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Mark Chance, PhD, Named AAAS Fellow
 Mark Chance, Vice Dean for Research and Associate PI of the CTSC, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
AAAS is the world's largest scientific society and is the publisher of the journal Science, making fellow election a prestigious honor. Election can only be earned through nomination from peers who were previously named fellows.
Chance was elected to AAAS for his contributions in biology and chemistry, including the advancement of mass spectrometry approaches for the study of protein structure and dynamics. He was named a member in the section on chemistry, and will receive an official certificate and pin in February with the other fellows elected for the 2016 cycle.
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Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) Consortium
Scientific Review Committee (SRC) Pilot Study
In spring of 2015, a CTSA Consortium Scientific Review Committee (SRC) Consensus Working Group proposed parameters aimed at enhancing the scientific quality and feasibility of clinical research review involving human subject research that takes place within CTSA institutions. The committee's objectives were to come up with recommendations that would assure the scientific feasibility of human participant research protocols and to uphold institutional missions of promoting excellence in human research.
12 CTSAs and their institutions, including the Cleveland CTSC and through University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, were asked to participate in a pilot study project (funded by NCATS to Tufts University's Clinical Translational Science Institute) to implement and evaluate the SRC processes as recommended by the Working Group. The pilot study is a pre/post-test that will assess each institution's scientific review processes at baseline (Phase I) and again after implementation of the SRC Workgroup guidelines (Phase II). This project will evaluate satisfaction and burden of the proposed SRC guidelines, as well as blinded assessment of changes in protocol quality, indicators of improved protocol feasibility, and evaluation of changes in time required to receive approval on a department level (prior to IRB review).
Phase I baseline data collection occurred February 2016-July 2016. Institutional level results were reviewed in September 2016 to determine where current SRC processes may not align with the SRC Workgroup recommendations. Data collection for Phase II began October-November, 2016 and will end March 2017. As part of Phase II, each participating department scientific research review committee will receive individual feedback regarding Phase I results and will be asked to implement the "SRC Rubric Checklist". This "intervention" will be evaluated as a possible method to standardize scientific review across CTSA institutions and improve the quality and efficiency of review of research protocols. A small supplemental grant has been made available as a subcontract from Tufts to CWRU to carry out the objectives of Phase II of the project. This grant will cover in part specific review requirements and data collections procedures.
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Call for Nominations for the annual Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards
Nominations due by: January 12, 2017
 The Clinical Research Forum is pleased to announce the call for nominations for its signature program, the annual Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards.
The Top 10 Awards honor outstanding accomplishments in clinical research that identify major advances resulting from the nation's investment in research to benefit the health and welfare of its citizens.
The national competition recognizes 10 winning papers published in 2016 for human studies research performed at U.S. institutions. Past award-winning topics include: improving stroke care, advancing gene therapy, increasing accurate classification of tumors, targeting pediatric cancer, treating depression in pregnancy, standardizing pediatric antibiotic use, rethinking sleep apnea therapy, combating HIV and saving sepsis patients.
Nominations for outstanding research projects should:
- Represent innovation, creativity and scientific advancement
- Contribute to the understanding of human disease and/or human physiology
- Demonstrate impact on the prevention, diagnosis and/or treatment or increased understanding of the disease state
Awardees will be recognized at the Clinical Research Forum's annual meeting and Top 10 Clinical Achievement Awards event in Washington, D.C. on April 18, 2017. Selected projects must send a representative investigator to receive the award in person and participate in a "Hill Day" meeting with members of Congress. Awardees are also asked to submit a short video clip and present their work at
Translational Science 2017 to an audience of the top clinical researchers in the nation.
Three of the projects will be selected for special recognition and to receive cash awards:
- Herb Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award ($5,000)
- Distinguished Clinical Research Achievement Award (2 selected; $3,500)
For more information, including eligibility and submission requirements, and to see past awardees, click on the link:
Top Ten Awards
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CWRUMed360 Highlights CTSC Leader
Check out the School of Medicine's November
CWRUMed360! Featured in the newsletter is
Dr. Patrick Catalano, one of the CTSC's co-leads for our Hub Research Capacity component.
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Researchers: Pure Experts can connect you with other researchers!
In an effort to promote multi-disciplinary clinical and translational research, the Clinical and
Translational Science Collaborative of Cleveland (CTSC) is pleased to introduce Pure Experts, a directory of researcher expertise that enables collaboration among researchers.
This expertise portal is a key component of the CTSC's mission to catalyze new knowledge
and discovery to enhance and improve patient care and promote better health in the
community.
