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CCTS Digest 3.20 .15 | www.uab.edu/ccts
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In This Issue

Partner Network:
While we invite you to take part in all of our programs, items featuring this icon may be of particular interest. Look for the symbol throughout the Digest. Have news you'd like to share? Send it to: ccts@uab.edu
Dr. Virginia Wadley Bradley is using iPads to conduct research on individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment
Using Technology to Improve Everyday Brain Function in Patients with MCI

Aging, Alzheimer's disease and dementia have all been prominent research topics of late, as the human population just keeps getting older. Virginia Wadley Bradley, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine in the UAB Department of Medicine, recently received an R01 award of nearly $2.3 million from the National Institute on Aging to test a computer-based training program on people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). 

Mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, is a stage of cognitive decline between the expected decline associated with normal aging, and the more serious decline of dementia. The clinical trial will focus on processing speed, and will compare participants to a control group partaking in mentally stimulating activities.

Click here to read more about how the CCTS Project Panels aided Dr. Wadley Bradley in her successful grant application.

"It forced me to get the grant done," she says. "I was actually kind of wary of sharing the grant with all these people, and getting prepared to present it..." 
Celebrate the First Day of Spring with a Solar Eclipse
Some people will have the chance to experience a solar eclipse, supermoon and spring equinox all in one day, on this "Freaky Friday." Today is also  the spring (or vernal) equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and a so-called Supermoon.


 

The Supermoon is a full or new moon that occurs during the moon's closest approach to Earth on its elliptical orbit. The spring equinox, when the sun shines directly on the equator, occurs at 6:45 p.m. ET Friday. Read more about it here.


This program funds new interdisciplinary clinical and translational research projects to grow mature research programs in these areas. The RFA is now live, with pre-applications due May 1, 2015, 5pm CT. For additional dates and full description, click here. 
Seminars
Seminars, Symposia and Conferences

CCTS/CTO Research Seminar Series

Critical research implementation and management topics will be presented on the first and third Thursday at noon in PCAMS (1924 7th Avenue South). These topics will be of interest and relevance specifically to clinical research personnel including investigators, regulatory personnel, study coordinators and financial administrators. The goal of this new program is to fill in the gaps in information related to the implementation of clinical trials that have been identified by investigators and their research teams. Presented by Penny Jester, co-director UAB Clinical Trials Office. 

  

April Theme: Consenting

 

Topic:

This program will provide an overview of the reporting SAEs and how to appropriately use Notes to File.  Tools and checklists will be provided. The Journal club will provide a review of relevant literature.  Courses are not sequential and can be attended separately.

 

Attendees: Investigators, Research nurse coordinators 

managers, research nurses, and administrators.

 

Thursday, April 2

Noon-1pm

"Issues in Consenting" 
Speaker: Jonathan Miller, MPPA, CIP
Director, UAB Office of the IRB

 

 

Partners: Please join us remotely via GoToMeeting:

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Seminars, Lectures & Workshops

Wednesday, March 25
"Demystifying the SBIR-STTR Funding Program and New Company Formation" 

presented by Erik Schwiebert, PhD, CEO, CSO and Director, Discovery BioMed, Inc.

 

3pm 

Finley Conference Center

Cosponsored by the Dept. of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology and the CCTS

Questions? Contact: Chenbei Chang, co-director: 205.975.7229; chang@uab.edu

 

Announcing the 2015 Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance  Seminar Series


 

Taking place  Tuesdays at noon at PCAMS, 1924 7th Avenue South

 

Presented by the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance and the UAB CCTS:


 

 

March 31: Toxicology in Support of Drug Development - Charles Hebert (SR)

April 7: Pharmacokinetics and ADME - Ed Acosta (UAB)

April 17: Medicinal Chemistry: From Hit to Lead - Corinne Augelli-Szafran (SR)

April 21: How to Submit an IND - Penny Jester and Maaike Everts (UAB)

April 28: Intellectual Property Aspects in Drug Discovery - Kathy Nugent (UAB)

 

To access slide decks from past presentations, visit: http://www.uab.edu/medicine/adda/

Light lunch provided.  For more information email: adda@uab.edu

Join us remotely via GoToMeeting at:
Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance Seminar Series
Training Opportunities

Continuing next month, the UAB College of Arts and Sciences will offer training to junior faculty who are planning to apply for a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. The NSF awards CAREER research grants to new faculty at universities who are at the rank of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) in any of the broad science and social science disciplines that are eligible for NSF grants.  

