Research Bulletin
News from the Child Health Research Institute
January 2022
NIH K Award Guidance from Recipients Drs. Sidharth Mahapatra and Gwenn Skar
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide support for senior postdoctoral fellows or faculty-level candidates through Career Development (K) Awards. The objective of these programs is to bring candidates to the point where they are able to conduct their research independently and are competitive for major grant support. We asked recent K Award recipients Sidharth Mahapatra, MD, PhD, associate professor, Division of Critical Care, and Gwenn Skar, MD, assistant professor, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, to tell us about their experiences applying for, receiving and managing their K awards.
 
What are the career development experiences like in your program?
 
Mahapatra:
The K12 program I am a part of (funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) is uniquely designed for pediatric intensivists. Over a two-year award period and a total five-year mentoring period, we are guided through the process of developing our research for attainment of independent research status, usually through K- or R-level funding.
 
Each year, we attend a retreat that is organized to provide hands-on career development and grants training to all K12 Scholars. At the retreat, we also give research talks to the National Advisory Council, which consists of 13 intensivist-scientists with their own independent research labs, many of whom are division chiefs or deans of research at their respective institutes. Having attended three retreats, I am simply awed and humbled by how high the caliber of research is and the feedback provided to help advance Scholar projects. To me, this is the best part of the program because the K12 advisory committee takes a proactive approach to training us.
 
Finally, each Scholar is assigned a National Advisory Counselor who makes site visits to the Scholar’s institutes. There, he/she interviews key members of the Scholar’s mentoring team, including the division chief, department chairs and research mentors, to ensure that the Scholar is provided with all the support he/she needs to be successful. To date, most Scholars who have graduated from the program have successfully gone on to K08, K23 or K99/R00 funding. I will be their first Scholar training for R01 funding.
 
Skar:
The career development experiences for each K award will be dependent on your project and your NIH institute. All K awards require a primary mentor. In my case, I found it helpful to have:
  • A team of experts, including my primary mentor, that has expertise in Staphylococcal pathogenesis, immunology and neuroimmunology
  • A co-mentor who provided additional scientific expertise in neuroscience
  • A wider scientific advisory committee with clinical, surgical and bacterial pathogenesis expertise, including a physician scientist who had navigated the K08 to R01 transition.
 
I designed my career development plan to supplement basic science knowledge and learn laboratory techniques that applied to the current project and that would prepare me for the directions I see my work heading in the future. It's essential to think about the gaps in your training and the experiences or knowledge that you will need to become an expert in your field and to plan your career development plan accordingly. My career development plan is designed to expand my repertoire of basic science techniques, provide a better neuroscience foundation and prepare me for future clinical and translational projects. In addition, my NIH institute, the National Institute of Neural Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), also provides career development opportunities like workshops and direct mentoring by experts in the field during specific K awardee sessions at national meetings. 
 
How is your research project progressing?
 
Mahapatra:
The project is going well. Based on our microRNA research, we have discovered a potentially new pathophysiological mechanism for high-risk medulloblastoma tumorigenesis through evasion of ferroptosis, an iron-mediated form of cell death. I have presented the work at three platform presentations in 2021 and have been invited to present it at the 2022 Midwest Clinical and Translational Research Meeting in Chicago. I have also submitted a manuscript of this work to Free Radical Biology and Medicine. I am now preparing the work for an R01 submission to NINDS in February 2022.
 
Skar:
The research project is progressing well. I've already learned many new laboratory techniques, and we are following the data we've generated down new avenues. I'm gaining confidence as a scientist and am excited to continue our work to improve the care of kids with shunt infections.
 
Describe the process you went through pursuing a K award.
 
Mahapatra:
The process is similar to, if not identical, to preparing a K08 application. In fact, all applicants and Scholars are encouraged to submit the same grant application as a K08. Given my prior non-immigrant and H-visa status, I was ineligible to apply for any K awards until I procured permanent residency, which I received in 2019. I applied right away to both K programs, 2019 K12 and 2020 K08. I was not selected during my first round of either. I re-applied to the K12 in November 2020 and was luckily selected to be a Scholar (2021-2026). Due to the delays in my K candidacy and the progress of my own research, the program and my mentors felt I was better suited for R-level funding at this stage. Thus, the K12 program is uniquely training me for R01 funding.
 
