Research News - January 28, 2022

Are you looking for a new opportunity within the Mass General Research Institute or hoping to promote a newly posted job within your department?  Check out the Research Job Board, powered by the Division of Clinical Research!

All members of the community are able to submit postings or apply for positions. 

Click here to learn more.

Applications are due by January 28, 2022

C/T Research Academy supports, nurtures, and grows the next generation of c/t investigators at Harvard Medical School so they may become highly competitive for careers in translational and patient-oriented research in academia, industry, and regulatory affairs. The program offers advanced training to early-career c/t researchers, with a focus on the core knowledge necessary to achieve success in c/t research.

Completion of the two-year training program, which includes a carefully structured didactic curriculum and a mentor-based research project, culminates in a Certificate in C/T Research from Harvard Catalyst.

The C/T Research Academy focuses on the following key areas of c/t investigation:

• Clinical trial and study design
• Computational/statistical sciences
• Epidemiology
• Drug development
• Biomedical ethics
• Genetics and omics technology
• Grant writing
• Commercializing innovations

Please visit our website for the RFA and FAQ.  Contact us if you have questions. 

A Celebration of MGH Trainees
Deadline for submission:  Friday, February 4, 2022

ECOR is accepting abstracts from research staff and trainees who are interested in exhibiting their research

The Celebration of Science Virtual Poster Session gives researchers the opportunity to create a compelling visual display of their work and present it to some of the best scientific minds in the nation. The poster session is an essential part of the Celebration of Science, which highlights excellence in research at MGH. Posters of Distinction will be chosen to receive a $1,000 travel award to a scientific meeting.

A review panel will select a group of finalists from the submitted abstracts. Those finalists will be required to present their poster in order to be considered for the travel award.

ELIGIBILITY
Awards will be restricted to trainees (fellows and graduate students) and research staff (research coordinators, research technicians, etc.) The abstract submitter must have a full-time appointment at MGH.

ABSTRACT REQUIREMENTS
Abstracts on any type of research are eligible for submission and authors may only submit ONE abstract.  

HOW TO SUBMIT
Please click here for more information and to submit a poster abstract!

QUESTIONS
If you have problems or questions please email sac@partners.org

SAC VIRTUAL POSTER SESSION

Thursday, April 7, 2022 from 10:00am - 1:00pm
This year, the poster session will be held virtually via the Celebration of Science online portal. Completed posters must be uploaded to the event portal in advance of the event. Details regarding the format and instructions for uploading posters are forthcoming. Poster presenters will use Zoom or Microsoft Teams to communicate with attendees.

Mass General Brigham continues to prioritize the growth and efficiency of innovation and collaboration throughout our system. In support of this goal, Innovation has prepared the enclosed guide for employees interested in Mass General Brigham’s commercialization process. This guide is intended to help orient both new and experienced innovators to policies and procedure from the simple question of ‘who do I contact?’ to the more complex situations involving intellectual property, contracting, conflicts, and funding. As always, please contact the Innovation team with any questions about this process.

The Commercialization Guide and Early Innovator Guide is available here.

The deadline for employees to complete the annual Required Training package in HealthStream remains Friday, January 28, 2022. We understand that this third surge of COVID-19, in combination with ongoing capacity challenges and staffing shortages, has prevented many from completing the assignment to date. We ask that anyone who has not yet completed the assignment to please do so before the January 28 deadline.

These trainings provide the most up-to-date information about Mass General Brigham policies and procedures, which is essential for ensuring that high quality and safe care environments remain in place for our patients, their families and each other.

Thank you for your attention to this deadline and for all that you continue to do during this incredibly challenging time.

Friday, January 28, 2022, 12:00 – 1:00 pm, Zoom

Sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development’s Office for Well-Being

Fun Fridays offer a refreshing mid-day break from work to indulge in physical, mental, or creative activity.

Do you want to know what's beneath major and minor keys in music, a.k.a. tonality? For example, why does a G major have one sharp in the key signature? We will talk about the logic of tonal harmony, the circle of fifths, and listen to great music to see how composers unfold their creativity.

