January 2016 Newsletter

news 
News
The 2016 CTSC Annual Pilot RFA and application are open!
Up to $50,000 per project for up to one year of support
 
The CTSC Annual Pilot Program is for researchers to conduct innovative translational research projects focused on the invention, preclinical development and/or first in man studies of novel therapeutic agents, biomedical devices, and diagnostics designed to address unmet clinical needs.

Eligibility
Principal Investigator must have a primary appointment at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical Center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center or The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and must be eligible as to submit an application to a larger source of federal or non-federal support.

Applications should be submitted through Webgrants.

Deadline
The Letter of Intent submission deadline is 11:59pm on January 15th (or the first following Monday if January 15th falls on a Saturday or Sunday). Investigators will be invited to apply for the funding based on the letters of intent and will need to submit full applications by March 15th.

For questions contact:
CTSC Pilot Program Office:
Starting in January!

Three new cores are eligible for CTSC Core Utilization Pilot Grants
 
The 3 Cores:
  1. CLEARPATH and SHED- see last month's newsletter for more information 
  2. Small- Molecule Drug Development- more details below
  3. Light Microscopy- more details below

Welcome to the Small Molecule Drug Development Core!
The CTSC second Core Utilization Pilot Grant
 
Small-Molecule Drug Development Core 
Basic research often generates new therapeutic hypotheses and mechanistic insights that nominate proteins or pathways whose modulation might improve disease treatments.   Validation of these novel drug targets benefits from drug-like small-molecule tool compounds that can test the therapeutic hypothesis in in vivo models of disease.

Often the identified drug targets will not have pre-existing small-molecule modulators, so new reagents need to be developed.

 

The Small-Molecule Drug Development Core provides new infrastructure and expertise to enable high-throughput screening to identify new drug-like starting points for therapeutic development that modulate drug targets identified by the CWRU community.Our facility is equipped with automation equipment to enable screens using a wide range of assays that rely on luminescence, absorbance, fluorescence, or Alpha-based measurements.

Additionally, an automated high-content imaging system and associated image quantitation software enables screening of a wide range of phenotypes observable by fluorescence microscopy.Typically our screens proceed in 384-well plate format against libraries of 50,000 or more small molecules, but we also offer a collection of 3,000 bioactive and FDA-approved molecules for pilot screens or focused 'chemical genetics' screens.


Have a new drug target or screening approach in mind?

We're happy to consult regarding assay design, strategies for obtaining pilot and external funding, and local collaborators who can assist with characterization and optimization of screening hits, including medicinal chemistry.In many cases, feasibility studies to test an assay approach may be possible at modest cost.

 

Contact Drew Adams, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Genetics and Genome Sciences, drew.adams@case.edu.

Welcome to the Light Microscopy Imaging Core Facilities! 
The CTSC third Core Utilization Pilot Grant
 
Light Microscopy Imaging Core Facility
We are happy to announce that the Light Microscopy Imaging Core Facility is eligible for CTSC Core Utilization Pilot Grants. The Light Microscopy Imaging Core Facilities on the Case Western campus are shared resources that offer a wide range of imaging services to the research community. Our facilities are committed to enhancing and expanding collaborative capabilities of research in northern Ohio. Our range of instruments allows for most types of modern imaging techniques from basic widefield imaging to super resolution imaging of fixed and live cells, tissues or small organisms.Image processing and analysis capabilities include image quantification, deconvolution, and 3D reconstruction.
 
Applications of the microscopes include but are not limited to analyzing mammalian cells under pathological conditions such as cancer, neuronal degeneration, and metabolic disorders. By allowing high-resolution and dynamic analysis of biological tissues under pathological status, this core supports translational research. An additional application includes optimization of cell-based fluorescence assays for drug screening. Moreover, the slide scanning capability allows completely automated, high-throughput analysis of fixed human pathology specimens while the image processing capabilities allow unbiased comparison of samples from healthy and diseased tissues. 

Currently the core is operated by two microscopy specialists, Dr. Imanishi (yxi19@case.edu) and Dr. Conrad (pac14@case.edu), both of whom have over two decades of experience in operating various light microscopes. If you are interested in using the Light Microscopy Imaging Core facility for your project, please contact us by email. 

Leica SP8 STED super resolution confocal microscope is available at the light microscope imaging core facility. This is the only available STED microscope in the state of Ohio.

