eRoundup for 12/03/10

Playing By the Rules: Multiple Abstract Submissions

ACTSI CERP funded four proposals from Community Based-Organizations (CBOs) to conduct dissemination activities regarding particular health topics for the 2010-2011 funding cycle (e.g., community forums, development of educational materials, and local presentations by researchers). Selected CBOs will receive mini-grants of up to $4,000 to conduct these activities while working in concert with the researcher whose findings are being shared. Read more...

Diabetes has become widespread as people are living longer and eating better. And, they are paying the price for neglecting the essentials of life such as physical activity and exercise, says Dr Lawrence S Philips, a wellknown endocrinologist at the Emory University School of Medicine and ACTSI investigator.  A sedentary lifestyle is the key factor that has contributed to the rise in the number of diabetic patients in the country. People affected by diabetes are vulnerable to heart disease, apart from problems in the eye, foot and kidneys, he said.  Read More...

Organ transplantation has changed the life of many individuals. However, outcomes remain sub-optimal, with poor long-term graft survival and severe side effects associated with the current drugs that need to be taken by transplant recipients to stop their immune cells rejecting the transplanted organs.  Christian Larsen, an ACTSI investigator, and colleagues, at Emory University, Atlanta, have now developed a new immuosuppressive protocol that substantially prolongs the survival of transplanted pancreatic islets in nonhuman primates. Specifically, they added short-term treatment with a molecule that targets the protein LFA-1 on immune cells known as T cells to long-term treatment with drug combinations that have previously failed to prevent graft rejection in nonhuman primates. Read more...

More people die from lung cancer than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. It will kill nearly 160,000 people this year alone, but doctors are testing out a new experimental treatment that is making a dramatic difference.  Researchers are testing an experimental drug called Crizotinib. that targets a specific tumor cell abnormality. Dr. Suresh S. Ramalingam, of the Emory University Winship Cancer Institute and an ACTSI investigator, said, "So the cancer cells for them to grow and multiply and spread to other parts of the body constantly require certain signals to be on, and this drug turns off the switch." Read more...

The first world war of the 21st century isn’t about land, power or domination — it’s against a disease, say HIV/AIDS activists and researchers.  The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise supported Emory University as it hosted the AIDS Vaccine 2010 conference in October. Dozens of researchers from across the world presented their findings or concepts that they were exploring. Atlanta-based Dr. Harriet Robinson of GeoVax is working with Dr. Rama Amara and others at Emory University on a vaccine that has the possibility of preventing the infection and then controlling viral loads in those who are already positive. Read more...

Mark Goodman

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program is a new Congressionally mandated program that performs preclinical and early clinical development of new drugs for rare and neglected diseases, and develops new technologies and paradigms to improve the efficiency of therapeutic development for these diseases.  TRND is establishing collaborations with researchers in the public and private sectors to together "de-risk" Rare and Neglected disease drug development projects by accomplishing lead optimization through an FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) application and, when needed, proof-of-concept human studies. Read more…

The NIA-funded "Emory Alzheimer's Disease Research Center" with support from the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) have funds available for pilot project grants of up to $35,000 in direct costs.  Applicants must hold Emory faculty positions and be eligible to be a PI on an NIH RO1 grant.  For more information contact Janet Cellar at jcellar@emory.edu. Read more…

The Developmental Research Program (DRP) seeks to identify new research opportunities and to increase the number of investigators engaged in translational research for head and neck cancer by supporting meritorious proposals that might expand into full research projects in the future.  Original projects with the potential to develop into independent R01 grants with a focus in head and neck cancer are encouraged.  The DRP will fund up to four pilot projects for a period of one year with a total of $35,000 in direct funds for each year. Read more…

The University Research Committee (URC) and the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) are pleased to announce their fourth annual call for applications for new pilot studies in clinical translational research.  Proposals exploring all aspects of clinical and translational biomedical research, including development of biostatistical methodology, bioethics, and assessment of new technologies will be considered.  Funding decisions will be made on March 14th, 2011.  For more information contact Ling Guo at lguo@emory.edu. Read more…

The 12th RCMI International Symposium on Health Disparities titled "Bridging the Gap between Disparity and Equity: New Minds – New Methods" has been designed to offer RCMI institutions and their participants an opportunity to share research information in areas related to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, cancer, women's health, mental health, infectious disease, stroke, and behavioral and social health.  This collaborative effort is sponsored by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Division of Research Infrastructure and hosted by the RCMI Programs at Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Tuskegee University.  Click here to view an agenda or here to register.

The Emory/Georgia Tech Predictive Health Institute will be hosting their Sixth Annual National Symposium of Predictive Health.  Click here to view an agenda or here to register.

If you're interested in exploring options to address clinical or surgical ideas to improve a product or technique, consider attending the Georgia Tech/Emory Department of Biomedical Engineering's Senior Research Design poster session on December 14th from 11:30 - 2:20 pm at the atrium area of the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Building at Georgia Tech - directions. Members of the medical/research community are invited to attend, speak with students about completed projects, and submit new ideas for future projects. Read More…

Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) have announced the dates of two major programs popular with medical school leaders and faculty. The 2011 Institutional Animal Care and Use Conference will be held March 29-April 1, in Chicago, IL. The 2011 Social, Behavioral, and Educational Research Conference will be held April 26-29 in Boston, MA and the Advancing Ethical Research Conference is scheduled for December 5-8 in San Diego. This is considered the pre-eminent national meeting for those concerned with Institutional Review Board issues and activities. Read More...

