ICTR Focus November 2016 Newsletter

In This Issue

  • Cores support patient specimen processing and storage
  • Northeast mentoring training consortium trainings 
  • Clinical Research Skills Course available
  • New funding opportunities 
Cores support patient specimen processing and storage

The Biorepository (BioR) Core and Biomarker Analytical Research Core (BARC) team works with investigators to help with sample collection and storage. BioR provides secure archival sample storage as well as clinically-annotated specimen biobanks for defined research projects. Samples can be banked by an individual PI or by a consortium of investigators. The facility works under the best practices set out by NCI and ISBER (2006) for collection, storage, and retrieval of human biological materials for research. The BARC is the central analytic laboratory, and also the conduit to MMC clinical labs. Patient samples that are handled on both campuses are routed through the BARC. The main analytic functions include radioimmunometric tests, biomarker and substrate analyses, and sample/DNA processing. In addition, the Core provides high-throughput analyses using mass spectrometry and other methods for a wide range of analytes. If you need help with your samples and are interested in using the BioR or BARC services, please click here, or contact Nicole Bjorklund PhD directly. 
Call for Letters of Intent - ECRIP 
ECRIP, or the Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program , is a research training initiative funded by the New York State. It provides salary support (up to $75,000 per year for 2 years, from July 2017 - June 2019) for research trainees (who must be physicians (MD or DO) or dentists (DDS or DMD) at the senior fellow or junior faculty level), along with research/training support from Einstein and Montefiore. Trainees also must be US or Canadian citizens. Mentors must be PI or a co-Investigator on a currently funded federal grant (e.g., NIH, PCORI). In order to apply for this program, letters of intent from investigator/trainee pairs at Einstein-Montefiore must be submitted by November 1st. To learn how to send in your letter of intent and learn more about the program, click here. 
Collaborative Innovation Awards Available

PAR-15-172 supports applications for innovative collaborative investigations (involving three or more CTSA sites) to address high priority translational research questions: Clinical trials of drugs targeting shared molecular etiologies underlying multiple diseases.  Genomically driven “basket” trials are increasingly used for drugs that target molecular defects common to different cancer types, and NCATS is interested in supporting clinical trials in which this approach is applied to diseases other than cancer.  The essential feature is that patient enrollment is based on the underlying molecular etiology, rather than clinical features. NCATS encourages applications that involve laboratory scientists collaborating with clinicians.  NCATS will give priority to applications for trials with rare diseases; examples of shared molecular etiologies include: protein misfolding, premature termination codons, defects in RNA splicing, epigenetic dysregulation, or defects in molecular signaling pathways (e.g. MTOR, RAS, TGF-beta). Questions, click here. 
Want to Sharpen Your Clinical Research Skills?
Spots are filling up for the annual Design and Conduct of Clinical Research course, a classroom-based program offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-6:30pm from December 6th to February 7th. This free course offers a "deeper dive" into the design of clinical research projects and the practical approach to conducting such studies. The course leads are Paul Marantz, MD, MPH and Patricia Friedmann, MS. For more information and to register, click here. 
Northeast Mentoring Training Consortium

Supported by the National Research Mentoring Network in 2015, Drs. Hal Strelnick and Chinazo Cunningham were able to establish the Northeast Evidence-Based Mentoring Training Consortium (NE-EMT), a network of nine institutions, including Einstein. This network has been able to develop train-the-trainer workshops for research mentors all over the country. After trainings, participants were then invited to apply for mini-grants to support plans to implement mentor training at their own institutions. To learn more about this program and participating faculty members, click here. 
Nov10 LunchandLearn
Nov30 LunchLearn
Upcoming Health Information Management and Document Translation & Language Interpretation Seminars

The next Lunch & Learn: Health Information Management (HIM): Accessing Medical Records in Preparation for a Research Monitoring Visit, will focus on protocol for viewing specific patient encounters in related research activity and printing restrictions in EPIC. This program features Doreen Gonzalez, Senior Project Manager, HIM, and will take place on Thursday, November 10th in Moses Research Tower, 4th floor. 

On November 30th, the Office of Clinical Trials will sponsor Document Translation & Language Interpretation Resources and Guidelines for Clinical Research, which will focus on resources available to study teams for translating ICFs and using a certified interpreter for study visits. This program features Maria Trotta-Williams, Manager, Customer Service and Yovana Coupey, Medical Spanish Program Director, Translation Services, Einstein IRB, and Melissa Epstein PhD, MBE, CIP, Interim Director, Einstein IRB. This program will take place at 12pm in the Tishman Learning Center, Room 4. 

To learn more and RSVP to either program, click here. 
NIH Webinars on Peer Review 
The NIH Center for Scientific Review will host three "online briefings" on peer review for: grant applicants, R01 applicants, and researchers who are proposing and/or reviewing basic science applications. For more information, click here. 
NIH Loan Repayment Program
The NIH Division of Loan Repayment is now accepting applications until November 15th to receive up to $70,000 of qualified educational debt repayment with a two-year contract. For more information and how to apply,  click here . 
Spotlight on Success

Einstein-Montefiore translational investigators continue to succeed in obtaining funding. Some of these investigators with recent grant awards are: Elizabeth Walker PhD, Departments of Medicine (Endocrinology) and Epidemiology & Population Health, Steven Almo PhD, Departments of Biochemistry, Physiology & Biophysics, Chandan Guha MBBS, PhD, Departments of Radiation Oncology, Pathology, and Urology. 
Funding Opportunities 
Research in the Headlines 
Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research