Skar:
Early in my fellowship training I knew that I wanted to pursue a K08 award and gradually worked toward this over several years. The most important step was establishing strong scientific mentoring relationships. This allowed me to gain a fundamental understanding of laboratory techniques, find my specific research interest and set up projects to generate preliminary data. From there it was A LOT of work to put the K proposal together – literal blood, sweat and tears went into the proposal.
 
What advice do you have for others who are interested in pursuing K awards?
 
Mahapatra:
If there’s one thing I have learned through the process, it is simply that perseverance pays off. With each grant application cycle, the science improves based on the valuable feedback received from the review process. So, each grant becomes stronger than the prior attempt. It’s just a matter of time until you land the grant. That said, start early. I would encourage prospective K awardees to develop their mentoring team concurrently with their project plans. At UNMC, applying for a CHRI grant can help the applicant organize their project. Alternatively, I have developed a Research Track for the PCCM Division that helps walk applicants through the first few years of developing a project and a mentoring team. Applicants should then start the process of applying for a K award by year 2-3 s/p fellowship. In critical care, I encourage applying to the K12 first (November) and then the K08 (June). Once in the K12 program, the endpoint for all Scholars is independent funding, usually through K-mechanisms. 
 
Skar:
My advice would be to start early. Having a solid mentor or mentoring team is key. Establishing that you have worked with your mentor(s) through a record of publications is important when the study section considers your proposal. It's also essential to work closely with your research administrator to make sure that the proposal is complete and that you meet all deadlines. Be prepared to work harder than you ever have before in the weeks leading up to submission date and try to clear your schedule of other commitments. There are many supporting documents that accompany the proposal and these also deserve and require time and attention.
The Child Health Research Institute will be convening a Pediatric Academic Workshop with the theme “From Bench to Bedside to Bench” on Feb. 22. Speakers provide guidance on how to convert research ideas into reality, how to better connect clinical and bench science to impact patient care and how to benefit from mentorship from senior investigators to develop your own career path. Panel discussions are scheduled on the topics of Successful Collaboration Between Basic & Clinical Science and From Bench to Bedside to Market. 

To complement the Pediatric Academic Workshop, Chester Koh, professor of Urology, Pediatrics and OB/GYN at Baylor College of Medicine and Balakrishna Haridas - director, BioInnovation Master’s of Engineering Program at Texas A&M University, will present on the Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC). SWPDC is a an entity that provides assistance to developers of pediatric medical devices in the form of seed funding, consulting assistance, engineering and design assistance and other services.

Attendees can register to attend the complete workshop events or just the talk by Drs. Koh and Haridas. Please visit the Pediatric Academic Workshop webpage for complete agenda information and to access the registration links. 
CHRI Priorities & Activities:
Update from Executive Director Ann Anderson Berry, MD, PhD
Happy New Year to all of you in the Child Health Research Institute (CHRI) community. As we embark on 2022, with the pandemic flaring up again with the Omicron variant, we are enduring additional stress in our academic work. CHRI is here with the resources to help support your research activities in a multitude of ways, including the writing group led by Eric Peeples, MD, PhD; our statistician Junghyae Lee, PhD; our grants library managed by Matt Sandbulte, PhD; our internal grants process and our grants submission and post-award support. Additionally, clinical studies can work with the Pediatric Research Office. All of this is geared to help you step into a successful year! Please contact us at CHRI@unmc.edu if you aren’t sure to whom you should direct your research-related question.

In the new year, CHRI will continue working to accurately measure the success of our child health research. As is stated in our strategic plan, we want to help our members to increase their research funding and to publish their research work. We will be reporting yearly the total funding dollars and extramural research grant submissions and awards from our members, using data from Sponsored Programs Administration at UNMC. We will also work to tally the publications of our members, and we hope to see each of these metrics grow year over year.

I am excited to announce that CHRI will be holding its first annual conference this coming November 4 and 5, 2022. We look forward to hosting our National Scientific Advisory Board and hearing state-of-the-art research presentations from our members. Please mark these dates on your calendar now!

A few more items for your consideration:

  1. When submitting grants, consider using the multiple principal investigator role vs. a co-investigator role. This will help all of our investigators build a strong track record of research funding.
  2. If you are interested in recruiting patients for clinical studies at Children’s, the patient research opt-in functionality is ready. Parents have been selecting this option for several months now, and we are ready to work through the approval process for requests from investigators for this research enhancement. Contact Ashley Servais for more information.
  3. For those of you with federal funding or hoping to get federal funding, the Other Support document preparation is going through significant updates in the process. With new federal regulations, any discrepancies in this funding sheet could be used to prosecute the investigator, so it will be imperative that you utilize the new process and attest to the veracity of the document. Research administrators will not be able to prepare and submit these sheets for you.