Joo Park, PhD, is a composer and pianist. She seeks to write music that explores the dual nature of existence: simple and complex, obsessive and impulsive, serious and humorous, and tonal and atonal. She wants to create music that combines fascinating musical traditions, such as tonality and counterpoint, with her approach to timbre, chords, fast-changing meters, and texture. She intends to create music that is positive and easy to listen to, and yet intellectual.

Click to register

“The Evolving Role of Neuroimaging in Alzheimer's Disease: from
symptoms to in Vivo Biology”

Julie Price, PhD
Director, PET Pharmacokinetic Modeling, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging,
Investigator, Department of Radiology,
Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Faculty Co‐Director for Research, MGH Center for Diversity and Inclusion

Click here to register.

Monday, January 31, 2022, 10:00 – 11:30 am, Zoom

Speaker: Pamela Richtmyer, Director, Compliance and Education Office
This course is intended for investigators and research staff.  A well written protocol is essential to successful and compliant clinical research.  This course will address the following questions:

• What are the required elements of a protocol including GCP requirements?  
• What makes a protocol effective? 
• What issues related to protocol writing have been identified in regulatory inspection and audits? 
• Are there special considerations when Writing a Clinical Research Protocol? 
• What is required for protocol training?  

*This course is worth 1 RCR credit.

Register here. Please contact Tiereny Morrison-Rohlfs with questions.

Monday, January 31, 2022, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, Zoom

Please join us for the next Mass General Brigham Town Hall for the Research Community on Monday, January 31, 2022, 1:00 – 2:00 pm via zoom. The Town Hall will be available on Zoom and the recorded and posted of the Research COVID-19 Pulse Page.
 
The session consists of presentations by senior leaders. You may submit your research-related question in advance to abaker10@partners.org.
 
The agenda topics include:
 
Overview of vision for clinical research at BWH & MGH                    

• Judy Hung, MD – Director, MGH Division of Clinical Research (DCR)               
• Lindsey Baden, MD – Director, BWH Center for Clinical Investigation (CCI)  

COVID-19 Update                                                                    

• Erica Shenoy, MD, PhD  –  Associate Chief, Infection Control Unit, MGH

NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy; Announcement of                                
Listening Sessions; Using Contracted Personnel – Do’s and Don’ts 

• Martha Jones, Vice President of Human Research Affairs, MGB

Closing Remarks                                                                 

• SVP’s & CAO’s across the system

Full Zoom details:
https://partners.zoom.us/j/86385984550?pwd=RFhCZEVQcE8wV29QZXpLQm1iMjZiQT09
 Meeting ID: 863 8598 4550
Passcode: 615643
One tap mobile: +16468769923,,86385984550#,,,,*615643# 
Dial by your location: +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

Wednesday, February 2, 2022, 10:00 – 11:00 am, Virtual

Sponsored by the MGH Division of Clinical Research and the Mongan Institute

Speaker: Vanessa Merker, PhD 

This one session course will assist clinical researchers in interpreting and presenting qualitative research data that they have coded using NVivo, other software, or by hand. We will address how to utilize the data to identify themes and overarching ideas, connections between themes, and ways in which themes may vary by attributes of individual interviewees, focus groups or other units of analysis. We also will address strategies for effectively reporting qualitative research results in presentations and manuscripts, and for integrating qualitative and quantitative research results in the context of mixed methods studies. 

Wednesday, February 2, 2022, 12:00 – 1:00 pm, Zoom

Presenter: John Putzke, PhD, MSPH, StudyTRAX

Participants will learn methods to:  

• Engage subjects in a portal using incentives, secure communication, and delivery of personally relevant information.
• Visualize outcomes and automate decision logic to incentivize timely and accurate data entry.
• Publish results more efficiently by connecting data capture and the analytical process into a single, integrated system. 

The presentation will examine ways to engage and retain subjects in the clinical research process by using a web-based, data entry portal that provides subjects with incentives, secure messaging, and personally relevant information based on their own data.  It will also demonstrate how to more efficiently bridge the gap between "raw" study data and the end-result manuscript by connecting analytical, editing, and text formatting tools directly within the data collection system.
This presentation is intended for clinical researchers, statisticians, and study coordinators involved in clinical trials, observational studies, surveys or patient registries.  Attendees will learn about functionality in a data capture system called Studytrax and view various case examples. 

