Research News - January 30, 2015

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Core of the Week: RSMG Glass Washing and Autoclaving Core

RSMG Glass Washing and Autoclaving Core
Co-Managers: Jeanne Kotelly & Patricia Frederico
Location: 185 Cambridge Street, Simches Building, Boston & Charlestown Navy Yard, Building 149

The Research Space Management Group's (RSMG) Glasswashing and Autoclaving Core provides autoclaving and laboratory glassware washing services, including pick-up and delivery in both the Simches and Thier research buildings, as well as CNY 149. RSMG also manages the conference center scheduling and a computerized message board system. Other services include centralized carbon dioxide (CO2), distributed cable television, XOMAT machine care, supplies and copy services.

To learn more about the RSMG Glass Washing and Autoclaving Core, please click here.

2. PCORI Update: New Funding Opportunities, Board Meeting Highlights, Advisory Panel Applications Due

Please click here to read the latest news from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

EVENTS

1. Research Council Meeting 

Monday, February 2, 2015, 12:00-1:00 pm, Simches Auditorium (3.110), Broadcast to Isselbacher Auditorium (CNY-149, 7th Floor)

Annual Conversation with Andrew Chase
Vice President, Partners Research Management & Research Finance

(Lunch available at 11:45 AM)

All MGH Researchers welcome!

2. 5th Annual Research Administrators Retreat 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Time: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, reception to follow, Simches, 3rd Floor 

Please join us for the 5th Annual Research Administrators Retreat. All MGH Department Administrators and Partners Central Administrators are invited to attend as well as any interested investigators. The retreat will be equally beneficial to those who are new to research administration and those who have been in the field for years, and will be a great opportunity to network with your colleagues.

Please click here to register.

3. Applied Methods in Designing and Conducting Health Surveys

Tuesdays 3:00pm – 5:00pm (March 10th, March 17th, March 24th, April 7th), Simches Building, 2nd Floor, Garrod/Mendel Conference Room

This course is sponsored by the MGH Clinical Research Program and the Mongan Institute for Health Policy

Course Director: Karen Donelan, ScD, EdM

Course Description: This course is designed to prepare health professionals with an introduction to theory and practice in the design and conduct of surveys. Course topics will include all phases of the survey process: matching research design to data needs, understanding the role of qualitative research in survey development, probability and non-probability sampling methods, developing questions and questionnaires, choosing modes and methods of data collection, issues in analyzing and reporting survey data, and the effective presentation and reporting of survey findings to relevant audiences.

Who should attend? Investigators who have a survey project in the early stages of development and design.

Course Requirements: Students will work on a survey project during the course and are therefore required to:

1. Have a survey project in the early stages of development and design approved as suitable for the course by the instructor; and
2. Work on a group survey project with other participants to be assigned by the instructor.

Registration is limited to 20 participants.

** Due to limited space, incomplete applications will not be considered **

Register here. Please contact Kelsey Gay with any questions.

4. Orientation Program: Clinical Research Resources at MGH

Thursday, March 5, 11:15am - 4:00pm, Simches 3.120

Sponsored by the MGH Clinical Research Program

Are you new to clinical research or planning a research project at MGH?
Orientation Program: Clinical Research Resources at MGH will provide valuable information about the clinical research system at MGH. New investigators and research coordinators/assistants are invited to meet with representatives from Research Management, Partners Clinical Research Office, Partners Human Research Committee, Partners Quality Improvement Program, Clinical Research Program, Clinical Research Center, Research Compliance, Investigational Drug Service and Clinical Research Laboratory Core.

Schedule:
Lunch & Welcome (11:15 - 11:30am) Stacey Grabert
Investigational Drug Pharmacy (11:30 - 11:45am) Alan DiBiasio
Clinical Research Center (11:45 - 12:00pm) Kathy Hall
Clinical Research Program (12:00 - 12:10pm) Stacey Grabert
Research Compliance (12:10 - 12:35pm) Pamela Richtmyer
Break (12:35 - 12:50pm)
Partners Human Research Committee (12:50 - 1:50pm) Maria Sundquist
Partners Quality Improvement Program (1:50 - 2:50pm) Stephen Hayes & Charlene Malarick
Partners Research Management (2:50 - 3:10pm) Stania Augustin
Partners Clinical Research Office (3:10 - 3:30pm) Maureen Lawton
Harvard Catalyst Research Subject Advocacy Program (RSA) (3:30 - 3:55pm)
Certificates and Evaluations (3:55 - 4:00pm) Stacey Grabert

Lunch will be provided.

