IRBMED is revising its Standard Adverse Event (AE) Reporting Guidelines for reporting AEs occurring at the U-M (Internal AEs), effective Friday, April 3, 2015.

Study teams should continue to follow the current Standard Adverse Event Reporting Guidelines until Friday, April 3, 2015.

Obligations for reporting internal AEs to sponsors and regulatory agencies are NOT changing; this updated guidance will ONLY modify reporting obligations for internal AEs to IRBMED. 

Reporting procedures for external AEs (AEs occurring at sites other than the U-M) are NOT changing. The new guidance is not applicable to Study-Specific AE reporting plans.

The new IRBMED AE Reporting Guidance will reduce study team burden by limiting which types of internal adverse events must be submitted to the IRBMED.

Examples of what will no longer require reporting are bulleted below:

Click here to preview the revised guidance.

Please contact IRBMED at (734) 763-4768 if you have any questions.

Drs. Jennifer Lofgren and Jean Nemzek, REAL co-founders, are actively engaged in research to alleviate post-operative pain in guinea pigs.

The Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine (ULAM) proudly introduces the Refinements and Enrichment Advancements Laboratory, or REAL.

REAL was developed by Drs. Jennifer Lofgren and Jean Nemzek, faculty veterinarians

with ULAM. REAL is comprised

of laboratory animal veterinarians and scientists dedicated to providing expertise and collaboration to colleagues interested in refining their animal model(s) and/or animal care. 

REAL's mission is to optimize biomedical research efforts through improved animal well-being by understanding the relationship between the animal's lived experience and the scientific results.  Utilizing the scientific method, REAL evaluates both animal welfare and scientific outcomes.

Past and present studies have validated advancements in enrichment and refinements to produce scientifically sound recommendations for improved animal care. REAL is a collaborative lab interested in fostering ideas and providing expertise to those interested in refining their models and improving animal welfare. 

To learn more, visit the REAL website.

On Tuesday, May 5 and Wednesday, May 6, the Taubman Health Sciences Library and the Department of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics are hosting the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) for a series of training sessions. The sessions will be conducted on-site by Peter Cooper, Ph.D., Staff Scientist at NCBI. 

Sessions include: 

Participants may attend all or any combination of these sessions. The U-M community may register through the U-M registration portal.

If your department or unit is interested in hosting a live web-stream of these sessions in your building, please email us. 

Questions?

Contact Senior Associate Librarian Merle Rosenzweig in the Taubman Health Sciences Library at oriley@umich.edu.

The Medical School Dean's Office is currently accepting nominations for its annual Dean's Awards Program, which includes several awards to honor and recognize faculty who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments throughout the research community, including research innovation and commercialization. 

Nominations are currently being sought for the following research-specific awards:

• Basic Science Research Award
  This award recognizes a scientist or group of scientists with outstanding contributions to the basic biomedical research of the Medical School.
• Clinical and Health Services Research Award
  Nominations will be accepted for faculty in any rank on any track who are making outstanding contributions in the areas of clinical and translational research and health services research.
• Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award
  in Biomedical Research
  Ideal candidates demonstrate extraordinary national and international contributions as a research leader with pivotal discoveries that have wide-ranging impact for the advancement of scientific knowledge.
• (NEW) Innovation and Commercialization Award
  This award recognizes a faculty member or group of faculty members who have developed a new research method, technology, or innovative service that will radically improve or transform patient health.

Please refer to the Dean's Awards Program website for selection criteria, a list of previous winners, and details on additional Awards Program categories including education, clinical care, and community service. 

All nominations should be made through UMMS Competition Space.

The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, May 1. The 2015 winners will be honored in the fall during the annual Faculty and Staff Awards Dinner. 

Theodore S. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.

Theodore S. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. Lawrence succeeds Max S. Wicha, M.D., who founded the Cancer Center 27 years ago.

"This is a tremendous program with talented and dedicated faculty and staff, a terrific research infrastructure and superb core facilities," says Lawrence, who will assume the title of Max S. Wicha, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Oncology. He is also chair of radiation oncology.

The center's "comprehensive" status is designated by the National Cancer Institute and reflects participation in cancer basic, clinical and population sciences research, with strong interactions among those areas. A center must also provide public information, education, and outreach programs. U-M is one of two comprehensive cancer centers in Michigan and one of 41 across the country.