The T-32 Sleep/Cardiovascular Research Training Program at Morehouse School of Medicine seeks to train underrepresented minority PhD and Medical students to pursue careers in clinical and translational research.  This T-32 program benefits from established ACTSI infrastructure and research faculty in training CTR predoctoral students in sleep and cardiovascular disorders research.  Pre-doctoral students from groups underrepresented in the sciences are eligible, and tuition and stipend support are available for those who qualify. Read more...

Pfizer is proud to present our Medical & Academic Partnerships program, which improves patient care and increases the safe and effective use of our medicines.  This program is a reflection of Pfizer's commitment to advancing research, innovation, and medical education in Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy and Public Health.  The Medical & Academic Partnerships program provides financial support for fellows in a wide range of therapeutic and public health areas.  Applications will be accepted until February 11, 2011. Read more…

Junior faculty members at the MD or PhD level at Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, or Georgia Institute of Technology are encouraged to apply to the KL2 – Mentored Clinical and Translational Research Scholars (MCTRS) Program.  The KL2 award provides support for didactic and mentored research training for junior faculty members committed to a career in clinical investigation. For more details, click here.

The NHLBI wishes to alert researchers to a special funding strategy they are using for three Program Announcements (PAs) recently published in the NIH Guide.  The NHLBI is seeking to announce these opportunities as broadly as possible and encourage researchers to share this information with anyone who might be interested.  For more details, click here. 

The Research Education, Training and Career Development (RETCD) Program of the ACTSI is accepting applications for a clinical and translational research training opportunity for Emory Medical Students interested in careers in clinical and/or translational research.  This dual degree track leads to a joint Emory MD/MSCR (Master of Science in Clinical Research) degree and is designed to prepare physician-scientists for patient-oriented medical research.  For more details, click here.

The Career Development Program (CDP) is designed to provide training and guidance for academic physician-scientists, clinician-investigators, and laboratory-based scientists who wish to dedicate their efforts to translational research in the areas of diagnosis, imaging, prevention, treatment and improvement in quality of life in head and neck cancer.  The CDP will fund up to three CDP candidates per year for a period of two years, with a maximum of $50,000 in direct funds for each year.  This program is open to Emory investigators only. Read more…

The Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center/School of Medicine is seeking pilot proposals from faculty for support for core facilities that will accelerate the development of and/or facilitate widespread access of the investigator community access to emerging technology resources. The purpose of this RFP is to encourage and support the development of leveraging core facilities that will provide novel and platform technologies to Emory faculty. Read more…

The purpose of this Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) is to provide salary and “protected time” (up to five years for this award) to support the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research.  The Translational Scholar Awards in Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine program is intended to address the scarcity of investigators cross-trained in both clinical research core competencies and modern methods required to address pharmacogenomics research problems in patient populations.  Dual mentors from the Clinical and Translational Science Awards consortium and the Pharmacogenomics Research Network are required. Read more…

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation is now accepting applications from medical students, physician residents, and fellows for the Seed Grant Research Program. Grants of up to $2,500 will help junior investigators conduct basic science or clinical research projects in the following four categories: Cardiovascular/Pulmonary Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Leukemia, and Neoplastic Diseases. Read more…

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is pleased to announce that applications are currently being accepted for Research and Mentorship Program (RAMP) grants. RAMP Scholar grants support African American and Hispanic medical students considering careers in HIV vaccine research.  Research support will be made available for selected scholars proposing  projects aligned with the HVTN scientific agenda and conducted with HVTN investigators. Support for the mentor of successful applicants will also be provided.  Proposals are due January 10th, 2011. Read more…

The ACTSI is pleased to announce a new resource for investigators called Studio Consultations to aid in the successful design and implementation of clinical and translational science research proposals. The Studio Consultation concept involves a clinical investigator presenting their proposals to representatives of ACTSI’s Biostatistics, Epidemiology, & Research Design (BERD) program, Biomedical Informatics Program (BIP), and Clinical Interaction Network (CIN) who in turn will give the investigator their expert feedback. Read more…

The electronic Biomedical Interactive Resource Tool (eBIRT) is a web-based application used for research resource discovery.  For researchers, eBIRT serves as a "one-stop virtual shop" for research resources, such as laboratory services, equipment, software, consultation services, training opportunities, and more.  For resource providers, such as service centers and cores, eBIRT offers a platform to advertise research-related services and products.  If you have resources and would like to make them more discoverable to the scientific community, or if you would like more information about eBIRT, please write to: ebirt_support@emory.edu.  To try eBIRT, go to http://ebirt.emory.edu.

The purpose of the CTSA*IP website is to aggregate and market technologies from CTSA institutions as well as those of the National Institutes of Health, with the goal of enhancing research activity and private partnerships across the CTSA consortium. The website includes a text-searchable interface and regular, automatic updating with a standardized template to facilitate broad participation by CTSA consortium members. Currently, there are over a dozen CTSAs contributing information on their technologies to the site.  To try CTSA*IP, go to http://www.ctsaip.org/index.cfm.