues common to their practice. The roundtable meets once a month and is led by experienced research nurses in collaboration with the MGH Clinical Research Program Education Unit. This forum provides a great opportunity for knowledge sharing, problem solving, peer support and community building.

We are very pleased to announce the next selection of the Research Nurse Book Club. We will be discussing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Book club is open to anyone who has read the book or who is interested in hearing more about it.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly can be found at Amazon.com, public libraries or your local bookstore.

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

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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

B-BIC supports development of devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics related to heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. Pre-proposals are now being accepted on a rolling basis for PILOT grants (up to $50,000 support for direct costs) and DRIVE grants (up to $200,000 support for direct costs). Therapeutic and diagnostic pre-proposals are strongly encouraged. It’s recommended you contact your institutional site miner and/or domain expert before submission. Visit B-BIC.org for more information.

2. Request for Proposals: Massachusetts Neuroscience Consortium (Consortium)

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) is pleased to announce the launch of the second Request for Proposals (RFP) funded by the global biopharmaceutical companies that comprise the Massachusetts Neuroscience Consortium (Consortium). The Consortium, the formation of which was announced in June of 2012 at the Bio International Convention, will fund pre-clinical neuroscience research at Massachusetts academic and research institutions. Companies participating in this round include Biogen Idec, EMD Serono, Janssen Research & Development, Merck and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (Consortium Members). Each of the Consortium Members has contributed to the total available project funding of $1,250,000.

Consortium Members have pooled their resources to fund the identification and validation of novel targets for the symptomatic treatment and modification of these chronic and debilitating neurological diseases. All proposals must be anchored in recognized human disease genetics and pathophysiology, or within pathways of known relevance to human disease, and should be translational, rather than exploratory. Examples of such proposals might include research that:

• Confirms or refutes the involvement of a particular pathway or mechanism in human disease;
• Identifies new molecular targets, or strengthens the case for a potential target, or rules out a suspected target;
• Establishes new and improved animal models of human disease in the identified focus areas, with established face and/or construct validity;
• Develops a method for manipulating or measuring a pathway of known human pathological relevance; or
• Identifies or validates a biomarker than can be used for drug discovery and/or development.

While the Consortium is particularly focused on the primary disease areas specified above, the Consortium also will consider proposals for target identification and validation that address mechanisms generally involved in aging and cognition, as these processes relate to the nervous system and its health.

The Consortium will not consider proposals that propose to conduct basic science; build technology platforms; or develop animal models of unknown relevance to human disease. In addition, research related to medical devices, diagnostics, personalized medicine, behavioral interventions or other therapeutic approaches that fall outside the core research areas will not be considered responsive to this RFP.

All Massachusetts academic and research institutions are eligible to apply for grant funding through the Consortium. There is no limit to the number of applications that may be submitted from any one institution. Applicants will submit research projects to be reviewed by the members of the Consortium. The MLSC will administer the program. The deadline for 2-page Pre-Proposal applications is May 15, 2014 at noon.

Applicants that are invited to proceed to the next stage will be required to submit a Full Proposal which will be due on July 25, 2014. Consortium Members will then determine which applicants will be finalists who may be invited to present to Consortium Members.

If you have questions about the program after you have reviewed the materials on this website, please contact Beth Nicklas at neuroscience@masslifesciences.com
 

3. MGH-MIT RFA Announcement: "Transforming Diagnosis"

Investigators and research leadership at MGH and MIT have been working for the past year to establish an MIT-MGH Strategic Partnership. The first Grand Challenge in this partnership is entitled Transforming Diagnostics and has been the subject of two workshops to date. Based on discussions at these workshops and in other venues, on behalf of co-chairs Charlie Sodini and David Louis, the MIT-MGH Strategic Partnership is pleased to announce the new RFA and call for proposals.

MGH-MIT Strategic Partnership Grand Challenge 1: Diagnostics
Make diagnosis cost-effective and accurate, and guide individual clinical decisions based on real-time monitoring and massive patient data sets.