To learn more visit:

StudyTRAX:    http://rc.partners.org/edcstrax
            http://www.studytrax.com
            Articles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-putzke-4390814/detail/recent-activity/posts/

Register here. Please contact tmorrison-rohlfs@partners.org with questions.

Friday, February 4, 2022, 3:00 – 4:00 pm, Zoom

Interested in learning more about the Center for Diversity and Inclusion’s (CDI’s) Physician/Scientist Development Award (PSDA) and Clinician-Teacher Development Award (CTDA)? 
  
This session will feature a panel of past PSDA and CTDA award recipients (see below) and will cover:

• Eligibility requirements
• Resources to improve your application
• Advice from recent PSDA and CTDA recipients
• How the award can advance your career

Panelists:

• Adeline Boatin, MD, MPH, Global Health Director, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (CTDA 2018)
• Jocelyn Carter, MD, MPH, Manager of Trainee Affairs, CDI, Albright Medicine Service, Department of Medicine (CTDA 2012)
• Cesar Castro, MD, Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Program, MGH Cancer Center (PSDA 2013)
• Kristin White, PhD, Cutaneous Biology Research Center, SRRP Co-Chair, ECOR PSDA review committee

Moderator: Elena Olson, JD, Executive Director, Center for Diversity and Inclusion

2022 CDI Faculty Development Award Consultation Service:

This service is designed to help 2022 applicants develop a strong application for the Clinician-Teacher and the Physician/Scientist Development Awards. Through this service, you can speak with an Award alumni for advice on your application including your research plan, personal statement, and letters of recommendation.

Please complete this online survey form to help us provide you with the best consultation possible.

We look forward to receiving grant applications from eligible candidates supported by their departments. PSDA and CTDA applications are due March 3, 2022, 5pm.

Should you have any questions about these awards, please contact Karen Osborne Greene, CDI Administrative Director for Research, at kosborne@partners.org.

Thursday, February 10, 2022, 12:00 pm, Zoom

“Adaptive responses to SARS CoV2 and its variants; immune memory in natural infection and vaccination"
Alessandro Sette, PhD, La Jolla Institute, University of California

Click here to join the virtual seminar via Zoom.

Click here to visit the MGH Immunology Seminar Series Website.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 4:00 pm, Zoom

The Olympic Science Slam is co-presented by the Office of the Scientific Director along with the Women's Sports Medicine Program.

Register to take the mic and present at our Olympic Virtual Science Slam on Tuesday, February 15th from 4pm to 5pm. We're looking for science communicators who can explain their research in layman's terms in three minutes or less.

We encourage you to think out-of-the box in terms of presentation format (i.e. no PowerPoint) but we encourage you to get creative with props, pictures, everyday household items or something we haven't even thought of yet.

OR

Just sign up just to cheer people on from the (virtual) stands!

If you have any questions, please contact Coleen Cunningham at ccunningham8@mgh.harvard.edu

Please visit the new MGB web page for COVID funding opportunities that provides a central database for researchers to view open and competitive funding announcements.

We have aggregated opportunities from federal and private funding sources including NIH, DoD, CDC, EPA, foundations, and more.  The database defaults to sorting by award amount and can also be sorted by deadline or filtered by research focus.

Upcoming deadlines:

• Mechanisms Underlying Cardiovascular Consequences Associated with COVID-19 and Long COVID (deadline 2/1/22)
• EMF Health Disparities Research Grant (deadline 2/4/22)
• EMF Emergency Physician Wellness Research Grant (deadline 2/4/22)
• EMF/ENAF Health Disparities Research Grant (deadline 2/4/22)

Recently added:

• No recent additions this week

Applications are now being accepted by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) for the Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Research Fellowship Awards!

What are they?
We recognize that research at MGH integrates the full translational spectrum of discovery from "bench to bedside to community and population.” To ensure that all areas of research conducted at MGH are included and eligible for FMD fellowship awards, ECOR is offering 3 types of training awards: fundamental research fellowships, clinical research fellowships, and population health care sciences fellowships. These fellowships are for MD and PhD Research Fellows and Clinical Research Fellows who are in the training phase of their research at MGH. Instructors who are within 5 years total since initiating their research fellowship training are only eligible to apply for the clinical and population health care sciences fellowships. 

How much is each award?
The award will include a stipend of $53,760 plus applicable fringe benefits and 15% indirect costs.