I wish you health and research productivity in the coming year. Please know you have a research partner in CHRI and let us know how we can serve you in the coming year.

In appreciation of all your work,

Ann
Top row, left to right: Drs. McCulloh and Trippier; Bottom row, left to right: Drs. Buckley, Murry and Shaffer
CHRI Investigators Receive
Research Honors from UNMC
Five CHRI Investigators were recently recognized when UNMC announced the recipients of the Distinguished Scientists and New Investigators honors. Russell McCulloh, MD, associate professor, Division of Hospital Medicine, and Paul Tripper, PhD, associate professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, were named Distinguished Scientists. Shannon Buckley, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy, DJ Murry, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, and Christopher Shaffer, assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, received the designation of New Investigators.

The honorees will be recognized during a virtual awards ceremony on Feb. 24 at 4:30 p.m.

About the Awards:
The Distinguished Scientist Award -- which is sponsored by the chancellor -- recognizes researchers who have been among the most productive scientists at UNMC during the past five years.

New Investigator Awards go to outstanding UNMC scientists who in the past two years have secured their first funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense or other national sources. New investigators also had to demonstrate scholarly activity such as publishing their research and/or presenting their findings at national conventions.

Congratulations to all of our CHRI honorees!
CityMatCH 2022 Conference Date Announced
CityMatCH has begun planning the 2022 conference, which will be held Sept. 21-23, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Abstracts will be accepted for submission beginning Feb. 1, 2022. More information will be added to the website as it becomes available: https://www.citymatch.org/conference/
New Frontiers in Neonatal Care Conference
Is Friday, March 4
Children's Hospital & Medical Center is hosting the 2022 New Frontiers in Neonatal Care Conference on Friday, March 4, 2022, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Scott Conference Center, 6450 Pine St., in Omaha. This annual conference will feature a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual options for participation. Participation/viewing options are subject to change. Registered participants will be notified of any changes.

This event will feature thought-provoking discussions, as well as case and joint presentations given by neonatal specialists and multidisciplinary care teams. The target audience includes physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech and language pathologists, dietitians, respiratory therapists, social workers and other health care providers.

The conference will offer a Grand Rounds keynote presentation by Nicole N. Harter, MD, Children’s division chief, Pediatric Dermatology. An additional keynote presentation will feature Leslie Altimier, DNP, RNC, NE-BC, associate professor at Northeastern University in Boston, and senior director of Clinical Innovation & Research with Masimo.

6.0 CME/CNE/Physical Therapy applications are pending. Click here to view the flier. Full brochure forthcoming.

For more information and to register, visit ChildrensOmaha.org/ContinuingEd

Select “Continuing Education,” then select “Live Online Activities” and scroll to the event.

Registration fee: $75 for physicians and advanced practice providers, $50 for nurses and other allied health professionals.

Zoom details will be sent to registered/paid virtual attendees within a week prior to the event.

Registration deadline: Feb. 25 for in-person attendees and March 2 for virtual attendees.
Refunds are available if cancelled in writing by registration deadlines.

If you have questions about registration, please contact CNE@ChildrensOmaha.org or CME@ChildrensOmaha.org
Meet a Fellow CHRI Member
Chittalsinh Raulji, MBBS, FAAP, is an assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.
 
What is your current primary area of research? 
 
I am a pediatric hematologist-oncologist, who is drawn to hematology – both benign and malignant. I direct the Comprehensive Bleeding Disorders Clinic and Comprehensive Sickle Cell Clinic at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. My primary area of interest is studying hemostasis and thrombosis, especially in girls with bleeding disorders. Addressing health disparities in sickle cell disease is also close to my heart, and, through various collaborative groups, I participate in various clinical trials for sickle cell disease. I am also involved in various clinical trials for treatment of leukemias and lymphoma through Children’s Oncology Group. I am also a member of the pediatric hematological malignancies subgroup of Pediatric Cancer Research Group at CHRI.
 
Please share information on a current research project.  
 
I have been working on a research project to establish a transition program for patients with sickle cell disease. We also initiated a pilot program to improve school outcomes for children with sickle cell disease. As part of this project, we have launched an initiative to educate school teachers about health requirements for kids with sickle cell disease. Through education and intervention, we aim to decrease school absences and achieve better academic performance for children with sickle cell disease.
 