 

UAB's training will be led by former NSF CAREER awardee David Hilton (Department of Physics), with support from current awardees Ragib Hasan (Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Eugenia Kharlampieva (Department of Chemistry), and Karolina Mukhtar (Department of Biology). The three-session training program will walk applicants through the process of applying for and winning prestigious CAREER Awards from the NSF. All UAB faculty are invited to attend.

 

Sessions (content builds from session to session; attendance recommended at all 3):

Noon-1pm

 

April 10 and May 8 sessions -  Heritage Hall Room 500

            

Questions may be directed to Dr. David Hilton: dhilton@uab.edu

 

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The Alabama Launchpad Innovation Awards celebrate and honor contributions to Alabama's innovation economy. Visit Alabama Launchpad for more information.

 

Award Categories:

  • 2015 Lifetime Achievement in Innovation
  • 2015 Corporate Innovator of the Year (small corporation)
  • 2015 Corporate Innovator of the Year (large corporation)
  • 2015 Outstanding Public-Private Partnership for Innovation
  • 2015 Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Manufacturing

Deadlines:

March 30: Nominations Open

May 17: Nominations Due 


UAB CCTS Short-Term Research Training Program - 

DEADLINE EXTENDED to Monday, March 23, 2015

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS

8 Week Summer Program in Comparative Effectiveness and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research

June 8-July 31, 2015 

(Download a PDF of application guidelines)

 


 

This 8-week program provides mentored research training experiences in patient centered outcomes research (PCOR) and comparative effectiveness research (CER) for medical students or other clinically-oriented doctoral students that have completed their first year of training.


Why CER and PCOR?  With an increasing, ongoing national focus, there is a growing need for training in these areas especially in the earliest stages of clinical training.

Who may apply?  Many applicants have finished their first year of medical school.  Students in other clinical doctorate programs and those that have been admitted to a pre-professional, clinical program are eligible to apply if they are able to meet the requirements of the program.

What else?  Trainees must devote full-time effort (40 hours week) for the duration of the program (June and July).  A stipend is provided; on-campus housing is available. 

Purpose

In a time of accelerated scientific discovery, researchers are needed to translate research to the clinical setting. A national shortage of such investigators is well documented and specialized training is needed early in the career development process. Furthermore, with a continued national focus on comparative effectiveness research (CER) and patient centered outcomes research (PCOR), there is a growing need for training in these areas.

Clinically focused students in the earliest stages of training may have an interest but limited experience in research in PCOR, CER and related topics. The summer program at UAB provides an opportunity for a hands-on research experience leading to the generation of research products, all within a supportive, mentored research environment.

 

Questions?  Please contact the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS): ccts@uab.edu  /  205.934.7442

 

Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research: Short Course Enrolling Now

You are invited to participate in a five day short course on "The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research" at UAB, taking place Monday, June 22-Friday, June 26.

 

The mathematical sciences including engineering, statistics, computer science, physics, econometrics, psychometrics, epidemiology, and mathematics qua mathematics are increasingly being applied to advance our understanding of the causes, consequences, and alleviation of obesity.  These applications do not merely involve routine well-established approaches easily implemented in widely available commercial software. Rather, they increasingly involve computationally demanding tasks, use and in some cases development of novel analytic methods and software, new derivations, computer simulations, and unprecedented interdigitation of two or more existing techniques. Such advances at the interface of the mathematical sciences and obesity research require bilateral training and exposure for investigators in both disciplines. This course on the mathematical sciences in obesity research features some of the world's finest scientists working in this domain to fill this unmet need by providing nine topic driven modules designed to bridge the disciplines.

 

For full details of the course, including application materials, please refer to this website.

 

Limited travel scholarships are available to young investigators. 

 

Please apply prior to Friday, May 1. Accepted applicants will be notified no later than Friday, May 8.

Women, members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham this summer!