"Michigan has been the epicenter of many global advances in cancer research and care. As patients, families, and the scientific community look to us for the next breakthroughs, we are fortunate to have the expertise of an established leader of Dr. Lawrence's caliber to guide the Cancer Center into a very promising future," says James O. Woolliscroft, M.D., dean of the U-M Medical School and Lyle C. Roll Professor of Medicine.

In addition to continuing to advance the Cancer Center's research excellence, Lawrence plans to grow the center's state-wide presence as part of an effort to bring cancer care closer to home.

Click here to learn more about Lawrence's research interests and to read the full announcement about his new appointment, or view a special welcome message from him here.

The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) Pilot Grant Program aims to facilitate and support innovative research across the translational spectrum, encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations that promote the development of transformative solutions for improving patient outcomes.

MICHR is currently accepting applications with the potential for co-funding from departments, schools, centers, institutes, and other University of Michigan entities.

The following mechanisms are offered as part of our most recent request for proposals:

Eligibility

All faculty (12-month and 9-month appointments) with lecturer or instructor appointments or higher from all schools and colleges at the U-M are eligible to apply as Principal Investigators, including all basic, clinical, and social scientists.

Funding can be requested for up to two years on T1 and T2 mechanisms only. See RFAs for details. 

Submission Instructions

All submissions must be received by Friday, March 13 at 5:00 PM, and early submissions are strongly encouraged. Proposals should be submitted electronically through UMMS Competition Space.

Questions

Contact Lisa Ahrens, MICHR Pilot Grant Program Coordinator,
via email or phone at (734) 998-7308.

Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., LL.D (Hon.)

Registration is now open for the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine (CBSSM) Research Colloquium & Bishop Lecture in Bioethics, which takes place on Tuesday, March 17 from 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM.

The CBSSM Research Colloquium features presentations focusing on bioethics and social sciences in medicine across multiple disciplines. The keynote address is the Bishop Lecture in Bioethics, an endowed lectureship made possible by a gift from the estate of Ronald C. and Nancy V. Bishop.

Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., LL.D (Hon.) will present this year's Bishop Lecture with a talk entitled: "Law, Ethics, and Public Health in the Vaccination Debates: Politics of the Measles Outbreak." 

Individuals interested in attending this year's event are strongly encouraged to RSVP by Friday, March 6. This event is free and open to the public, and will be held in the Founders Room of the Alumni Center located on U-M's central campus in Ann Arbor.

For additional details, including the complete Colloquium schedule and presentation abstracts, click here.

Are you interested in creating textbooks, handouts, journals, coursepacks, training material, and much more?

iBooks Author is a free tool for the Mac that anyone can use to create and position shapes, charts, tables, text, and widgets anywhere on the page with a single click. In this hands-on session, you'll receive sample content (or bring your own!) and trainers will show you how to create engaging interactive books using iBooks Author on a Mac computer.

At the end of the session, you'll leave with a sample iBook containing your own content. Attendees will also learn about options for publishing their work through the iBooks Store or via other publishing and editorial services available to you through Learning Design & Publishing.

Please register for just one of the following two sessions:

Both sessions will be held on the 8th floor of University Hospital South (please use Elevator #9).

UMHS and Medical School faculty, students, and staff interested in self-publishing are encouraged to attend this FREE event. Light refreshments will also be served.

This event is sponsored by:

• Medical School Information Services,
  Learning Design & Publishing
• Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
  Center for Education
• Program in Biomedical Sciences (PIBS)
• Michigan Publishing/MLibrary

Vincent Groppi, Ph.D.

Vincent Groppi, Ph.D., a leader in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, has been named the new director of U-M's Center for the Discovery of New Medicines (CDNM).

The CDNM is a virtual center that supports early-stage, innovative drug discovery research projects across the university, and is administratively housed at the Life Sciences Institute.

"Vince brings to the CDNM a deep background in drug discovery, with formidable industry knowledge as well as academic experience," said Alan Saltiel, the Mary Sue Coleman Director of the Life Sciences Institute. "He understands that labs in universities, rather than drug companies, are discovering more and more of the truly innovative new medicines that will transform human health."

Established in 2012 by several university unit partners, the CDNM has successfully funded three rounds of projects, for a total of 20. It also hosts a series of drug discovery lectures and connects university research to industry mentors. 

"I'm eager to help academic researchers bridge the gap between their labs and the commercial world in order to bring new drugs to market -- and to patients who need them," Groppi said. "We'll be working hard to connect the bench and the bedside."

Twice a year, the CDNM offers up to $50,000 in pilot funding to

U-M faculty for drug discovery projects. The next call for proposals will be in spring 2015.