Congratulations to the October 2015 CTSC Core Utilization Pilot Award Recipients


Jennifer Dorth, MD at University Hospitals Case Medical Center
"Murine Model of the Pathophysiology of Radiation-Induced Vascular Injury"



Leland Metheny, MD at University Hospitals Case Medical Center
"The Relation between Obesity, Cytokines, Disease Status and Outcomes
in Patients Undergoing Autologous HCT for Myeloma"


 
Community Input Requested: Future Direction of NCATS
Response Deadline: January 8, 2016
 
NCATS seeks input on the scientific and operational opportunities, challenges and 
research needs in translational science, to help set the Center's strategic priorities and inform the development of a five-year strategic plan.

 

For more information, please visit the NIH webpage.

PRCHN News  from the PRCHN 
PRCHN Seminars
Mark your calendars for these upcoming PRCHN Seminars.


1/13/16- Neighborhood Racial Residential Segreation and Changes in Health among Older               Adults
Joe Sudano, PhD, Assistant Professor, CWRU School of Medicine

2/10/16- Community Health Workers: Models of Success in Central
Teleange Thomas, BS, Program Officer, Health, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

3/9/16- Feeding Babies in the Andes: Maternal Ideologies and Practices in the Context of                  Public Health Interventions
Madalena Montebon, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow, PRCHN 

You can find more information on these seminars and other PRCHN programs here.
For more news from PRCHN check out their e-newsletter!
Survey Administrators Needed!

Survey Administrators are needed to assist with a large data collection project taking place in Cuyahoga County middle schools from January-May 2016. Survey administrators will be trained. Flexible scheduling is available, but survey administration must take place during the school day.

Please note this is a volunteer position. However, you can earn Target gift cards or extra credit for a college course (with prior approval from the instructor). In addition, you will gain valuable research experience. Please contact YRBS Field Coordinator Maleka Embry at 216.368.6538 or by email maleka.embry@case.edu to sign up.

Urbanhealth News from the Urban Health Initiative
Health Data Matters extends audience via Meetup and PBRN
 

The Urban Health Initiative held its first Public Health Innovation Meetup, established to provide a forum to bring together innovators and public health practitioners to identify opportunities for improving health of the community by applying innovation. The first meeting attracted 14 attendees of various professions from around Cleveland, and resulted in the formation of action groups focused on healthy eating/active living, lead poisoning, and infant mortality. Interested parties are encouraged to attend; for information and event updates, follow "Cleveland Public Health Innovation" on meetup.com.

 

Health Data Matters will be adding new visualization features to its site, allowing for the creation of immediate visualizations from current data that researchers, policy-makers, and community members can use to leverage change within Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. They will be hosting a demonstration of the potential online visualization software; email HealthDataMatters@gmail.com for more information.

 

The Urban Health Initiative and the MPH program presented about the utilization of health data in supporting multi-sector health leaders at the Practice-BasedResource Network (PBRN) Shared Resource Festival 3.0. Attendees included health professionals from CWRU, Asian social services, and medical anthropology, and keynote speaker Dr. Jennifer Devoe, among others. Themes of interest that arose from the workshop included: new data, applying data to practice, and data interpretation. Participants expressed interest in using healthdatamatters.org to find data, create data sets, and for the potential manipulation of data sets.


Research Research Highlights
Biomedical engineering's Anant Madabhushi, team awarded two patents
Anant Madabhushi is a CTSC Annual Pilot Grant Awardee

Anant Madabhushi, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD), and his team were issued two patents-U.S. patent 9,177,105 and U.S. patent 9,177,014-in pattern recognition of cancer from digital pathology and imaging data.

 

US Patent 9,177,105, titled "Quantitatively Characterizing Disease Morphology with Co-Occurring Gland Tensors in Localized Subgraphs," describes a novel methodology for quantitatively describing disease morphology via gland directional entropy in medical images. The algorithm involves the use of second-order statistics to describe local disorder in gland orientations via co-occurring gland tensors. This technology is being used for predicting disease outcomes in prostate cancer histopathology and on high-resolution MRI. The full article can be found here.


Interested in the complete list of annual pilot awardees? Click here for all of the CTSC funding awardees.
How HIV became a treatable, chronic disease
Authored by Allison Webel, a former KL2 scholar 

It has been almost 35 years since the world was introduced to the term AIDS. In the 1980s, researchers and physicians were trying to understand what was causing waves of strange infections and discovered it was a new virus called the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Since that time, HIV has gone from a death sentence to a manageable chronic disease. Today, it is estimated that 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States and 50,000 Americans are infected with HIV every year. Click here to read the entire article.
Protein movement of hair bundles in inner ear may preserve hearing for life
Zebrafish shed light on a way to stop hearing loss

Hearing is made possible when hair bundles protruding from the tops of hair cells capture the energy of sound waves, converting them into electrical signals that stimulate the auditory nerve to the brain. These hair bundles are made up of individual hair-like projections, or stereocilia, that sway in unison with other stereocilia, and remain permanently with us throughout our lives.