 


 Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Funding Opportunities

The CCTS wants to help position investigators to apply for Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) announcements. Check out a new page on the CCTS website highlighting these opportunities, which are rolling out now. It includes:


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Request for Applications for Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance Pre-Proposals:

deadline March 23 8:30am

The RFA for 2015 ADDA pre-proposals is live. We will use a 2-stage process to identify new ADDA projects:

 

1) A PI (or multiple PIs) submit(s) a  pre-proposal with a maximum of 2 pages that will be reviewed by a scientific panel with expertise in various aspects of target validation and drug discovery - the instructions for which are attached.

 

2) After review, an invitation with instructions for a full proposal (maximum of 9 pages) will be sent to select PIs. Full proposals will be reviewed by a minimum of three scientific experts and the UAB Institute for Innovation and Entrepeneurship; the ADDA Advisory Board will select the final proposals based on these reviews and the ADDA portfolio.

 

Who can apply?

All UAB faculty and Southern Research investigators are eligible to apply, irrespective of affiliation or rank.


Click to read the entire application.

 

Deadline
The deadline for the pre-proposals is on
Monday March 23, at 8:30am. Please read the RFA carefully to see what will and will not be considered to be eligible for funding.

 

For more information, email: adda@uab.edu.

  


 

Click here to read this Made in Alabama article about the ADDA


 


 


 

Contact the CCTS Research Commons ( ccts@uab.edu; 4.7442) to learn more. Visit the site now for these and ongoing additions to the list!


Check out the CCTS Funding Opportunities page on our website
Now featuring:      PCORI funding opportunities 

Need Grant Help? Visit COCA SWAT

 

 

 

Help Center - How Can We Help You?

Through the CCTS Research Commons, we can connect you to a breadth of expertise in pre- and post-award administration, as well as research implementation. Whether it's proposal development or grant assembly, electronic submissions or sample applications you seek, we can help, t ogether with the Council of Center Administrators (COCA) SWAT Team.

The Council of Center Administrators brings together a breadth and depth of expertise in pre- and post-award administration as well as research implementation.  As the operational arm of UAB's University-wide Interdisciplinary Research Centers (UWIRCs), this group is well versed in:
  • Grant Submissions (NIH (ASSIST), NSF, PCOR, Foundation, Industry), with special emphasis on multi-investigator programs
  • PMCID submissions
  • Grants Writers & Content Editors
  • Project Management
  • Document Formatting
  • Collaborative Agreements
  • Grants / Contracts Accounting
Visit us today at: www.uab.edu/cocaswat

Biostatistics
BIOSTATISTICS

Mondays
Epidemiology/Biostatistics Clinic in The Edge of Chaos

  

This clinic provides the UAB community access to epidemiology and biostatistics resources.  Available most Mondays, 10am-2pm in The Edge of Chaos (Lister Hill Library, 4th floor).  Check the Edge of Chaos calendar   for confirmation of meeting dates and times. 
 

 

UAB CCTS Biostatistics Clinic                                                    

 

Weekly on Wednesdays, 11:30am-1pm

PCAMS Building 1924 7th Avenue South

 

The Biostatistics Clinic is open to all faculty members, post-docs, fellows, residents, and students. Attendees are invited to bring statistical and methodological questions about on-going research projects, projects being planned, manuscripts in progress, responses to peer reviewers, and published articles. They are also invited to bring their laptops. Assistance will be provided by members of the CCTS BERD group. A light lunch is served.  

 

BERD Design Consultation Available Today

In support of Pilot & Feasibility Projects, the CCTS is offering design consultation through its Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Division (BERD).  A team of methodologists, including experts in Epidemiology (Gerald McGwin, Russell Griffin), Biostatistics (Robert Oster, David Redden, Leslie McClure, Paul Lin), and Statistical Genetics (Hemant Tiwari, Xiangqin Cui) are available to collaborate in the design of  the pilot proposals as well as in their review.  If other methodological expertise is required in the project design, the BERD will recruit the required expertise from among the network of UAB methodologists.

 

Please contact the BERD and request design consultation by emailing bstchair@uab.edu, calling 

(205) 934-4905 or connecting through Research Commons on the CCTS home page. 

 


#GoBlazers! 
Watch the Blazers burn the Bruins Saturday, March 21  @11:10 am on CBS NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science |   ccts@uab.edu
 Pittman Center for Advanced Medical Sciences
1924 Seventh Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35294