Registration is required. Please contact Kelsey Gay with any questions.

5. MGH Seminar Series in Cell Biology

Tuesday, February 3, 2015, 3:00 PM, Isselbacher Auditorium (CNY Bldg. 149-East, Room 7231)

Sponsored by the Division of Nephrology

“Ouroborous, Autophagy, Cell Survival and Cell Death”
Eric H. Baehrecke, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cancer Biology
University of Massachusetts Medical School

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

6. HMS Faculty Seminar - How to Format the HMS CV

Thursday, February 12, 2015, 12:00 - 1:30 pm, Thier Conference Room, Thier Research Building, 1st floor

The Center for Faculty Development presents a seminar for MGH faculty with HMS academic appointments.

The HMS Office for Faculty Affairs is returning to the MGH to address the details of formatting the HMS CV for faculty members. This seminar will convey important information to prepare your CV for the academic promotion process.

How to Format the HMS CV
Facilitator: Carol Bates, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Harvard Medical School

Faculty with HMS academic appointments please click here to register by Wed, Feb. 4.

Accreditation
Partners HealthCare System is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

Partners HealthCare System designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

1. MGH-MIT Grand Challenge 3: Neuroscience

We are pleased to announce our next funding opportunity available through the MGH-MIT Strategic Partnership - Grand Challenge 3: Neuroscience!

Grand Challenge 3: Develop joint ventures which link basic and clinical research in order to accelerate progress towards more effective diagnostic approaches and therapies in clinical neuroscience.

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

Note: Each award amount represents total award, inclusive of IDC/fund fees, 10% at MIT and 15% at MGH.

Letter of Intent (LOI): To be eligible to apply for this award, you must submit an e-mail notification with a letter of intent to apply as well as an award coversheet by February 6, 2015. Letters of intent should include the attached cover sheet, the names of the principal investigators and a brief description of the project. Please submit the LOI and coversheet to imes_rfp@mit@mit.edu AND to ecor@partners.org.

The email subject should read “MIT-MGH Challenge 3” and should include a single pdf file with the following name convention: the PI(s) last name separated by “_” and followed by “_LOI_GC3”.
Example: “Smith_Clark_LOI_GC3”.

Selected LOI will receive an email inviting a full proposal and detailed submission instructions.

Full Proposal Submission Date: March 15, 2015

Project Start Date: June 1, 2015

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

To view the complete RFA, please click here. 

2. MGH Physician and/or Scientist Development Award 2015

Applications for grants are invited by the MGH Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), formerly the Multicultural Affairs Office, and the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR). 

What is the Award?
The MGH Physician/Scientist Development Award (PSDA) is designed for MD and/or PhD investigators at MGH who are considered underrepresented in academic medicine (URM). This Award is intended to provide transitional funding for support in the development of physicians and scientists underrepresented in academic medicine, and thereby increase opportunities for URM researchers to advance to senior positions in academic medicine at MGH. The CDI will evaluate the need for this Award on a regular basis.

Am I URM (Underrepresented in Medicine)?
For the purposes of the PSDA, MGH follows the definition of underrepresented in medicine and biomedical research (URM) of the NIH and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). URM groups may include Latino/ Hispanic (including Brazilian), African-American/Black, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaskan Natives, among others. Please note that Asians are not considered URM, UNLESS they are underrepresented relative to the population MGH serves, e.g., Cambodian or Laotian.

How much is the award?
A maximum of $120,000.00 will be awarded to be spent over a three or four-year period, with a maximum of $40,000.00 per year of funding in direct costs, plus 15% for indirect costs.

When is the deadline?
Friday, March 20, 2015 – 4:00 PM

How do I learn more and apply?
Click here to read more and apply online.

3. Pfizer Centers for Therapeutic Innovation 2015

We are pleased to alert you to a call for proposals for Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) 2015 CTI program for the development of bio-therapeutics for treatment of various diseases. For those familiar with the program we also want to call your attention to some changes in CTI process.

CTI supports translational programs in the therapeutic areas of Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Tissue remodeling, Oncology, Cancer immunotherapy, Rare or genetic diseases, Neuroscience, Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

CTI now has three annual Call-for-Proposal deadlines. The 2015 submission deadlines for a 2 page pre-proposal are February 13, June 12 and October 16.

