Research News - March 7, 2014

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Core of the Week: Center for Morphometric Analysis

Center for Morphometric Analysis
Director: Nikos Makris
Location: Building 149 13th Street, Room 10.006, Charlestown

The MGH Morphometric Analysis Center (MMAC) is established for the generation of neuroanatomic morphometric measurements. The operational synergies in the combined approaches of the Center for Morphometric Analysis (CMA) and the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging as well as the commonality of the application areas represent a unified approach to the delivery of these morphometric measures to the Partners community. The Core transitions morphometric methods developments into "production mode", as the efficiency and quantity of application areas grow. The MGH Morphometric Analysis Center provides the infrastructure to support the necessary level of administrative, operational, financial and physical presence that is necessary to provide a more efficient, cost effective and flexible morphometric measurement service to meet the needs of the clinical community.

To learn more about the Center for Morphometric Analysis, please click here.

2. Help ERIS Investigate Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) Software

An eLab notebook, or ELN, is a computer program designed to replace paper laboratory notebooks. Lab notebooks in general are used by scientists, engineers, and technicians to document research, experiments, and procedures performed in a laboratory. Please help us gather information and investigate Electronic Laboratory Notebook software.

• Are you currently using an Electronic Lab Notebook product?
• Have you previously used ELNs?
• Are you / Have you evaluated ELNs?
• Are you interested in learning more about ELNs?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, we'd like to hear from you!

Please take 5 minutes to provide your feedback to ERIS and take this survey: https://limesurvey.partners.org/limesurvey/index.php/388476?lang=en 

3. NIH Update: FY2014 Fiscal Policies, Guide Search Results via Email, NIH Regional Seminar Registration

Please click here to read the NIH Extramural Nexus update.

4. Partners Research Management Message, March 6, 2014

Please click here to read the Partners Research Management Message.

• Newly Updated Partners Contracting Guidelines
• Next Effort Reporting Period Starts 4/1; Tips to Start to Prepare
• Conclusion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)
• New Application to Manage Access in Insight and InfoEd
• FY13 A-133 Report on Federal Awards Now Available
• New & Upcoming Research Management Training Classes
• Salary & Payroll Deadlines for March 2014

EVENTS

1. Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) 2014: April 2 & 3, 2014

The 67th Annual Meeting of the MGH Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) is being held on April 2 & 3, 2014. The agenda for SAC 2014 is now available online! We hope that you will be able to attend at least part of the SAC events on April 2 & 3!

2. Applied Biostatistics for Clinical Trials

Wednesday, April 9, 16, 23 & 30, 3:30pm - 5:00pm, Simches Room 3.110

The MGH Clinical Research Program and the MGH Biostatistics Center are sponsoring this program.

In this series, Dr. Halpern will review the statistical approach to problems commonly encountered in research. Each of the four sessions will focus on a different theme using concrete and realistic examples. This course is intended for investigators who are interested in clinical research.

Registration is required. Please contact Kelsey Gay with any questions.

3. IRB Roundtable Series: Part I: Continuing Review and Amendments

Thursday, April 3, 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Garrod/Mendel Conference Room

Speakers:
Jo O'Driscoll-Davis, Assistant Director for Continuing Review and Administrative Chair
Michael Ducey, Administrative Chair, BWH Panel B

Learn how your Continuing Review and Amendments are handled by the IRB staff at intake and what is required at full board for review. Also, how and what the Administrative Chairs (voting members of the IRB) review and consider at Continuing Review. The Administrative Chairs will use the PHRC Guide to Review of Non-Exempt Human Subjects Research to identify and discuss ethical and scientific issues, including how recruitment, consenting and safety monitoring is handled and how some of these issues can be addressed in your submission.

Registration is required. Please contact Kelsey Gay with any questions.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

1. Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Clinical Fellowship Awards

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

What are they?
MD fellows, PhD postdoctoral research fellows and Instructors within 5 years of the start of their fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital are encouraged to apply. The award may be used only for salary and fringe benefits. The awards are unrestricted as to area of study.

How much is each award?
The awards are $40,000 for up to one year, plus applicable fringe benefits and 15% indirect costs.

When is the deadline?
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 9:00 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.

2. HMS Foundation Funds: Opportunities for Faculty and Fellows

Information on funding opportunities offered through the HMS Foundation Funds will be available online on February 19 at: www.hms.harvard.edu/foundationfunds

Each year several foundations invite HMS junior faculty members and postdocs to apply for their fellowships and grants, which serve as critical funding at the early stages of a research career. For awards that limit the number of applicants from Harvard, interested investigators must first apply for the HMS nomination through the HMS Foundation Funds, and a committee will select the final candidates to submit applications to the foundations.