When is the deadline?
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 - 5:00 PM

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

For a guide to help make your application more competitive click here. 

Consultation Service available for potential applicants
The MGH and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) are committed to retaining and developing faculty who are underrepresented in medicine as investigators, clinicians, teachers and administrative leaders. The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR), the Mass General Physicians Organization (MGPO), MGH Equity and Community Health and CDI are pleased to announce the two awards under the 2022 CDI Faculty Development Award Program – Application Deadline Thursday, March 3, 2022, 5pm

1. The MGH Physician/Scientist Development Award (PSDA): provides transitional grant funding which will aid the applicant in becoming an independent investigator at MGH.  Applicants must hold an appointment at the level of associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, or clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School at the time of application. (If the Award recipient is a fellow, the person must receive a faculty appointment at HMS & MGH within one year of the commencement of the Award i.e., July 1, 2023.)

A total of six PSDA awards will be provided – four funded by ECOR and two funded by Equity and Community Health/ CDI. $180,000 plus 15% indirect costs will be awarded to be spent over a three or four-year period, with a maximum of $60,000 plus indirect costs per year for 3-year awards and a maximum of $45,000 plus indirect costs per year for 4-year awards. For details and to submit a PSDA application, please click here.

2. The MGH Clinician-Teacher Development Award (CTDA): provides funding support for a clinical, educational or community project to a faculty member (junior and mid-career), fellow, or graduating resident pursuing an academic career as a clinician, teacher, administrative or community leader at MGH. Applicants must hold an appointment at the level of associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, or clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School at the time of application. (If the Award recipient is a fellow, the person must receive a faculty appointment at HMS & MGH at the commencement of the Award i.e., July 1, 2022.)

A total of three CTDA awards will be provided - two funded by the MGPO and one funded by Equity and Community Health/ CDI. A maximum of $120,000.00 will be awarded to be spent over a four-year period, with a maximum of $30,000.00 per year of funding. For details and to submit a CTDA application, please click here.

For more information about the CDI Faculty Development Award Program or to download applications, please visit our website.

2022 CDI Faculty Development Award Consultation Service:

If you are applying for the CTDA or PSDA, or have questions about the process, the CDI encourages you to take advantage of the pre-award Consultation Service for potential applicants. This service is designed to help 2022 applicants develop a strong application for the Clinician-Teacher and the Physician-Scientist Development Awards. Through this service, you can speak with an Award alumna for advice on your application including your research plan, personal statement, and letters.

Please complete this online survey form to help us provide you with the best consultation possible.

Finally, a panel presentation with an overview of the PSDA and CTDA, including tips for a successful application, will be offered this month. Please check your email for the date confirmation.

Pre-applications are now being accepted by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) for NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants (S10) and the High-End Instrumentation Grants (HEI) Program

The NIH ORIP's Shared Instrumentation Grant (S10) program, also known as a SIG, supports the purchase of research equipment in the $50,000 to $600,000 price range. Examples of instrumentation supported by SIG funding include nuclear magnetic resonance systems, electron and light microscopes, mass spectrometers, protein and DNA sequencers, biosensors, X-ray diffractometers and cell sorters. For research equipment exceeding the $600,000 price range, investigators may apply for the High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Grant Program.

The MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) has again committed funding to provide institutional support this year for Shared Instrumentation Grant (S10) and High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Grant  proposals. ECOR has made this commitment because it recognizes that institutional support greatly increases the likelihood that an application will be funded.

When is the deadline?

ECOR Pre-application Deadline:  Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 5pm
NIH Application Deadline:  Wednesday, June 1, 2022

How to Apply
To submit a pre-application for S10 and HEI grants, click here

If you have questions, please contact MGH ECOR at ecor@mgh.harvard.edu

Fostering diversity in the scientific research workforce is a key component of the NIH strategy to identify, develop, support and maintain the quality of our scientific human capital NOT-OD-20-031.

This administrative supplement is designed to provide support for research experiences for individuals from diverse backgrounds throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level. Continuation of this program in the future will depend on the evaluation of the career outcomes of the supported individuals as well as continuing assessments of the diversity of the scientific workforce.