Researchers working with validated drug targets that are tractable with biologic modalities such as antibodies, peptides, proteins, and are interested in developing a novel therapeutic agent to address an unmet clinical need should apply.Pfizer may fund 1-3 post-doctoral fellows for 2-3 years per project. Any intellectual property covering the newly developed therapeutic will be jointly owned by the Partners entity and CTI. Background intellectual property is not necessary for submission, but access to it may be required, if it exists.

The process: Pre-proposals should be submitted via email to Partners Innovation. Innovation will conduct a review of each pre-proposal to ensure that no confidential or proprietary information is included, prior to forwarding to CTI. CTI will make the decisions on which pre-proposals to advance to a full proposal stage. Invitations will then be sent to the PI‘s to submit confidential full proposals, to be developed together with CTI personnel. Funding decisions on full proposals will be made by the CTI-Partners Joint Steering Committee.

If you have any questions regarding the program, please visit here or contact Rekha Paleyanda at rpaleyanda@partners.org.

4. The Conquer Paralysis Now (CPN) Challenge

The aim of the Conquer Paralysis Now (CPN) Challenge is to accelerate the development of treatments for spinal cord injury (SCI) in order to provide significant improvements in patients’ quality of life. Stage I of the Challenge Program has been launched to provide seed funding to a wide range of non-traditional approaches, and Stage I grants will recur annually for the next six years. At least 2 grants of $50,000 are available in each of the below awards.

Please be aware that you CANNOT apply for more than one award per year and each lab can only apply for one grant per year. We therefore would advise Applicants to apply for the grant they feel is most relevant to them. The deadline for all Stage I awards is April 1st 2015.

Part of a $20 million challenge program, these grants have a quick and straight forward application process, and we're particularly eager to hear from research(ers) in the following areas:

• New Investigators (recently hired SCI researchers or established researchers who recently started working on SCI)
• Collaborative Research (eg: nanotechnology and biochemistry)
• Cross-Over Research from adjacent scientific fields that can be applied the field of SCI
• Translational Research from animal experiments towards human clinical trials)
• Reaching & Grasping (research to help restore reaching and grasping function for human SCI patients)
• Out of the Box Ideas (risky, high potential research ideas that could help SCI Patients)

The application deadline is April 1st 2015, and we welcome all interest and any questions. To view and enter the grants, please click here. For any queries regarding the CPN Challenge, please email cpnchallenge@conquerparalysisnow.org or consult our Challenge FAQs.

5. 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.

• Impact Grants Exploring HIV Persistence and Eradication, amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
• Innovator Awards for Early Career Investigators in Translational Stem Cell Research, New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF)
• Innovator Awards for Early Career Investigators in Neuroscience, New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF)
• Stem Cell Investigator Awards, New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF)
• Edmond J. Safra Core Program for PD Research - Target Advancement Program - Target Optimization Awards, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF)
• Edmond J. Safra Core Program for PD Research - Target Advancement Program - Priority Target Awards, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF)

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.

6. 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 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.

• Centers for Common Disease Genomics (UM1)
• Centers for Mendelian Genomics (UM1)
• Population Dynamics Centers Research Infrastructure FY 2015 (P2C) - NEW!
• Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers (EHS CC) (P30)
• NIAMS Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Centers (P30)
• NIAMS Rheumatic Diseases Research Resource-based Centers (P30)

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.

7. NIH Update for Week Ending January 30, 2015

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

MGH ECOR Formulaic Bridge Funding
Application Deadline: February 7, 7th day of each month

MLSC Cooperative Research Matching Grant Program
Application Deadline: February 13

2015 Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty
Nomination Deadline: February 16 

Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards for Junior Faculty Women Investigators in Basic & Clinical Research
Application Deadline:  March 3

2015 Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Clinical Fellowship Awards
Application Deadline: March 10

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

Budgeting for Industry Sponsored Clinical Trials - February 12

Save the Date! SAC 2015 - April 1 & 2, 2015

2015 World Medical Innovation Forum - Neurosciences - April 27-29

New Biographical Sketch Format Required for NIH and AHRQ Grant Applications Submitted - May 25

Executive Committee On Research (ECOR) Massachusetts General Hospital

50 Staniford Street, Suite 1001, Boston, MA 02114

ecor@mgh.harvard.edu