Research News
holiday scene one
MEDICAL SCHOOL OFFICE OF RESEARCH
December 2013
EVENTS 

Kickoff! Protein Folding Diseases Initiative

Friday, December 13,

11:30am-2:30pm

Palmer Commons

Join Dean Woolliscroft and other UMMS leaders as we "fast forward" the Protein Folding Diseases Initiative and welcome special guest speaker Aaron Gitler, Ph.D. from Stanford University.  

 

Write Winning Grant Proposals from the Reviewer's Perspective Workshop for Faculty

Tuesday, January 7

7:30am-12:00pm

BSRB Seminar Rooms

 

MiChart Research Update

Two dates to choose from -Wednesday, January 8, 1:00pm-3:00pm at NCRC Research Auditorium; or Wednesday, January 15, 8:30am-10:30am at Ford Auditorium.

Learn the latest about how MiChart is impacting research in 2014.

 

AAMC Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) Program for Faculty

Winter session begins Monday, January 13

 

Phospho-Proteomics Data Interpretation Workshop

Tuesday, January 21, 1:00pm-2:30pm at MSRB II Room 2548

Find out how to get the most information out of your mass spectrometry data through identification and localization of phosphorylation sites, quantitation and more. 

  

SAVE THE DATE!

Developing Successful Scientific Papers for Publication Workshop for Faculty

May 13, 2014  

 

Health System Headlines Research Seminars & Events

 

FUNDING + AWARD OPPORTUNITIES 

Internal Submissions

 

Medical School FAST TRACK Bridging Grant Program

Deadline: Monday, December 16, 2013

 

BMRC Bridging Support Program for Biomedical Research

Deadline: Monday, December 16, 2013

 

External Limited Submissions

 

Mary Kay Foundation Grants for Innovative Translational Cancer Research

Internal Deadline:

Thursday, December 12, 2013

 

More Resources

UMMS AWARDED GRANTS & RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS 
RESEARCH NEWS 

QUICKLINKS
Fact Sheets & Hot Topics
Find UMHS facts & figures for your next proposal!

MBECT Tips & Tricks 

 

UMMS Office of Research

 

U-M Medical School

 
IN THIS ISSUE
kunkel

Dear Colleagues,

2013 has been an eventful and productive year for the entire U-M Medical School research community. As we look to

Dr. Kunkel

the new year and new challenges, the entire Office of Research Team wishes you, your staff, and all your families the happiest of

holidays.

Warm Regards,
Steve 

Steven L. Kunkel, Ph.D.

Senior Associate Dean for Research

University of Michigan Medical School

sacre

Your Feedback Is Critical!

Complete Our Clinical Research Survey

The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR), in partnership with the Medical School Office of Research, is again asking for your input on conducting research at U-M.

We are interested in better understanding your perceptions of the current support and infrastructure for clinical and translational research and your assessment of U-M's performance. Your feedback is critical in informing focused areas for continued improvement.

We invite the participation of all research teams. Please take the brief survey HERE by Friday, December 20, 2013. 

personalized

Personalized Medicine and the Debate Over Natural Phenomena

A Fast Forward Event

Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson

How do recent Supreme Court patent decisions and Medicare reimbursement impact your gene-based technologies? 

Thursday, January 9  

4:30pm Panel Discussion  

5:30pm Reception  

Seminar Rooms, BSRB  

FREE RSVP Required    

 

Join a panel of experts as they discuss the impact of these legal cases on the patentability of research, as well as the changes in the regulatory environment for diagnostics and potential impact on biomedical innovation.
 

Co-sponsored by Fast Forward Medical Innovation, U-M Medical School Office of Research, U-M Office of Tech Transfer, and BioArbor, the event panel will be moderated by Robin Rasor of Tech Transfer and feature David Casimir, JD, PhD and patent attorney with the firm Casimir Jones, and Kojo Elenitoba-Johnson, MD, Endowed Professor of Pathology and Director of the U-M Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory.    

 

Part of the Strategic Research Initiative, Fast Forward Medical Innovation acts as a commericialization navigator for faculty and potential partners, helping accelerate biomedical research at the University of Michigan and shape the future of human health.

More information and RSVP.

irbmed

IRBMED News

Education Coordinator

IRBMED is pleased to announce that Kate Sasamoto, JD, accepted the position of Education Coordinator (effective October 1, 2013). Kate has been with the IRBMED office for almost two years, serving as a member of the C1 Regulatory Team. In addition to having a strong understanding of eResearch and U-M systems, Kate brings with her an excellent knowledge of regulatory and institutional requirements.

Kate will be charged with furthering the Tiered Education program by developing advanced level course materials and creating online modules. As part of this project, she also will be revamping the Education pages on the IRBMED website. Kate will be an integral contributor to other IRBMED initiatives as well, including the U-MIC program, IRBMED-on-the-Road, IRBMED Seminar Series, and many more. We hope you will all welcome Kate to the role.

Holiday Hours

As the weather grows colder and the holiday season approaches, the IRBMED Office would like to remind you that IRBMED will close at the end of business on Tuesday, December 24th and will reopen at start of business on Thursday, January 2, 2014.
hbo

Honest Broker Office Update

The Honest Broker Office (HBO) recently announced that their office has supported over 300 requests for clinical data for research (more than triple from the previous year) from over 15 departments in addition to UMHS staff this year.


