eRoundup for 06/05/09

Dr. Dawn Smiley is currently a faculty member in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Emory University School of Medicine. The KO8 Award will help fund her work on ketosis-prone diabetes mellitus (KPDM). Dr. Smiley investigates patients with KPDM in order to correlate their response to treatment with the mechanism(s) and markers of short- and long-term remission and to determine the optimal therapeutic approach in order to prevent future glycemic decompensation. Dr. Smiley, a native of Montgomery, AL, graduated from Fisk University with a BA in Biology and later received her Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She completed a combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency program at the University of Cincinnati and later completed an Endocrinology fellowship at Emory University. Read More... 

Dr. Henry Blumberg, ACTSI Research Education, Training, & Career Development program director was quoted on May 29, in the Atlanta Business Chronicle's article, Medical Alert: Emerging Threat. 

The Georgia Tech/Emory Collaboration (GTEC) for Regenerative Medicine and the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) have partnered to establish an inter-institutional grant program for regenerative medicine. This call for planning grants is aimed at groups requesting year two funding and new groups intending to pursue a multidisciplinary project in the area of regenerative medicine that has the potential for multi-investigator extramural funding in a three‐year time horizon. The goals of this RFA are to: 1) foster research that will unearth ideas and/or themes that will be the foundation of team‐based or center proposals; 2) develop collaborative teams around which larger proposals can be formed; and 3) produce preliminary data that will support the proposals and establish a track record for the team. Teams consisting of members from more than one institution are strongly encouraged. Awards will range in size up to $100,000 in direct costs for the first year with the possibility of similar level of support for the second and third years. A letter of intent for new submissions is due June 15. All proposals are due via email to Meg McDevitt by 5:00 p.m. on June 29. Funding is expected to commence starting August 1.Technical questions should be directed to the co‐chairs: Ravi Bellamkonda, GTEC (404‐385‐5038), Robert N. Taylor, ACTSI (404‐727‐9106), and W. Robert Taylor, GTEC (404‐727‐8921). For more information please click here. 

NCRR just released a new ARRA funding opportunity entitled Enabling National Networking of Scientists and Resource Discovery (U24) (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RR-09-009.html). The goal of the initiative is to develop, enhance, or extend infrastructure for connecting people and resources to facilitate national discovery of individuals and of scientific resources by scientists and students to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and scientific exchange. Six diverse institutions must collaborate in an application. The receipt date is June 15; with funding by September 2009.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announces a new funding opportunity to enhance the development of clinical partnerships and translational research in the study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) - Partnerships for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Clinical Translational Research (U19): RFA-AT-09-002. For more information please click here. The NCCAM also announces a new funding opportunity that encourages investigator-initiated applications that propose to develop, enhance, and validate translational tools to facilitate rigorous study of CAM approaches that are in wide use by the public - Translational Tools for Clinical Studies of CAM Interventions (R01): PAR-09-066. For more information please click here.

For CTSAs interested in forming or collaborating with a small business to do biomedical research, the NIH, CDC, FDA, and ACF 2009-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the SBIR/STTR Grant Applications and SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide for SBIR/STTR Grant Applications are now available. The solicitation consists of the parent funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for SBIR, parent FOA for STTR, and narrative descriptions of the programs and research topics. The due dates for CY 2009 are August 5, and December 5. AIDS and AIDS-related applications are due September 7, 2009, and January 7, 2010. Click here for more information. 

NIMH has posted three funding opportunities for dissemination and implementation strategies to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices: PAR-07-086 (R01), PAR-06-520 (R03), and PAR-06-521 (R21). 

In an effort to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and promote technology training and awareness, the Translational Technologies and Resources (TTR) program of the ACTSI is pleased to co-sponsor biomedical symposia and other educational events related to translational technologies in research. Limited funds ($5,000-$10,000 per event) are available through the TTR program for co-sponsorship of educational events that align with TTR and ACTSI goals. To apply for funds to support your upcoming biomedical symposium or educational event, please complete an application.  Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. For more information about this educational partnering opportunity, please Deb Smith. 

The Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS) team invites you to a series of lectures focused on informatics in biomedical and translational research. This series brings leading figures in the study and use of translational information systems from academic centers across the U.S. and will promote discussion about the future of informatics within the NIH intramural program. The next seminar will be on Tuesday, June 16, from 2:00-3:00 p.m., and will feature Shawn Murphy, MD, PhD, Associate Director of the Laboratory of Computer Science at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. The series will be videocast here. Click here for more information about this series and continuing BTRIS news. 

The Clinical Research Management Workshop will be held on June 22-23 in the Main Auditorium of the Natcher Conference Center, (Building 45, NIH campus) Bethesda, MD. Clinical research management, the processing of protocols and clinical studies, is a high-priority issue for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) consortium. To address these and other regulatory issues, this workshop will advance methods of process improvement in clinical research management; report metrics definitions and 2009 data in clinical research management; share experiences in implementing process improvements at CTSA sites - successes and challenges; develop networking relationships between counterparts at CTSA site; initiate CTSA consortium-wide projects based upon data-driven approaches to clinical research management; and provide public access to CTSA consortium data in clinical research management. This workshop is co-sponsored by NCRR and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. For more information, please click here. Visit here if you would like to submit a poster for presentation. If you have questions regarding the workshop, please contact Dan Rosenblum. 

The Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes funding to conduct comparative effectiveness research of medical interventions. It signals a new era in which this information will play an increasingly important role in medical, healthcare reimbursement, and health policy decision making. Evidence-based medicine and value-based medicine are two essential components of comparative effectiveness research. This two-day course, hosted by Tufts University CTSI on June 25-26, aims to provide participants with knowledge and hands-on experience in the methods employed in these practices. For a program brochure, contact Jeanne Connolly, Tufts CTSI. 

This two-day event will bring together stakeholders from government agencies, academic institutions, health care organizations, and technology companies to review the state of telehealth science and technology; identify gaps in knowledge that can be addressed through targeted research and evaluation initiatives; and explore ways to leverage evolving information and communication technologies to advance the field. The event will be held at the Main Auditorium of the Natcher Conference Center, (Building 45, NIH campus) Bethesda, MD. A workshop on the second day will yield specific recommendations to stimulate development, implementation, and evaluation of telehealth applications for clinical care, clinical and translational research, and health education and training. The ultimate goals are to broaden participation in research and improve health outcomes in medically underserved communities. For more information, please click here.

The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the state of existing NIH-funded research core facilities, identify common problems encountered during their operation and use, and to discuss solutions to maximize their use and efficiency. During session discussions, workshop participants will review examples of current use and will discuss ways to improve access, administrative management, training, utilization, and quality assurance at core facilities. The workshop will be held at the Main Auditorium of the Natcher Conference Center, (Building 45, NIH campus) Bethesda, MD. For more information, please click here.

Co-sponsored by NCRR and the NIH Office of Rare Diseases Research, this conference will provide a forum to discuss lessons learned from the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network; highlight successful collaborations to improve rare diseases research; highlight the involvement and essential role of patient advocacy groups to facilitate research and accrual of patients; and discuss the role of best practices across research consortia and research networks for translation of basic discoveries into clinical practice in rare diseases. The conference will be held at the Main Auditorium of the Natcher Conference Center, (Building 45, NIH campus) Bethesda, MD from 7:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. For more information, please click here.

Current medical students at Emory University School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), and other health professional trainees pursuing doctoral degrees in public health, biomedical engineering, nursing and other fields at Emory, MSM and GA Tech can apply for short-term (3 month) stipends ($5,190 of salary support) funded by the Research Education, Training and Career Development (RETCD) program of the ACTSI. This mechanism will support medical and graduate students who are interested in a short course program focused on clinical and/or translational research under the mentorship of a successful, federally funded faculty mentor. Application for the short-term training program includes several components that should be submitted electronically by emailing TL1Applications@erooms.emory.edu. For more information please visit www.atlantactsi.org/areas/retcd/documents/TL1_three-month_program-9-30-08_FINAL.pdf.