Pure allows you to:
- Capture and structure your research data centrally
- Identify funding, expertise and collaborative partners
- Report on the reliable, validated data
- Analyze the progress of your teams and departments
- Showcase your accomplishments
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How can we help you with your research needs?
Request CTSC Resources with our NEW service request form
Are you looking to... 
- Locate potential collaborators
- Match your research needs to core services
- Receive guidance on regulatory requirements
- Match data collection tools to study needs
- Receive guidance on study design and data collection instruments
Submit a request to the CTSC using our new service request form to be one step closer to meeting your research needs!
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PRCHN Seminars
Mark your calendars for these upcoming PRCHN Seminars.
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12/14/16 -
Understanding Dementia and Its Co-occurrence with Other Leading Causes of Death
Siran Koroukian, PhD, CWRU
1/11/17 -
Health Psychology Research to Address Tobacco Use and Related Disparities
Monica Webb Hooper, PhD, CWRU
You can find more information on these seminars and other PRCHN programs
here.
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Rhonda Sharpley conducts a cooking demonstration for students during the first shared use event at Case Elementary
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The REACH Initiative has a shared use agreement with Case Elementary School, a K-8 school. A shared use agreement is when entities with large space for activity offer to make that space available to other organizations and the broader community to hold events. REACH has been working with schools, churches, and other large community centers to create these agreements. The aim of the program is to increase opportunities in low-resource areas for physical activity.
On November 3rd, Case Elementary hosted the first one of these events which attracted 25 community members. The main attractions of the event were a healthy eating demonstration and zumba.
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Each year, the PRCHN administers the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in middle schools (even-numbered years) and high schools (odd-numbered years) throughout Cuyahoga County. Data modules for the 2016 Middle School YRBS are now available.
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Urban Health Happenings:
Urban Health Initiative Director Amy Sheon presented a paper at the 2016 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Denver about how
Hackathons and challenges can be used to forge innovation in public health, and about why medical innovation needs public health perspectives. Her paper was very well received, as was a companion paper on the
Health Data Matters Live Stories platform given by Dr. Scott Frank. As Scott recently noted, it seems that our approach of making hyper local community health data available on an open data platform puts us ahead of about 95% of communities. At the same time, we can see that some of the 5% of communities that are ahead of us are
way ahead of us. We forge ahead, learning and sharing best practices.
One crucial paradigm informing our efforts is that of Precision Public Health. As Precision Medicine seeks to customize treatments to the right patient at the right time, Precision Public Health seeks to bring the right intervention to the right population at the right time. To learn more about this disruptive approach to improving health at the population level, read Scott Frank's recent blog on our
HealthDataMatters.org site or watch this
Ted Talk by Sue Desmond-Hellmond, CEO of the Gates Foundation.
As readers of this newsletter know, the Urban Health Initiative has had a strong interest in learning who among us is using consumer-facing health information technology (e.g. Fitbits, connected health devices such as home glucometers, etc.) and being able to learn and share knowledge about the many idiosyncrasies in using such devices in clinical practice and in research. A big boost to that effort came from having Case Western become a Node of the Network of Digital Evidence in Health (Node Health) project led by New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital's AppLab. Led by former Clevelander Ashish Atreja, NODE Health is building a consortium of academic medical centers and health systems who are collaborating to create
evidence-based digital medicine
. Learn more about this exciting project
here
. If you want to contribute to Node Health through Case Western's participation, contact
Amy Sheon
who is representing our institution to the Consortium.
In the meantime, stay tuned to learn about an upcoming local health hackathon/challenge-with major cash prizes available for winners, and also some national efforts for which our team will play an important role.
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Students Win Awards at Cleveland Medical Hackathon
Congratulations to the students who won awards this year at the Cleveland Medical Hackathon! You can read about their winning projects in
The daily. You can also read more about the overall third pla
ce winner,
Matt Campagna, in The daily's 5 questions with... article.
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Researchers Make Faster and More Accurate Malaria Detection Device
A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University was one of four recipients of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent for Humanity Award. They won the award for their portable malaria detection device that takes approximately one minute to diagnose a patient, roughly 20 times faster than the current rapid detection tests, and only costs one dollar per test. Lasers and magnets are used to achieve these results so rapidly and accurately through analysis of a crystalized form of iron only present with disease carrying parasites.