The following opportunities may be applied to via HMS:

• Brain Research Foundation Scientific Innovations Award
• Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists
• Burroughs Wellcome Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases
• Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program
• Grunebaum Cancer Research Fellowship
• Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship Program
• Searle Scholars Program
• W.T. Grant Scholars Program

Researchers interested in applying for any of the awards listed above can apply for the HMS nomination by submitting an application online no later than April 1, 2014 at 5:00PM.

Please join us for an informational forum:
- March 11 12:00-1:00pm at HMS in the Armenise Amphitheater. Lunch will be provided.

Please direct all inquiries to Betty Carbunari, Office of the HMS Dean for Academic and Clinical Affairs, 617-432-7463, Betty_Carbunari@hms.harvard.edu

The selection process for the following opportunities is handled by MGH ECOR. To view MGH's internal process on applying for limited submission funding opportunities, please click here.

• ADA Pathway to Stop Diabetes: Diabetes Research Accelerator Award - accepting letters of intent!
• ADA Pathway to Stop Diabetes: Diabetes Research Career Initiator Award- accepting letters of intent!
• Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research (not yet available)
• Jose Carreras International Leukemia Foundation E.D. Thomas Fellowship (not yet available)
• Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Grant- accepting letters of intent!
• Pew Scholars Program in Biomedical Sciences (not yet available)

If you have any questions regarding applying for a limited funding opportunity through MGH, please contact Erin McGivney at 617-643-6471.

3. Partners HealthCare Innovation and Pfizer's Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI)

Partners HealthCare Innovation and Pfizer's Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) are pleased to announce a Partners-wide call for proposals of translational projects involving the development of bio-therapeutics for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes and associated conditions. In partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), CTI will support research in focus areas of immune tolerance, diabetic nephropathy and beta cell health. The 2-3 page pre-proposal submission deadline is Friday, March 14, 2014. The pre-proposal outline can be downloaded here.

Pre-Proposal Process: 2-3 page pre-proposals are to be submitted via email to Partners Innovation. Innovation will conduct a review of each pre-proposal to ensure that no confidential information has been included, prior to forwarding them to CTI-JDRF. A CTI-JDRF Joint Steering Committee (JSC) will make the decisions on which pre-proposals to advance to the full proposal stage. Invitations will then be sent to the PI's to submit confidential full proposals, developed together with CTI personnel. Funding decisions on full proposals will be made by both the CTI-JDRF and CTI-Partners JSC.

If you have additional questions, please contact Rekha Paleyanda.

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:
1. Name of the Principal Investigator with appropriate contact information
2. A descriptive title of the potential application
3. Brief description of the project
4. 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 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.

• Breast Cancer Alliance 2015 Exceptional Project Grant - NEW!
• Botanical Dietary Supplement Research Centers (BDSRC) (P50)
• Alzheimer's Disease Core Centers (P30)
• Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (P50)
• Charles H. Hood Foundation Major Grants Initiative to Advance Child Health - NEW!
• Diabetes Research Centers (P30)
• Consortium for Food Allergy Research (U19) - NEW!
• Jointly Sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (T32)
• Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Grant
• Cystic Fibrosis Research and Translation Core Center (P30)
• American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Research Awards

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. Private Funding Opportunities

Please contact Corporate & Foundation Relations in the Office of Development at devcfr@partners.org 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.

• Phillip Bennett and Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award, Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA)
• International Project Grant, Action on Hearing Loss (Trading Name of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People ([RNID])
• Research Grants, Whitehall Foundation
• Bronya J. Keats Award for International Collaboration in Research on FA, Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA)

Please click here for further details on these funding opportunities.

6. NIH Update for Week Ending March 7, 2014

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

Pilot Funding: Up to $500,000 for Novel Approaches to Crohn's Disease Proposals
Application Deadline: March 13

MGH ECOR Deliberative Interim Support Funding
Application Deadline: April 1

MGH ECOR Sequestration Relief Funding
Application Deadline: April 1

Problem-Based Biostatistics for Clinical Investigators - March 13, 19, 27

Introduction to Survey Design - March 13, 19, 26

CRP Spotlight Series: Bio-Specimen Processing Basics - March 12

QI Roundtable: Study Start-Up - March 20

Orientation Program: Clinical Research Resources at MGH - March 27

Connecting Immunologists across Harvard: Junior Faculty Retreat - March 31

Executive Committee On Research (ECOR) Massachusetts General Hospital

50 Staniford Street, Suite 1001, Boston, MA 02114

ecor@partners.org