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have discovered that the movement of protein within hair cells of the inner ear shows signs of a repair and renewal mechanism using zebrafish. Click here for the entire article.

Interested in additional zebrafish research? The Zebrafish Core is eligible for CTSC Core Utilization pilots. Click here for more information.
CWRU researcher lands grant to build stealthy brain tumor treatment
Award was granted to former CTSC Annual Pilot Grant Awardee, Efstathios Karathanasis

Case Western Reserve University researcher Dr. Karathanasis  has received a five-year, $2.82 million National Institutes of Health grant to make, in essence, stealth bombs that slip past the brain's defenses to attack an incurable form of cancer.

Previously Dr. Karathanasis won a 2012 CTSC annual pilot award to study "Improved tumor oxygenation using an ethyl nitrite-loaded nanoparticle delivery system". The full article can be found here.

Interested in the complete list of annual pilot awardees? Click here for all of the CTSC funding awardees.
From our Colleagues at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center is looking for medical students interested in summer research opportunities. There are 8 openings available, with 4 supported by the Brian Werbel Memorial Fund and 4 by the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. A completed application and reference letter are due by Friday, February 26, 2016.

Click here here for additional information.

Events Events
SPRING 2016 CRSP 550- Meta-Analysis Evidence Synthesis
Meta-Analysis and Evidence Synthesis, CRSP 550, is open for enrollment for the Spring 2016 semester

Purpose:
  • To introduce students to the methods of conducting high quality systematic review
  • To prepare students to conduct their own systematic review or evaluate the systematic reviews of others
Who should apply?
The course is geared towards clinicians (physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, etc.), other health-science professionals and students, and basic science researchers who are interested in conducting clinical research or collaborating with other clinician-scientists who conduct clinical research.

Major topics:
  • Developing a search strategy
  • Abstracting key data
  • Synthesizing the results qualitatively
  • Meta- analytic techniques
  • Grading the quality of studies
  • Grading the strength of the evidence
  • Manuscript preparation specific to systematic review
When and Where:
January 13, 2016 through April 27, 2016
Wednesdays from 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Wolstein Research Building in Room WRB 5136

Requirement:
Students must have taken either CRSP 401, MPHP 405, EPBI 431, NURS 532, or equivalent, and the instructor's consent.

Please contact Angela Bowling at axb710@case.edu or ccieducation@case.edu or 216-368-2601 for additional information.

SPRING 2016 CRSP 502- Leadership Skills for Clinical Research Teams
Leadership Skills for Clinical Research Teams, CRSP 502, is open for enrollment for the Spring 2016 semester

Purpose:
  • To familiarize students with what great leaders do and to develop one's own leadership capability
  • To have students develop an awareness of oneself in the context of their values, personal vision, career aspirations, and leadership competencies
  • To have students develop awareness of oneself in relation to a diverse group of others
  • To have students understand what it means to be an effective leader of multidisciplinary research teams and develop a plan to increase ones capability to lead and manage others more effectively
Who should apply?
The course is geared towards clinicians (physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, etc.), other health-science professionals and students, and basic science researchers who are interested in becoming a better leader and manager in all areas of their lives, including the area of conducting clinical research or collaborating with other clinician-scientists who conduct clinical research.

Major topics:
  • Leadership Theory
  • Resonant and Dissonant Leadership
  • Neuroanatomy of Leadership
  • Career Anchors and Leadership
  • EI Competency Model
  • Intentional Change Theory and Setting Learning Goals
  • Sustaining the Learning
When and Where:
January 11, 2016 through April 27, 2016
Tuesdays from 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Wolstein Research Building in Room WRB 6136

Requirement:
Students must have instructor's consent.

Please contact Angela Bowling at axb710@case.edu or ccieducation@case.edu or 216-368-2601 for additional information.

Ambulatory BP Monitoring Training Course
This event is being shared on behalf of our CTSA colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC TraCS Institute

Ambulatory BP monitoring is now the reference standard for assessing blood pressure. In 2011, the United Kingdom issued guidelines recommending ABPM prior to establishing a diagnosis of hypertension [source]. Recently, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a grade A recommendation that prior to making a new diagnosis of hypertension, ABPM should be used to confirm the diagnosis [source]. ABPM provides a more accurate picture of blood pressure (BP) than measurements taken in the office or at home. In fact, ABPM better predicts target organ damage, cardiovascular disease, and long-term prognosis than office BP measurements. Participating in this one day course will provide you with information and hands-on experience that will prepare you to effectively implement and interpret ABPM for your patients.