The main researchers on the project are international health professor Brian Grimberg and physics professor Robert Brown. Dr. Grimberg was a 2011 CTSC annual pilot award winner for his study: Pointing out Malaria Infections with Laser Light
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Former CTSC Annual Pilot Grant Winners Receive a Grant from a Charity to Continue Research
Each year the US government spends only about four percent of their $5 billion budget on childhood diseases, including cancer. Therefore, the charity, Prayers for Maria, which was founded by an Avon Lake couple, announced the availability of $600,000 in grants to fund research on childhood cancers. They particularly look for projects on a cancerous brain tumors, known as a glioma, which are typically fatal for children.
In 2014, two Case Western Reserve researchers and former CTSC Annual Pilot Grant winners, Efstathios Karathanasis and Jeremy Rich, received a grant of $250,000 from the foundation. The money funded their development of chain-like nanoparticles that would carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier which keeps standards cancer medications from reaching the tumor. A medicine was also identified which could be carried by the nanoparticles and delivered directly to the area. The Prayers for Maria grant led the study to receive a five year grant from the National Insitutes of Health to continue the study and development of the technology.
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Seminar in Multidisciplinary Clinical and Translational Research
December 12, 2016
WRB 6136 - 12-1pm
12/12/2016 - "Genetic Risk Scores and Prostate Cancer"
Fredrick Schumacher, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatics, CWRU
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Monday, December 12, 2016;1:00 - 2:30 pm
Toepfer Room, Adelbert Hall
4 CREC
Diversity in Research explores the scientific, ethical, and legal bases for the inclusion of diverse participants in research and the recruitment and hiring of diverse research staff. Potential barriers to diversity in the research context are discussed.
This workshop meets the requirements of the CWRU Office of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity (OIDEO) for participation on CWRU search committees.
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Clinical Research Scholars (CRSP) Spring Courses
The Clinical Research Scholars Program (CRSP) has many educational, informative, relevant, and
wonderful spring courses that may be of interest to you, your staff, and/or other medical personnel.
The following are a list of the CRSP courses offered this spring:
- CRSP 412, Communication in Clinical Research - Grant Writing
- CRSP/EPBI 432, Statistical Methods II
- CRSP 450, Seminar in Multidisciplinary Clinical & Translational Science
- CRSP 500, Design and Analysis of Observational Studies
- CRSP 502, Leadership Skills for Clinical Research Teams
- CRSP 504, Managing Research Records - A System's Approach
- CRSP 550, Meta-Analysis & Evidence Synthesis
Attached, please find the following documents:
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Notice
# NOT-TR-17-004
The purpose of this Notice is make modifications for PAR-15-172 " Collaborative Innovation Award, Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program (U01)" for the March 9, 2017, and subsequent due dates, and expand the list of high priority translational research opportunities to novel clinical trials of drugs that target shared molecular etiologies underlying multiple diseases.
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CDC: Epidemiology of Zika Virus as a Sexually Transmitted Disease
Application Deadline: December 13, 2016
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to address critical scientific questions necessary to bolster evidence-based responses to the ZIKA epidemic in the United States and globally. The FOA will explore the duration and infectiousness of Zika virus shedding in semen, vaginal secretions, and other body fluids, determine the risk of sexual transmission in areas both with and without local vector transmission, and evaluate factors that may facilitate sexual transmission including behavioral factors.
Application Deadline: December 13, 2016
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Announcement of Infectious Diseases Research Support from STERIS Corporation
Application Deadline: December 20, 2016
The Division of Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, with funds from STERIS Corporation, will provide seed money to faculty to foster research in emerging and healthcare-associated infections. The RFA can be found on the
ID Website. For more information please contact Martha Salata at 216-844-1988 or
[email protected].
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Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS)
Letter of Intent Deadline: January 13, 2017
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the Babich Family Foundation are partnering to launch a competitive grant to advance new therapies for, and obtain a greater understanding of, familial platelet disorders associated with RUNX1 mutations that lead to acute myelogenous leukemia. The program is focused on addressing translational research with a total of $1.8 million; 3 grants will be awarded up to $600,000 each.
