Research News - February 13, 2015

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Stay Informed - Sign up for the Employee Alert System (EAS)!

The Employee Alert System (EAS) allows us to rapidly notify staff of an important event such as MBTA closures, severe weather emergencies or disaster situational awareness by text message, email and/or phone call.
Register for the Employee Alert System (EAS) today!
 

2. Q1 FY15 Research Management Financial Update

Click Here for your copy of the complete Q1 Research Management Report. 

3. Core of the Week: Specialized Histopathology Services Core

Specialized Histopathology Services Core Core
Co-Director: Anat Stemmer-Rachamimov, MD
Location: Building 149 13th Street, Rm 6122, Charlestown

The Specialized Histopathology (SHP) Core provides consultative and interpretive pathology services including high quality, timely, state-of-the-art analysis of tissues obtained from a variety of experimental systems, including rodents, fish, and monkeys. This Core also provides professional expertise to assist in experimental design and the development and interpretation of tests and their results.

To learn more about the Specialized Histopathology Services Core, please click here.
 

4. PCORI January Newsletter: New Funding Cycle Opens, Application Deadlines and Upcoming Events

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

EVENTS

1. 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.
 

2. Welcome to the Genetic Code: An Overview of Basic Genetics

Tuesday, March 3, 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Simches Research Building, Conference Room 3.110

This program is sponsored by the MGH Clinical Research Program and the MGH Center for Human Genetic Research

Schedule:
2:00pm- 3:00pm: Jordan W. Smoller, M.D., Sc.D., Professor,  Psychiatry, Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH
3:00-3:15pm: Break
3:15- 4:00pm: Jeremiah Scharf, M.D., Ph.D, Principal Research Faculty, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH
4:00pm- 5:00pm: Questions & Answers

This introductory course will review fundamental language and concepts including DNA anatomy and genome organization; genotype-phenotype correlations; basic population genetics; and genotyping. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions to the faculty prior to the lectures.
This course is strongly recommended for both new and experienced clinicians, clinical investigators, nurses, and other clinical research staff who wish to further expand their knowledge of modern concepts in genetics and genomics.

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

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

1. NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program (S10)

The NIH ORIP's Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) program supports the purchase of research equipment in the $100,000 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.

The MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) has again committed funding to provide institutional support of $50,000 (for up to 10 funded grants) this year for Shared Instrumentation Grant proposals. ECOR has made this commitment because it recognizes that institutional support greatly increases the likelihood that a SIG 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 2010-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 email their intent to apply to ecor@partners.org no later than Friday, March 6. This email should simply be a statement of intent to apply with the contact information for the PI intending to apply as well as their administrator. Once we have received this email, we will contact you with next steps on how to proceed.

If you have questions, please contact MGH ECOR at ecor@partners.org or call Erin McGivney at 617-643-6471.

Please note that while the deadline for S10 grants in past years was in March, the deadline is now May 29, 2015.

2. American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Research Awards

Pathway is a bold initiative intended to radically transform diabetes research. The vision is simple yet revolutionary: find a new generation of brilliant scientists at the peak of their creativity and equip them with the freedom, autonomy and financial and professional resources to set them on the road to breakthrough discoveries.

Pathway awards will support exceptional, creative scientists; individuals who are early in their diabetes research careers, or who are established researchers in other disciplines, but are interested in applying their expertise to diabetes research for the first time.

Pathway will provide the means to conduct transformative science, including:

• Substantial, flexible financial support of $1.625M
• Scientific and career mentoring from distinguished leaders
• Networks for collaboration and communication

Pathway awards are by institutional nomination only. Nominations for individuals proposing innovative and transformational basic, clinical, translational, epidemiological, and behavioral or health services research that is relevant to any type of diabetes, diabetes-related disease state or complication are welcomed. Nominations of candidates in diverse disciplines, from medicine, biology and chemistry to engineering, mathematics and physics, are encouraged.

MGH is allowed a maximum of one nomination. The nomination can be in one of the three available Pathway award types:

• Initiator (for researchers in postdoctoral training)
• Accelerator (for early-career diabetes investigators)
• Visionary (for established investigators, new to diabetes)

To be considered for this funding opportunity you will need to provide the following items to ecor@partners.org on or before April 1, 2015. No late submissions will be considered.

• Letter of Intent - Briefly describe the proposed project and indicate which award you are interested in applying for in your letter of intent.
• Letter of Support from Departmental Chief – click here for the template
• NIH Biosketch

If you have questions about this process, please contact Erin McGivney at 617-643-6471.
 

3. 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.

• Innovations: Awards - Translation Fund, Wellcome Trust
• Research Grants, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
• Optimizing Value in Health Care: Consumer-Focused Trends from the Field, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
• International Project Grant, Action on Hearing Loss (Trading Name of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People ([RNID])
• TRIH Grant, Action on Hearing Loss (Trading Name of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People ([RNID])

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.
 

4. 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:

• 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

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.

• NIAMS Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Centers (P30)
• NIAMS Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine Resource-based Centers (P30)
• American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Research Awards - NEW!
• 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.
 

5. NIH Update for Week Ending February 13, 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

Pfizer Centers for Therapeutic Innovation 2015
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

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

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

MGH Physician and/or Scientist Development Award 2015
Application Deadline: March 20

The Conquer Paralysis Now (CPN) Challenge
Application Deadline: April 1

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

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