Award Types and Amounts:

• 2 (two) “large” grants at $150,000 (total costs) per team per year for up to 2 years
• 4 (four) "small" at $50,000 (total costs) per team per year for 1 year
• 3 (three) “continuation" projects at $50,000 (total costs) per team for 1 year, to follow a "small" project

Letter of Intent: E-mail notification is required by May 15, 2014 if you plan on submitting a proposal. Letters of intent should include the names of the principal investigators and a brief description of the project. Write to: rdfadel@mit.edu AND to ecor@partners.org

Full Proposal Submission Date: June 16, 2014

Project Start Date: September 1, 2014

Submission Information: Letters of intent and applications should be submitted electronically to: rdfadel@mit.edu AND to ecor@partners.org

To learn more about the MGH-MIT Strategic Partnership and to view the complete RFA, please click here.
 

4. Support Service Employee Grant

Applications are now available. Deadline for applications is Wednesday, May 14.

The Support Service Employee Grant (SSEG) Program provides an opportunity for eligible employees to receive up to $1,500 towards the cost of continuing education or skill building programs. Eligible coursework includes prerequisites, ESOL, certificate and undergraduate degree programs. Graduate programs are excluded. The program is open to benefits-eligible, non-exempt employees working in clinical, technical, service and clerical positions. The SSEG program is part of MGH’s ongoing effort to recruit and retain a highly-skilled diverse workforce.

“I have a son in college. Without the Employee Grant I would not have been able to attend myself. Thanks to the Grant program, I am graduating with a BA in May of this year!”

“The program sponsored by MGH has been a tremendous help both financially and mentally. My hopes of continuing my education laid dormant, but because of your support the doors that had been closed for so long are now open and I have hope, relief and peace because my dreams are coming alive!”

“It helped a great deal to relieve some of the financial burden that school brings on. I would not be able to do it without the help from it.”

In order to qualify for the grant, applicants must be employed a minimum of two years and meet additional eligibility requirements. For a list of the eligibility criteria or to download an application, visit the HR website at http://is.partners.org/hr/New_Web/mgh/mgh_training.htm or call Christopher Conant at 617-724-0164.

This program is sponsored by MGH Training and Workforce Development in Human Resources.
 

5. 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.

• Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education (R25)
• The NEI Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Program Award (K12)
• Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (UG1)
• Data Coordinating Center for the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (U01)
• Diabetes Research Centers (P30)
• Consortium for Food Allergy Research (U19)
• Jointly Sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (T32)
• NIH Blueprint Program for Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education Experiences (R25)
• Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Grant
• Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (P30) - NEW!
• Cystic Fibrosis Research and Translation Core Center (P30)
• American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Research Awards
• Atopic Dermatitis Research Network (ADRN) (U19)
• Developing and Improving Institutional Animal Resources (G20) - NEW!

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.
 

6. Private Funding Opportunities

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.

• Hillman Innovations in Care Program, Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation
• Nurse Scholar-in-Residence Award, American Academy of Nursing
• Awards Program in Age-Related Macular Degeneration Research, Edward N. and Della L. Thome Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
• Project Support, Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.
 

7. Basser Global Prize

Nominations are now being accepted for the Basser Global Prize in BRCA1/2 related research that has led to improvements in clinical care. The prize is offered by the University of Pennsylvania's Basser Research Center for BRCA. The prize includes $200,000 in unrestricted support of the awardee's innovative BRCA1/2 related research efforts. There are no geographic or institutional restrictions placed on potential nominees, but applicants may not self-nominate.

The application deadline is May 15, 2014.

The nomination package, including details and instructions on what to include, can be found here: http://www.penncancer.org/basser/investigators-and-researchers/basser-global-prize/
 

8. NIH Update for Week Ending April 11, 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

The Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award
Letter of Intent Deadline: May 2

Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard Pilot Feasibility Project Applications in Nutrition, Obesity or Related Research Fields
Application Deadline: May 15

Applied Biostatistics for Clinical Trials - April 16, 23 & 30

Epigenetics: An Introduction and Applications - April 15

Budgeting for Industry Sponsored Clinical Trials - April 24

Executive Committee On Research (ECOR) Massachusetts General Hospital

50 Staniford Street, Suite 1001, Boston, MA 02114

ecor@partners.org