Research proposals should include, but are not limited to:
Translational Research that includes, or can lead to, clinical trials which
- Discover and develop novel therapeutics that re-activate RUNX1 or downstream pathways or provide synthetic lethality via collateral pathways to restore impaired (mutated) RUNX1 function
- Develop gene editing or gene therapy methods to correct RUNX1 mutations, thereby allowing allogeneic transplantations
- Develop new prognostic assays to determine if or when to treat with such new therapeutics
Laboratory research that supports Translational Research to
- Develop a deeper understanding of the interaction of RUNX1 with other transcription factor regulators or other relevant biology related to disease progression
- Develop experimental systems either in vitro or in vivo that mimic FPD (or other RUNX1-mediated pre-leukemic conditions)
LOI deadline: January 13, 2017
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Leukemia Research Foundation
Letters of Intent Due: February 1, 2017
The Leukemia Research Foundation exclusively funds New Investigators - individuals beginning to establish their own laboratories that are no longer under the tutelage of a senior scientist mentor. It is difficult for them to get the level of funding they need at this critical point in their careers.
The Leukemia Research Foundation is unique in the level of support it provides to highly promising scientists in this absolutely critical research niche. Providing one year grants of $100,000 to selected New Investigator researchers, allows innovative scientists to act on their ideas, and try new procedures and experiments that will hopefully lead to significant,breakthroughs. The Leukemia Research Foundation funds the research of scientists that are from independent labs, not the labs of pharmaceutical companies.
Researchers funded by the LRF publish their results in an effort to inform the scientific community about their advances. In addition, their initial results are used to obtain grants from larger, multi-year funding sources - thus furthering their research and potential for finding a cure.
LOI Deadline: February 1, 2017
Full Proposal Deadline (for those invited to submit): March 15, 2017
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Application Deadline: February 15, 2017
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has announced the Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program. Recognizing the value of individuals from different backgrounds to move science forward, HHMI seeks to increase diversity in the biomedical research community. The Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program will recruit and retain early career scientists who are from groups underrepresented in the life sciences and who have the potential to become leaders in academic research. Through their successful careers, Hanna H. Gray Fellows will inspire the next generation of scientists from America's diverse talent pool. The Institute will select and support up to 15 Fellows in this first competition.
Fellows will receive funding ($80,000) for up to four years of their postdoctoral training and may continue to receive funding ($270,000) for up to four years during their early career years as independent faculty. The program includes opportunities for career development, including mentoring and active involvement in the HHMI scientific community.
Application Deadline: February 15, 2017
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NSF: Advanced Biomanufacturing of Therapeutic Cells
Application Deadline: April 17, 2017
In recent years, somatic cells as therapeutic agents have provided new treatment approaches for a number of pathological conditions that were deemed untreatable, or difficult to treat. Several successful cell therapies using T cells have been demonstrated for cancer and autoimmune diseases, while stem cell therapies have given relief for heart disease and stroke. Hundreds of clinical trials are ongoing to examine efficacy of cell therapies for a variety of other diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Crohn's disease. Production of therapeutic cells is currently expensive and, therefore, cost prohibitive for the large number of people who might benefit from these treatments. The overarching goal of this Advanced Biomanufacturing of Therapeutic Cells (ABTC) solicitation is to catalyze well-integrated interdisciplinary research to understand, design, and control cell manufacturing systems and processes that will enable reproducible, cost-effective, and high-quality production of cells with predictable performance for the identified therapeutic function.
Application Deadline: April 17, 2017
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DigitalC Fund
Rolling Applications
The DigitalC Fund is a $600,000 pre-seed investment fund to attract and support global and Ohio-based entrepreneurs focused on products and/or services in big data, the Industrial and Consumer Internet of Things (IOT), civic tech, and software/hardware solutions that complement these applications.
The fund will provide seed capital investments of $30,000 to $50,000 for 4% to 6% equity to early-stage companies with next-generation applications that can leverage high performance network infrastructure (ultra-fast Internet) and substantially benefit from having access to the country's best-in-class advanced fiber optic network.
This fund will offer national and local technical expertise from an 18-person Technical Advisory Committee.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
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Special Funding Opportunities
Multiple Deadlines
Translational Bioinformatics Approaches to Advance Drug Repositioning and Combination Therapy Development for Alzheimers Disease (R01)
Platform Delivery Technologies for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics (R43/R44)
(PAR-17-035)
Platform Delivery Technologies for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics (R41/R42)
(PAR-17-036)
Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Biospecimen Science Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33)
Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33)
(RFA-CA-17-011)
Innovative Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R21)
(RFA-CA-17-010)
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Have you explored Pure yet?
Check out
Pure Experts, a directory of researcher expertise that enables collaboration among researchers! For more information on Pure, see the
Pure Brochure.
Also be sure to contact our
Research Concierge Service for all CTSC and research-related queries.
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Researchers: Register for an
ORCID ID
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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
[email protected]
or
(216) 368-6478.
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