 

Accreditation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Carolinas HealthCare System/Charlotte AHEC and University of North Carolina Department of Family Medicine. The Carolinas HealthCare System/Charlotte AHEC is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.


 

Funding Funding Opportunities
Kresge Foundation
Proposal Deadline: January 15, 2016

The Kresge Foundation is inviting grant proposals from nonprofit organizations for food-oriented initiatives that contribute to economic revitalization, cultural expression, and health in low-income communities. Through its Fresh, Local & Equitable: Food as a Creative Platform for Neighborhood Revitalization initiative, a collaboration between Kresge's Arts & Culture and Health programs, the foundation will award up to twenty one-year planning grants of up to $75,000 each in the first quarter of 2016. Grants may support project management, partnership development, community engagement, strategic communications, evaluation, policy development, and other activities directly related to successful outcomes. Recipients will participate in a national learning network and also have the opportunity to apply for implementation grants. 

For more information visit the Kresge Foundation webpage.
American Psychological Foundation - Alexander Gralnick Research Investigator Prize
Application Deadline: April 15, 2016

The American Psychological Foundation provides financial support for innovative research and programs that enhance the power of psychology to elevate the human condition and advance human potential, both now and for generations to come. To further this goal, the foundation is accepting applications for its 2016 Alexander Gralnick Research Investigator Prize.
The goals of the annual program are to encourage psychologists to assume a leadership role for psychology in the area of serious mental illness; to encourage the training of future psychologists to become leaders in this field; and to provide funding for recipients to ensure that psychologists work to advance understanding and treatment for those who are affected by serious mental illnesses.

In 2015, a single grant of $20,000 will be awarded to an exceptional individual working in the area of serious mental illness, including but not limited to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and paranoia (delusional disorder).

For more information visit the APA webpage.

InformaticsINFORMATICS
Seeking Innovative Ideas to Advance Open Science
Application Deadline: February 29, 2016

The National Institutes of Health has partnered with London-based Wellcome Trust to launch a global science competition for new products or services to advance "open
 science," a movement to make scientific research data broadly accessible to the public. Up to six teams of technology experts and researchers stand to win $80,000 each to develop their ideas into a prototype or to advance an existing early stage prototype. The prototype judged to have the greatest potential to further open science will receive $230,000.

For more information visit the CTSC webpage.

ResearchMethodsRESEARCH METHODS
John Hopkins and Harvard CTSC Mixed Methods Training Program
Application Deadline: January 15, 2016 by 5pm

We invite applications for a new and exciting one-year, fully funded Mixed Methods Research Training Program for the Health Sciences. The program is sponsored by the 
NIH, and led by Dr. Joseph J. Gallo (Professor, Johns Hopkins University), Dr. John Creswell (Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln), and Dr. Charles Deutsch (Director, Population Health Research Program, Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center). Program scholars will have the opportunity to enhance their mixed method research skills through a state-of-the-art training program including interactive webinars, working with nationally recognized mixed methods mentors and consultants, and attending a summer retreat. This program is conducted remotely except for the summer retreat.

For more information visit the Training Program webpage.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund - Innovation in Regulatory Science
Application Deadline: March 9, 2016

Burroughs Wellcome Fund's Innovation in Regulatory Science Awards provide up to $500,000 over five years to academic investigators developing new methodologies or
 innovative approaches in regulatory science that will ultimately inform the regulatory decisions the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and others make.

These awards are open to U.S. and Canadian citizens or permanent residents who have a faculty or adjunct faculty appointment at a North American degree-granting institution. Awards are made to degree-granting institutions in the U.S. or Canada on behalf of the awardee.

For more information visit the Burroughs Wellcome Fund webpage.

TrainingAndCareerDevelopmentTRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT
FDA Fellowship Research Opportunities
Multiple Proposal Deadlines

The ORISE Research Participation Programs at FDA accept applications from students, recent graduates, and faculty researchers year round.

For more information about each opportunity, including instructions concerning the process for submitting an application and other supporting documents, please visit FDA ORISE webpage.  

TranslationalEndeavorsTRANSLATIONAL ENDEAVORS
NIH - NCI Research Specialist Award (R50)
Letter of Intent Deadline: January 9, 2016

The NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI) has released the FOA for a Research Specialist Award (R50), a 5-year, renewable award for advanced-degree researchers. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites grant applications in any area of cancer research.

