Research News - April 14, 2017

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Tuesday, April 18, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, CNY 149, Rm. 2.204                
                                                     
Human genetics to identify vascular causes of CAD/MI: from discovery to functional characterization
Rajat Gupta, MD
Physician
Newton Wellesley Hospital
Instructor / Harvard Medical School

Thursday, April 20, 2017, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, MGH main campus (details with registration)

Sponsored by the Mass General Post-Doc Association (MGPA)

Have you ever wondered what a career as a Medical Science Liaison (MSL) entails? Do you enjoy science and medical research but don’t want to stay in academia?

This panel discussion and networking session will be useful for post-docs who are exploring a career outside of academia but within the scientific field. A panel of medical science liaisons will answer questions such as:

• What does a MSL do on a typical day?
• How do I transition from a post doc into an MSL role?
• What skills do I already have that make an MSL career perfect for me?
• How can I ace an MSL interview?

Click here to register or email mgpa@partners.org if you have any questions.

Thursday, April 27, 1:30 - 3:00 pm, Simches Room 3.120

Sponsored by the MGH Division of Clinical Research and the MGH Biostatistics Center

Dimitar Dimitrov, Systems Designer and Jeremy Alphonse, EDC Project Analyst 
The REDCap Application Programming Interface, API, allows external applications to connect to REDCap remotely, and is used for programmatically retrieving or modifying data or settings within REDCap, such as performing automated data imports/exports for a specified REDCap project. Programmers can use the REDCap API to make applications, websites, apps, widgets, and other projects interact with REDCap. Programs talk to the REDCap API over HTTP, the same protocol that your browser uses to visit and interact with web pages.

The Data Entry Trigger, DET, provides a way for REDCap to trigger a call to a remote web address (URL), in which it will send a HTTP POST request to the specified URL whenever *any* record or survey response has been created or modified on *any* data collection instrument or survey in this project. Its main purpose is for notifying other remote systems outside REDCap at the very moment a record/response is created or modified, whose purpose may be to trigger some kind of action by the remote website, such as making a call to the REDCap API.

To get started using the REDCap API, review the General API Info via REDCap API Help Page https://redcap.partners.org/redcap/api/help/index.php. There is also an API Playground page in each of your REDCap projects, in which the playground will allow you to experiment with the REDCap API and see the range of its functionality without even having to write any code.

Main Objective: Provide support, best practices, and guidance to REDCap End-Users utilizing the REDCap API and DET

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how to access REDCap's API, DETs
2. Learn how to best implement the API, DETs
3. Review updates to API features in REDCap v7.0
4. Understand the current limitations and when to contact ERIS or Research CORE for additional support

Target audience: Researchers that have evaluated and decided to use REDCap and/or have started a REDCap project. Researchers with basic level programming experience.

Registration is required. Contact Tiereny Morrison-Rohlfs with questions.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017  

Interactive Nursing Research Poster Session
10:00am – 11:30am, O’Keeffe Auditorium Foyer, Blake 1

Yvonne L. Munn Nursing Research Lecture and Presentation of the 2017 Research Awards
1:30pm – 3:00pm, O’Keeffe Auditorium, Blake 1

The Power of the Patient’s Voice in Research: Stories from the Bedside and Beyond
Presented by: Sara E. Looby, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN, Nurse Scientist, Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research; Principal Investigator, Program in Nutritional Metabolism, MGH; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Reception immediately following lecture and awards ceremony, O’Keeffe Auditorium Foyer, Blake 1

May 1-3, 2017

Time is running out to take advantage of the employee discount to attend the World Medical Innovation Forum being held in Boston on May 1-3, 2017. Don’t be the last to register – click here to reserve your seat today!

Hosted by Partners HealthCare, the 3rd annual World Medical Innovation Forum brings together nearly 1,000 international cardiovascular innovation decision-makers from industry, investment, clinical and research communities. Over the three days, the Forum will review in detail the emerging cardiovascular therapies, ‘omics, digital diagnostics, education and engagement with new delivery platforms that will become the model of care for cardiovascular and related metabolic diseases. In addition to examining the cutting-edge issues in the field through panel discussions and interviews, the Forum offers presentations by early stage investigators and luncheons with clinicians from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The Forum features more than 120 speakers, including 19 CEOs, and additional key leaders from life science, government and venture.  

Thursday, May 11, 9:00 am– 5:30 pm, 125 Nashua Street, Room 4200

As researchers, it is critical that we develop the ability to explain the significance of our work to lay audiences. If we can clearly articulate the importance of our research, we can better engage with our audience and be stronger advocates for research funding

The Mass General Research Institute has invited the Alan Alda Center for Science Communication to bring you a unique interactive program designed to help you improve your science communication skills.
Distilling Your Message is a day long interactive series of workshops that help researchers craft short, clear, conversational statements about what they do and why it matters.

The session consists of an interactive presentation and discussion on interpreting technical material, and using examples and analogies to illuminate unfamiliar concepts; improvisational workshops aimed at helping you connect more directly and spontaneously with different audiences; and small breakout sessions to practice speaking clearly and vividly about your work and its significance, in terms non-scientists can understand. We will address problems and solutions that occur in public interactions, as well as in peer-to-peer communication.

