Research News - July 22, 2016

On Thursday, October 6, MGH will celebrate the 14th Annual Clinical Research Day. The Division of Clinical Research invites investigators from across the hospital to submit abstracts at https://crp2016.abstractcentral.com/ by the September 6 deadline.

Please note that submissions must be about clinical research conducted at MGH and may include manuscripts published after September 1, 2015.
MGH awards for best abstracts:

• $5,000 Team Award (Nominations by chiefs required)
• $1,500 Translational Research Award, sponsored by the Department of Molecular Biology
• $1,000 Individual Award
• Departmental Awards for clinical researchers in Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Medicine, Neurology, Ob/Gyn, Pathology, Pediatrics, Pediatric Surgery, Performance Analysis and Improvement/Practice Improvement, Radiology and more!
• A raffle sponsored by Mass General Research Institute

Clinical Research Day will begin at 8 a.m. with the keynote address delivered by Dr. Sandra Glucksmann, Chief Operating Officer, Editas Medicine

Please contact Jillian Tonelli with any questions.

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

Please click here to read the latest update from the Partners Government Affairs office.

Monday, August 8, 2016, 12:00 -2:30 pm, Location provided upon registration

The Center for Faculty Development's Office for Research Career Development presents a seminar for HMS faculty and trainees.

Perspectives on the NIH Research Plan: Grant Writing Panel Discussion & Review Session
This two-part program is designed to help new grant writers understand the characteristics of a successful Research Plan for an NIH R01 grant.

During Part I's panel discussion, three NIH senior faculty will share tips for writing a clear and effective Research Plan, based on their experience with recently funded NIH grants. In Part II's review session, small groups of participants will get feedback on their Specific Aims sections of their own NIH grant application.

Panelists: Ingrid Bassett, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Dennis Brown, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Director, Office for Research Career Development
Cammie Lesser, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases

All are welcome to attend Part I: Panel Discussion. To be eligible for Part II: Review Session, you must submit a polished draft of the Specific Aims for an R-level grant that you are currently preparing for submission to NIH (R01, R03 or R21). Limited space available for review session.

Deadline to submit your Specific Aims: 12:00 pm on Mon, Aug 1.

Please click here to register by Mon, Aug 1.

September 1 - October 20, 5:00pm – 6:30pm, Potts Conference Room

Sponsored by the MGH Division of Clinical Research, the Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Department of Psychiatry

Applications Due: August 15

Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials is an intensive fourteen-session course offered from early-September through late October. Physicians with a serious interest in clinical trials will be introduced to theoretical and practical issues facing clinical researchers.  Course participants will learn how to envision, plan, develop and execute effective clinical trials. Study content includes research designs, protocols, ethical patient recruitment, informed consent, regulations, and clinical trial management.
The course is ideally suited for clinical fellows starting their research years, junior faculty pursuing careers in clinical research, and physicians with an interest in becoming more actively involved in clinical research.  All participants are expected to use the course curriculum to develop and present a trial design at the final session of the course. 

To submit an application and/or view a course schedule, please go to: Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials. Contact Kelsey Gay with any questions.

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

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?
Click here to read more and apply online! For additional information, attend the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards Informational Panel Discussion.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has launched the “100&Change” competition, to award a $100 million grant to a single proposal designed to help solve a critical problem affecting people, places, or the planet.  Competition motivations include: (i) Solving problems that are radically different in scale, scope, and complexity; (ii) Bringing existing solutions to scale that are unnoticed or under-resourced; and (iii) Creating a ripple effect beyond the competition: the transparent selection process, sharing of submitted ideas, and evidence of impact may encourage others to fund non-winning proposals.  

The competition is open to organizations working in any field of endeavor, from anywhere (US and around the world), and can be non-profit or for-profit.  Applicants must identify the problem they are trying to solve as well as their proposed solution, which should be implemented within 3-6 years.  Applications will be judged with numerical scores in each of 4 categories:  Meaningful, Verifiable, Feasible, and Durable. 

Full competition details can be found at: https://www.100andchange.org/
To ensure that MGH is maximizing this outstanding opportunity, we are launching an internal competition to choose the leading idea or ideas to propose to the Foundation.  Interested applicants should submit a short proposal (no more than 3 pages) to ecor@partners.org by Friday, August 12, 2016.   Project descriptions should include the following information:

• Title
• Team members/Collaborators with evidence that the team is capable of carrying out the plan     
• Problem and Solution
• Approach and Technology
• Evidence of Effectiveness
• Sustainability Plan

Submissions will be reviewed for alignment with the MGH mission and the Foundation priorities and scoring criteria.  One or more project ideas will be selected by the committee by August 26, 2016. The team or teams will be notified immediately to allow ample time to plan for the final submission by October 3, 2016.

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 and Translational Science Award U54
• Avon Breast Health Outreach Program (Avon BHOP)
• Conference for Early Stage HIV/AIDS Vaccine Researchers (R13)
• Cancer Target Discovery and Development Network (U01) – NEW!
• Pediatric Centers of Excellence in Nephrology (P50) – NEW!
• George M. O'Brien Kidney Research Core Centers (P30) – 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.

• Research Initiatives:  Basic Research Grants Program, Hereditary Disease Foundation
• John J. Wasmuth Postdoctoral Fellowships, Hereditary Disease Foundation
• Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF)
• Patient Care Program, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF)
• Discovery Grants, National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF)
• Translational Research Grants, National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF)
• Bridge Grants, National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF)
• Public Health Challenge Grant, National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF)
• WFH Clinical Research Grant Program, World Federation of Hemophilia

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.

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

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

Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards Panel Discussion – August 9

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

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