The Research Specialist Award is designed to encourage the development of stable research career opportunities for exceptional scientists who want to pursue research within the context of an existing cancer research program, but not serve as independent investigators. These scientists, such as researchers within a research program, core facility managers, and data scientists, are vital to sustaining the biomedical research enterprise. The Research Specialist Award is intended to provide desirable salaries and sufficient autonomy so that individuals are not solely dependent on grants held by Principal Investigators for career continuity.

For more information visit the NIH webpage.
Lymphatic Education & Research Network Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards Program
Letter of Intent Deadline: January 15, 2016

The Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN) is committed to supporting basic
and translational research that fosters an interdisciplinary field of investigators conducting lymphatic research. The supported research will improve our understanding and advance the prevention, diagnosis, and novel treatments of lymphedema and other lymphatic disorders. In each grant cycle, at least one fellowship will specifically focus on lymphedema.

Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
  • lymphatic vessel biology and pathology
  • physiological mechanisms of normal and pathological lymphangiogenesis
  • animal models of the lymphatic system and its disorders
  • studies that address the regulation of lymphatic structure and function
  • Basic science and translational studies addressing normal and pathological lymphatics in organ systems
  • the signaling between lymphatics and other cell types
For more information visit the HRIA webpage.
American Pain Society
Application Deadline: January 18, 2016

The Rita Allen Foundation and the American Pain Society are accepting applications for the 2016 Award in Pain. Proposed research projects should be directed toward the molecular biology of pain and/or the development of new analgesics for the management of pain due to terminal illness.

Eligible candidates will be an academic medical researcher who has completed training and has demonstrated distinguished achievement or extraordinary promise in basic science research on pain. Candidates should be in the early stages of their career with an appointment at the faculty level.

For more information visit the American Pain Society webpage.
Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation
Application Deadline: February 1, 2016

Founded in 1983, the Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation is a national voluntary health agency that provides patients with practical information and coping strategies designed to minimize the effects of Sjögren's Syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body's white blood cells destroy the exocrine glands that produce saliva and tears.

SSF is accepting applications for innovative research related to Sjögren's, with priority given to projects in the area of novel diagnostics. Grants between $15,000 and $50,000 a year for two years will be awarded, depending on the satisfactory progress of the project. A human study that reviewers deem to be the most innovative will be eligible for a $50,000 grant.

For more information visit the SSF webpage.
Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership (CCTRP)
Letter of Intent Deadline: February 13, 2016

The Translational Research Partnership (TRP) between Case Western Reserve and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation fosters collaborations among clinicians and engineers on
 translational research projects with the potential to impact patient care. The program is led by Robert Kirsch, Ph.D, chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Stephen Fening, PhD, Coulter Program Director.

Funding for full projects can range from $50,000 to $200,000 per year. Smaller pilot grants are available as well. The funding goes towards preparing projects for commercialization, such as demonstrating technical feasibility, market feasibility and industry interest.

For more information visit the CCTRP webpage.
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Application Deadline: March 2, 2016

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine is accepting applications for its 2015
 Research Grants, an annual program designed to facilitate the research endeavors of new investigators; provide bridge funds for projects that are of benefit to other members of the society; and foster the development of innovative research.

ASRM research grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded for project expenses, technical assistance, patient expenses, research supplies, and durable laboratory equipment. Innovative projects or projects that have previously been funded by other sources and are in need of bridge funding are appropriate. Proposals from junior faculty, particularly those in their first three years of faculty appointment, will receive priority.

For more information visit the ASRM webpage.
Department of Defense Extramural Medical Research
Application Deadline: September 30, 2016

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's (USAMRMC) mission is to provide solutions to medical problems of importance to the American Service member at home and abroad, as well as to the general public at large. The scope of this effort and the priorities attached to specific projects are influenced by changes in military and civilian medical science and technology, operational requirements, military threat assessments, and national defense strategies. The extramural research and development programs play a vital role in the fulfillment of the objectives established by the USAMRMC.

For more information visit the DoD webpage.

National Institute of Health New Funding Opportunities
Precision Medicine Initiative® (PMI) Cohort Program
Have you explored SciVal yet?

Check out SciVal Experts, a directory of researcher expertise that enables collaboration among researchers!
 
Also be sure to contact our Research Concierge Service for all CTSC and research-related queries.

Researchers: Register for an
ORCID ID
NIH has now adopted the ORCID ID, a free, open-source unique identifing number. Learn more about ORCID. It is also recommended that researchers link their ORCID ID to their CV in NIH's SciENcv, which creates a current, customizable biosketch on NIH grant form pages for any NIH grant. If you would like to learn more about how to register and link your ORCID number, please contact: Clara Pelfrey, Evaluation Director at clara.pelfrey@case.edu or (216) 368-6478.

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