The primary mission of this program is to promote the development of a diverse, translational research workforce that is capable of participating and/or leading cross-disciplinary team science relevant for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and AD-related dementias.  The trainee will pursue a targeted research project under the mentorship of world-class researchers in the Harvard research community in three key areas:

1. biology of aging and neurodegeneration;
2. data sciences, computational biology, statistics, math/engineering/physics;
3. drug discovery and development

Most T32 faculty are within the MGH Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and/or Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.  Training includes targeted coursework, didactic lectures, and a dedicated T32 lecture series. General training includes research conduct, diversity and inclusion, mentoring, career development, and grant development activities.

Eligibility: PhD, MD, MD/PhD and U.S. citizen or permanent resident (see NIH PAR-18-524), with rolling admission for 4 training slots.  Our goal is to recruit a truly diverse T32 trainee pool that is highly representative of URM and women trainees.

Additional information: Please see  https://pricelab.martinos.org/t32-adrd/ for further information including application instructions.  Please submit questions to:  Krystal Whitfield (T32 Administrative Contact) at T32ADRD@mgh.harvard.edu. .

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Established in 1936, the Charles A. King Trust was created to “support and promote the investigation of human disease and the alleviation of human suffering through improved treatment.” In keeping with these principles, the King Trust today supports postdoctoral fellows in the basic sciences and clinical and health services research through the Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

The primary goal of the Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is to support research that focuses on the causes of human disease with the mission of improving its treatment. To meet this goal the Program provides vital support to prepare postdoctoral fellows for academic careers as successful independent investigators in biomedical research.

The King Basic Science Award Program supports scientists in the mid to late stages of their postdoctoral research training in basic science research. Basic Science research funded by this program has contributed to knowledge that has significantly impacted biomedical advances and contributed to the subsequent development of an impressive host of therapeutic interventions spanning the entire range of human disease categories. Please note, clinical research proposals involving human studies are not allowed and should be directed towards the King Trust Clinical and Health Services Research Fellowship Program. For questions regarding basic versus clinical research, please visit: www.hria.org/tmf/KingBasic and refer to the Frequently Asked Questions document.

AWARD PERIOD
October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2024

AWARD AMOUNT
Two-year grants currently range from $111,520 to $130,072 total, inclusive of a $2,000 annual expense allowance.

Click here to learn more about the Charles A. King Trust - Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program.

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.

• Coordinating Center for the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (OAICs) (U24 Clinical Trial Optional)
• Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Centers (U19 Clinical Trial Optional)
• Genome Research Experiences to Attract Talented Undergraduates into Genomic Fields to Enhance Diversity (R25 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – NEW!         

If there is a limited submission funding opportunity you do not see listed above or you have any additional questions, please let us know at ecor@mgh.harvard.edu.

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 opportunities.  Note that proposals are still routed through the standard Insight/Research Management process.

Please be aware 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 submitting a proposal.  Training fellowships from foundations, public charity, and non-profit organizations are excluded from this minimum IDC requirement.

Week of 01/28/22

• Young Investigator Awards, Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN). $50,000. Application Deadline: February 22
• Spinal Cord Injury Psychosocial Research Grants (PSR) Pilot Grants, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. $300,000. LOI Deadline: March 3
• Spinal Cord Injury Psychosocial Research (PSR) Postdoctoral Fellowships, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. $200,000. LOI Deadline: March 3
• Spinal Cord Injury Psychosocial Research (PSR) Studies and Demonstration Projects, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. $550,000. LOI Deadline: March 3
• Prader-Willi Syndrome Research, Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR). $150,000. LOI Deadline: March 4
• Early Career Investigator Award, Metastatic Breast Cancer Research, Support and Awareness (METAvivor). $100,000. LOI Deadline: March 21
• Translational Research Award, Metastatic Breast Cancer Research, Support and Awareness (METAvivor). $250,000. LOI Deadline: March 20
• Research Award, Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF). $300,000. LOI Deadline: March 1
• Research Grants, Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF). $750,000. LOI Deadline: March 1
• Research Grants, Saving tiny Hearts Society (StHS). $75,000. Proposal Deadline: February 16

MGH Town Hall Meeting Recordings

MGB Community Connects

Mentor MGB

Check out the Coronavirus Resource Guide for MGH Researchers!

NIH Update for Week Ending January 28, 2022

PCORI - Click here for the latest funding opportunities from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

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