Research News - July 8, 2016

How well can you explain your science to a lay audience?

This fall during HUBweek, the Mass General Research Institute will host "The Art of Talking Science," an opportunity for researchers in the Boston area to give short presentations on their science and get feedback from a panel of communications experts, including Carl Zimmer, award-winning science writer for the New York Times, National Geographic and STAT.

If you are interested, please fill out our application form and add a link to a one-minute YouTube video introducing yourself and your science. This is going to be fun!

APPLICATION FORM

Partners HealthCare has entered into an agreement with Dropbox, Inc. to provide Dropbox Enterprise as an approved storage and collaboration solution.  Dropbox Enterprise provides several advantages over current Dropbox products:

• No ads
• Dropbox will not be able to view the data as it’s fully encrypted
• More storage
• Full compliance with Partners’, state and federal policies and regulations
• And you will continue to enjoy the Dropbox experience

In the coming weeks, current Dropbox user accounts will have the opportunity to migrate to this new, secure Dropbox Enterprise.  if you have a Dropbox account with a partners.org or affiliated email address, you will be prompted to either join the Enterprise account or change your account to a personal address. The cost per registered account will be $25/year, but there is no cost to those with whom you share contents of the folder or file, internal or external.  The initial $25 subscription covers July 2016 until September 2017. After the initial period, the renewal is every September 15.

What type of information can be stored in Dropbox Enterprise?
It’s approved for Institutional and Confidential data at Partners HealthCare, but may not meet all regulations governing data protected under specific contracts and federal regulations such as FISMA. Please see Appendix A of EISS 8c.1: IT Asset Management Standards for Data Classification. Contact your Information Security Officer for help determining the appropriate solution for your data requirements. 

What are my storage and collaboration options for work at Partners?

• Anyone using Dropbox for Partners business purposes must choose the Enterprise account to comply with Partners and your institution’s Policies, Standards and Procedures.
• If you have a Dropbox account, but do not use it for business purposes, change your account registration to a personal email address.
• Other available options for file sharing and collaboration include internal network storage options such as your 'H' drive, Shared File Areas (SFAs), Research Interactive Storage (RFA), large file transfer to internal and external collaborators through Secure File Transfer, and Syncplicity. 

How do I obtain a new Dropbox Enterprise Account? 
Dropbox Enterprise is not available today. An announcement in the coming weeks will provide the exact date and additional details of the conversion process and the method of payment.

Please click here to read the latest news from the NIH Office of Extramural Research.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016, 12:00 -1:00 pm, MGH Main Campus, details provided with registration

The Center for Faculty Development's Office for Women’s Careers (OWC) and Office for Research Career Development (ORCD) present a seminar for MGH faculty with HMS academic appointments:

Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards Panel Discussion
Would you like to know more about the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards? These awards are designed to provide bridge funding for junior faculty women to sustain research productivity during the child-rearing years with the intention of advancing women in academic medicine.

This information session will cover:

• Resources to help you apply
• Tips on putting together your best application
• Advice from recent Claflin Scholars
• How the award can help advance your career

Please click here for Claflin Award eligibility requirements. Eligible faculty with HMS academic appointments, please click here to register early.

Celebrate MGH’s 14th Annual Clinical Research Day on Thursday, October 6 from 8:00am - 12:00pm. The day will kick-off with the keynote presentation The Clinical Applications of Gene Editing by Dr. Sandra Glucksmann, Chief Operating Officer, Editas Medicine

More details will be available in the next few weeks, including instructions on abstract submission and event schedule. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. Questions may be directed to Jillian Tonelli.

MGH Clinical Research Day is brought to you by the Division of Clinical Research.

Monday, July 18 through Friday, July 29, MGH, Main Campus, 55 Fruit Street, O'Keefe Auditorium

Hans-Christian Reinecker, Course Director

The course is open to all fellows, students, house officers, research staff and faculty of all Harvard-affiliated institutions and institutions associated with the CSIBD. There is no charge for the course. However, all participants must register by sending an e-mail with the subject heading “Current Techniques in Molecular Genetics 2016” to Cristina Maria Crisman at ccrisman@partners.org. Please include the following in the text of the email: your name, your institution/department, your laboratory (PI’s name), your telephone number and your email address.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Massachusetts General
Hospital, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

For more information, please visit the website at
http://www.massgeneral.org/csibd/education/course.aspx

Preliminary applications are now being accepted by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) for the NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards.
 
What is it?
The NIH Director’s Early Independence Award Program supports exceptional investigators who wish to pursue independent research directly after completion of their terminal doctoral/research degree or clinical residency, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career.

MGH is eligible to nominate two candidates to apply to NIH for this award.

When is the deadline?  
Deadline extended!!! MGH internal preliminary applications: July 13, 2016 – 5:00 PM

How do I learn more and apply?
Click here to for more information and to apply for this award.

Applications are now being accepted by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) for the MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards for Junior Faculty Women Investigators in Fundamental (Basic) & Clinical Research.

What are the Claflin Awards?
Although women scientists are recruited to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) programs, their advancement to senior faculty positions is still far less frequent than that of their male counterparts.  In 1993, The Women in Academic Medicine Committee, originally chaired by Mrs. R. Morton Claflin, Honorary Trustee, was established to facilitate the academic careers of women in science at MGH.  Recognizing that a significant obstacle to career advancement is the difficulty of maintaining research productivity during the child-rearing years, this Committee, with the sponsorship of the Executive Committee On Research (ECOR), established the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards.  It is intended that this funding will increase opportunities for women to advance to senior positions in academic medicine.

How much is each award?
These are two year awards for $50,000 per year in direct costs, plus 15% for indirect costs.

When is the deadline?
Tuesday, October 12, 2016 - 5:00 PM

How do I learn more and apply?

The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is accepting applications for the August 1st deadline for the Deliberative Interim Support Funding.  August is the 3rd of three standing deadlines for these awards in Fiscal Year 2016.  The next deadline will be December 1, 2016. 

What are they?
Deliberative Interim Support Funding 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, August 1, 2016 - 5:00 PM

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

The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, presented by the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals - part of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development, honors the physician-scientist who has moved science forward with notable achievements in innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.

This annual prize provides the awardee with:

• An unrestricted $20,000 honorarium
• The Harrington Prize Lecture, delivered at the ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting
• A review, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation

This prize requires Institutional Nomination; MGH is not limited in the number of nominees we can submit. If you are interested, please contact MGH ECOR at ecor@partners.org by July 15, 2016 to be considered.

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.

• Clinical Research Education and Career Development (CRECD) Program (R25) – NEW!
• Clinical and Translational Science Award U54
• Conference for Early Stage HIV/AIDS Vaccine Researchers (R13) – 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.

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.

• ARTust Faculty Development Award, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI)
• Focus Grants, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
• International Tobacco Advisory Group (ITAG) Project Grants, Cancer Research UK (CRUK)
• Harry Schwachman Clinical Investigator Award, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF)
• Request for Applications, Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR)
• Mentored Research Award (MRA) Program, Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Research Society

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.

Stepping Strong Innovator Awards
Application Deadline: July 18

Grand Challenges Canada - Stars in Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
Application Deadline:  July 19, 2016

Grand Challenges Canada - Saving Brains
Application Deadline:  July 29, 2016

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

Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium Brain Machine Interface
Application Deadline: August 22

Linux & ERISOne Cluster Training Registration - 7/25 & 8/22

Clinical Research Fellows Orientation at MGH - July 25

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

Partners IS Spring/Summer 2016 Newsletter

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