This event is free but registration is required.

Monday, June 12, 1:00 - 5:00pm

We invite you and your colleagues to the 3rd Annual Skeletal Research Symposium hosted by the MGH Endocrine Unit.  This year we will feature talks by two talented leaders in the field, Sean Morrison, PhD from U Southwestern and Elizabeth Shane, MD from Columbia University.  We will also have talks by two young investigators who will present their research supported by Pilot Grants awarded by the CSR.  There will be a special seminar for young investigators and post docs presented by Dr. Shane entitled “Launching your career in today’s world”.  An important part of the symposium will be the poster session that will allow time for informal exchange about research ideas, prizes will be awarded.

There is no charge for this event but advanced registration is recommended due to limited seating.   To register or submit an abstract, please go to https://csr.mgh.harvard.edu/2017-symposium

We are pleased to announce the 2017 call for preproposals for Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) program is now open. Pfizer CTI program collaborates with leading academic medical centers, the NIH, and foundations to speed the translation of novel targets to the clinic.

Who Should Apply
Researchers working with validated drug targets that are tractable with biologic modalities such as antibodies, peptides, proteins, ADCs and/or fusion proteins, who are interested in developing a novel therapeutic agent to address an unmet clinical need should apply.

Therapeutic Areas of Interest for Spring 2017

• Oncology
• Inflammation and Immune disorders
• Cardiovascular metabolic diseases
• Neuroscience
• Rare monogenic genetic diseases

Pre-proposals
Submission entails a brief, non-confidential 2-3 page overview of the target, mechanism (including evidence for disease linkage), and the proposed therapeutic drug. At a high level, the pre-proposal should suggest how the therapeutic hypothesis could be tested in the clinic.

Template of the preproposal can be downloaded from the website below: http://innovation.partners.org/about/special-programs.

Preproposals should be submitted via email to Partners Innovation at:  phsstrategicalliances@partners.org.

Deadline for Submission: April 24, 2017

Questions: If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact Seema Basu at ssbasu@partners.org.

Eligible applicants fall into one of 3 categories: (1) Early career investigators in nutrition, metabolism, or obesity; (2) established investigators new to the field of nutrition, metabolism or obesity research; or (3) established investigators in the field looking for funding for a new direction in nutrition, metabolism or obesity research.  Investigators from any Harvard institution are eligible to apply.  Per NIH rules, fellows are not allowed to be PI of these grants, but final-year fellows may apply if the grant would be awarded after completion of their fellowship.  Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of our Core laboratories.

DEADLINE: Application must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 1, 2017. Awards will be announced July 14, 2017 and funding will begin August 1, 2017.

For more information, please click here.

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

If there is more than one MGH investigator 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 AIDS Research (P30)
• Developmental Centers for AIDS Research (P30)
• 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 note that any grant that brings in less than 15% in indirect costs (IDC) will need to be supplemented up to the 15% equivalent by existing investigator or departmental sundry funds. Resolution of this issue must occur prior to submission of the award.

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.

Week of 4/14/17

• Career Development Bridge Funding Award:  R Bridge, American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Rheumatology Research Foundation
• Career Development Research Awards - Investigator Award, American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Rheumatology Research Foundation
• Career Development Bridge Funding Award:  K Bridge, American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Rheumatology Research Foundation
• Innovative Research Grant, American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Rheumatology Research Foundation
• Triological Society/American College of Surgeons Clinical Scientist Development Awards, American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc. (Triological Society)
• Science and Technology (S&T) Award Program:  Translational Research Award, CooperVision
• Sickle Cell Disease/Advancing Cures, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) 
• Edward N. and Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation, Bank of America N.A., Trustee, Awards Program in Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery Research, Health Resources in Action (HRiA)/The Medical Foundation
• John J. Bonica Trainee Fellowship, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)
• Grant Opportunities, LAM Foundation
• Meso Foundation Research Grant Program, Meso Foundation
• Inflammation Biomarkers for Parkinson's Disease, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF)
• Research-Specific Grants:  OREF Clinical Research Grant in Cellular Therapy in honor of James Urbaniak, MD in Collaboration with National Stem Cell Foundation (NSCF), Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF)
• Translational Research Grant Program (HeART (Help Accelerate RTT Therapeutics) ), Rettsyndrome.org (International Rett Syndrome Foundation)
• Research Grant Call for Proposals, Saving tiny Hearts Society (StHS)
• Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise, Vilcek Foundation
• Collaborative Awards in Humanities and Social Science, Wellcome Trust

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

MGH ECOR Formulaic Bridge Funding Support
Application Deadline: May 7, 2017; 7th day of each month

Center for Genomic Medicine Catalysis Awards
Application Deadline: June 15, 2017

HHMI Announces New Investigator Competition
Application Deadline: June 27, 2017

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

Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Study Subjects – April 18

REDCap: Getting Started – April 20

REDCap v7.0: New Feature Release and User Group Meeting - April 20

Introduction to Bioinformatics – May 4 & 11

ORCD's Annual Research Fellow Poster Celebration - May 18

FY16 NIH Market Analysis

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