Working to shorten the wait time for requests, the HBO team has improved the quality of data used for research purposes of patient recruitment, grant applications, scientific discovery leading to published manuscripts, national collaborations and career development. They also continue to improve the online request process, including automation of data reports (where possible), a new IT technical staff hire, and office hours every Tuesday from 2-4pm to provide face-to-face help.  

The Honest Broker Office is a unit of the Office of Research, part of the infrastructure investments that have been "fast forwarded" by the Strategic Research Initiative. More details can be found at the HBO website.
shortcode

Valid Short Code, Please

A gentle reminder from the Revenue Cycle Research Billing Team: please include a valid short code with the Clinical Research Account Request Form to facilitate the timely creation of the Research Medical Record Number (RMRN).

If you do not have your short code at the time of application, you may use another short code (departmental, discretionary, etc.) until you receive your project short code.  
secure

IT Security Update

News from the Compliance Office

Encryption: What Is It and Why Is It Important?
It is your responsibility to protect any Protected Health Information (PHI) in your possession. The best way to protect it is to encrypt it.
What is it?
Data encryption makes information stored on electronic devices unreadable by unauthorized persons. Data encryption refers to mathematical calculations and algorithms that change readable text into unreadable text so that it is not able to be understood by unauthorized persons. The intended recipient of an encrypted message uses a "key" to decrypt the data, which returns the text to its original readable version.
Why is it important?
Data encryption helps to protect sensitive information.
Strong encryption provides a safe harbor, or legal shield, under HIPAA, which protects both you and UMHS from breaking the law if a device is compromised. Since strong encryption renders PHI unreadable, indecipherable, and/or unusable by anyone other than those authorized, if the device is stolen or lost, then a security breach would not need to be reported to the government, you would not undergo disciplinary action, and no costly fines would be invoked. If sensitive information is stored on portable electronic devices (laptops, iPads, iPhones, etc.) or removable media (thumb drives, CDs, external hard drives, etc.), it must be encrypted with the strongest encryption method practicable.
Now what?
Contact your IT service provider. It is best to NOT store sensitive information on mobile electronic devices or removable media. If you must, contact your IT service provider (MCIT Service Desk at 936-8000 or MSIS Service Desk at 763-7770) for guidance on how to ensure your device is adequately encrypted.

Secure file transfer service available to UMHS employees
MiShare is a secure file transfer service that supports the need to share electronic files containing research data, PHI or other sensitive or regulated information with vendors, business partners, and colleagues in a secure manner. All UMHS workforce members with a Level-2 account and a UMHS email account can use the system to securely send or receive files over the internet from anyone with an email address.
Quick Tips:
* The system can be access at: https://mishare.med.umich.edu.
* Files are automatically deleted after 5 days, even if the files have not been retrieved.
* Contact MCIT Service Desk at 936-8000 for questions about MiShare or refer to the MCIT MiShare information page for more information.
radiation

Radiation Safety Service  

Updated NRC Regulation 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently revised its regulation regarding "small quantities of source material," so U-M Radiation Safety Service (RSS) has put out a call for updates on uranium and thorium inventories. The NRC likely will be conducting a comprehensive inspection of the U-M campus on their next visit to Ann Arbor, and source material inventories most likely will be a part of their inspection effort.

RSS is requesting your assistance in identifying:  1) users of uranium and thorium compounds; 2) chemical forms of the compound- solid, powder, or liquid; 3) locations of use; and 4) quantities (weight) of such compounds and materials at U-M.  

Please look through your radiological and/or chemical inventory to identify ANY uranium or thorium compounds.  The NRC considers the weight of the compound.  

It's requested that you provide the compound name, chemical form, weight in grams, and the supplier to Russ Garcia (garciaru@umich.edu) in the RSS Office by Friday, December 20, 2013.

sharpfocus 

Future Concepts for Funding - Finding the Crystal Ball

Sharpening the Focus: Tips on Grant Proposal Preparation

By Chris Black, M.L.S., Assistant Director for Research Development Support, Office of Research

(One in a series of tips published in UMMS Research News about writing proposals.)

  

It is helpful to know the future interests of your NIH funding Institute or Center in order to see how your proposed study fits into the unit's priorities, and perhaps to modify it to do so. Institutes sometimes post scientific concepts or initiatives in advance of announcements (at least what they are contemplating) either as a list of topics or as agenda/discussion items for their national advisory council meetings.  

 

Each Institute handles their future concept postings differently (no surprise there). The following is how some I/Cs have made the concepts public; in some cases you may have to call the Program Officer because the crystal ball is much too cloudy!  

 

Suggestion: search Institute's research site by some variation of "concept clearance" then year, e.g. 2013.

  

NCI
NIAAA National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
NIAID
NICHD
NIDCR Concept clearances
NIDDK National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
NIDDK Recent Advances & Emerging Opportunities
NIE
NHLBI Topics of Special Interest
NHGRI National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research
NIEHS
NIMH
NINDS
NCCAM

Remember that concepts are in the early planning stages for potential initiatives-scientific ideas that might turn into requests for applications (RFAs), program announcements (PAs), or contract solicitations (RFPs). A head start is always an advantage.  

Office of Research
Our mission in the Office of Research is to foster an environment of innovation and efficiency that serves the U-M Medical School community and supports biomedical science from insight to impact.