What has been the primary benefit of CHRI membership? 
 
In addition to excellent support needed to conduct research, CHRI provides a good platform and forum to collaborate with other researchers in the area.
 Submissions for the 2022 CYFS Summit on Research in Early Childhood due Jan. 31
In preparation for the sixth biennial CYFS Summit on Research in Early Childhood, organizers are soliciting research presentation and poster proposals from University of Nebraska faculty and graduate students. 
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS 
Faculty in the University of Nebraska system who are interested in presenting at the summit are invited to submit research proposals. Selected presentations will represent a range of early childhood issues and topics. CYFS faculty affiliates, NAECR researchers and NAECR student researchers are encouraged to apply.
 
CALL FOR POSTERS
Graduate students from the University of Nebraska system are invited to submit poster proposals for presentation at the summit provided at least one faculty member serves as a co-author. Faculty are encouraged to pass along this email to any graduate students who might be interested in this opportunity.

Presentation and poster proposals are due on or before Jan. 31, 2022. To learn more and submit a proposal, please click one of the buttons below.
Upcoming Events: January 21, Noon
CHRI Seminar Series

Stephen Haller, MD-PhD Scholar Program
Extracellular Mechanotransduction in Marfan Syndrome

Bruce Gordon, MD, Professor, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Institutional Review Board
New Other Support Functionality in RSS – REQUIRED for NIH submissions on or after January 25
We have been in a limbo since March with regard to NIH mandated changes to the Other Support document, but the limbo ends on the 25th of January.
 
Effective on the 25th of January, all Other Support documents for UNMC employees submitted to SPA for submission to the NH must be generated from a new RSS functionality. The new RSS functionality ensures institutional compliance with the mandates of NIH, UNMC’s largest sponsor of research.
 
Actions Needed Before the 25th of January:
 
  • Trainings (For Investigators & Administrators): Please attend one of the nine “drop-in sessions” trainings. Particulars below. No need to RSVP, just use the Zoom info below please.
  • Testing: Each college/institute/department may want to organize a special project to support the methodical testing phase for its investigators.
  1. Generate Test OS Document: Please generate a test Other Support document for each individual who may be identified as a PI or a Senior/Key Personnel on an NIH application or pre-existing award.
  2. Data Review: Review the test Other Support document carefully to identify any data issues such as missing data points or typos.
  3. Proactive Resolution of Data Concerns: If data issues are identified in the test Other Support document then a Department Administrator (not the investigator) should create a new ticket in the Ticker (SPA’s system for tracking work tasks). 

i.     Ticker: Submissions Form: Use the Submissions form for the ticket and code the Submission Type (What is it?) data field as “! Data Concern for Other Support Docs” – which will show as the first option in the dropdown menu for the data field.
ii.     Patience Please: A SPA representative will work with you to resolve the data concerns. That said, there will be several months where the Data Concern tickets are added to SPA’s normal operational volume. We appreciate your patience during this transition.
 
Faculty and administrators are invited to learn more about the new functionality built into RSS to create Other Support documents compliant with NIH requirements effective January 25, 2022, at one of nine “drop-in” sessions. Sessions will be held via Zoom on:

 
Jan 18, 2022 03:10 PM Central Time
Meeting ID: 910 7279 0320
Passcode: 760200
 
Jan 20, 2022 10:10 AM Central Time
Meeting ID: 922 8861 0406
Passcode: 051966
 
At each session, representatives from Sponsored Programs Administration will demonstrate the new RSS functionality and answer your questions.
 
Background: On March 12, 2021, NIH issued a notice that set forth new requirements in the form of updated, reorganized forms and instructions for Other Support documents. The changes are substantial in order to promote transparency and full disclosure of all resources – both domestic and foreign – supporting an individual’s research endeavors. The most dramatic new requirement is a certifying signature by the PD/PI or other senior/key personnel on their own Other Support form. These requirements, which affect all stages of the NIH proposal and award lifecycle, go into effect for submissions on, after, or due by January 25, 2022.
 
For more information:
Disseminating Discoveries:
December Publications
Take a minute to check out the wide range of research published by CHRI members in December.
Funding Opportunities:
Great Plains IDeA-CTR

  • Community-Engaged Research Pilot Project Award (up to $25k)
  • Community-Engaged Capacity Development Award (approx. $5k per award)

Due Feb. 21, 2022
Child Health Research Institute
986847 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-6847
402-559-4032 or 402-955-7907