UCSF CCMBM Core Services

UCSF CCMBM Core Services Newsletter - December 2024

CCMBM Cores:

Featured Services

The Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology & Medicine (CCMBM) defines itself

by emphasizing musculoskeletal-specific education and services that are critical to its members but not available elsewhere in the university system.

“The CCMBM has been instrumental in propelling my research forward. By bringing together scientists with diverse expertise in musculoskeletal research, I have had the opportunity to form new collaborations within and beyond the UCSF community and gain exposure to the most cutting-edge questions in my field.”

--Eva González Díaz, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UCSF

CORE SERVICE UPDATES

Looking for a novel way to rapidly and quantitatively evaluate gene expression? The Nanostring nCounter fills the gap between qPCR and RNAseq by analyzing up to hundreds of transcripts at a time with small amounts of RNA. Nanostring uses fluorescent color-coded barcode probes and single molecule imaging to detect and count hundreds of unique transcripts in a single reaction at high sensitivity (< 1 copy per cell). Starting with 50 - 100ng total RNA, no enzymatic processing steps are required for gene expression analysis. The probes hybridize to approximately 100 bases, and can be multiplexed to detect up to 800 different targets in a single reaction. Pre-built CodeSets are commercially available, as well as custom UCSF Skeletal Biology custom CodeSets that survey 94 or 627 mouse genes implicated in musculoskeletal biology, including bone, cartilage, tendon and muscle.

For more info on the custom UCSF codesets, please see our website. For inquiries, please contact Chia-Ling Tu.

LEARN MORE

JUNIOR INVESTIGATOR TRAVEL AWARDS

Application Deadline: December 20, 2024, 12:00PM PST

Proposals reviewed and funded on a rolling basis.

CCMBM is pleased to announce the CCMBM Junior Investigator Travel Award, which is intended to support the travel of trainees to develop expertise, network, or acquire skills in a field at a scientific conference that the applicants may otherwise be unable to attend. The award is particularly designed to encourage travel to a conference where the trainee may not be presenting an abstract, but where interactions with other attendees and participation in conference activities can serve as a springboard for trainees to transition to the next stages in their scientific careers.

Travel awards may only be used to cover economy airfare for up to $200 per award and travel to be completed by March 31, 2025.

LEARN MORE

CCMBM TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROGRAM RFA

Application Deadline: January 6, 2025

Award Notifications: End of January 2025

The UCSF Core Center in Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine (CCMBM) is accepting applications for its Tools and Technology (T/T) Grant Program. Research topics should be within the musculoskeletal (MSK) field. The goal of this grant mechanism is to encourage members from any UC campus to develop or adopt cutting-edge technologies or computational resources that have yet to be widely used for MSK research. T/T funds will help investigators customize and demonstrate the feasibility of these approaches for MSK-specific research needs.

Priority will be given to early career investigators and to projects that make new protocols available to other CCMBM members through UCSF Cores, including CoLabs and CCMBM Cores.

LEARN MORE & APPLY

JUNIOR INVESTIGATOR GRANT DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

The Grant Development Award provides funding for a junior CCMBM member to host a meeting (e.g., lunch or dinner) with 1-3 UCSF faculty members who are outside of the trainee’s current lab to:

1) brainstorm/solicit informal feedback on a study idea or research direction

2) learn about the latest methods and techniques used in related fields

3) identify potential collaborators

4) promote inter-disciplinary MSK research

5) expand the trainee’s professional network

If you are not a member, you may concurrently apply for membership while your Grant Development application is being reviewed.

Apply via the online application form today! Contact Noah Bonnheim for questions on this funding opportunity.

CCMBM GRANT REVIEW SESSIONS

The CCMBM would like to help investigators strengthen their grant proposals in advance of any upcoming NIH deadlines. We invite CCMBM members to participate in the Grants Review program to receive 1:1 feedback and/or live panel review with peers as well as coaching from experienced investigators. If you are not a member, you may concurrently join during your grants review period.

Upcoming NIH Cycle I deadlines include:

P Series Grants: January 25, 2025

R18, U18, and R25 Grants: January 25, 2025

T and D Series Grants: January 25, 2025

C06/U06 Grants: January 25, 2025

G07, G08, G11, G12, G13, G20, R24, S06, S11, S21, S22, SC1, SC2, SC3, UG1, U10, U19, U24, U2C, U41, U42, U45, U54, U56 Grants: January 25, 2025

Fill out the sign up form to attend an upcoming session.

CCMBM CORE DISCOUNTS

The Imaging Core is offering service discounts to Early Stage Investigator and Trainee members. The Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Study Design Core is also offering up to 6 hours of free UCSF Clinical and Translational Institute (CTSI) consultation time for all CCMBM members. Please contact each Core to utilize these member discounts.

Please contact Tom Sullivan for eligibility questions.

UPCOMING EVENTS

December 20, 12:10-1:00pm; Parnassus, HSW-300

Microbiome Ignite Talk

Edwin Ortega, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Turnbaugh Lab, UCSF

"How Folic Acid Impacts Anticancer Drug Disposition"

Holly Steininger, BMS Graduate Student, Lynch Lab, UCSF

"Human Genetics Interact with the Upper Airway Microbiome to Modulate Risk for Childhood Wheeze"

Hosted by the Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Host an Open MIKE (MSK Integrated Knowledge Exchange)

Recognizing the need for collaboration of MSK scientists with experts outside of the MSK field, we are providing support to MSK Center members to host a meal for a creative and enjoyable in-person networking meeting to stimulate these interactions and to further develop new research ideas and plans to fund them. Faculty, staff, and trainees who are MSKC/CCMBM members are encouraged to apply to host an event.

If you are not a member, you may concurrently apply for membership while your Open MIKE application is being reviewed.

Apply via the online application form today! Contact Cristal Yee for questions on this funding opportunity.

UCSF Talks: An Informal Website for Discovery Science Seminars

UCSF Talks is a new resource for anyone interested in learning about the latest seminars happening at UCSF. It lists all seminars open to the entire UCSF community including regular seminar series, special seminars, supergroups, and thesis talks. If you would like to receive weekly event listing emails, you can sign up for the USCF Talks Google Group. To add an event to the website, please contact Jon Zhang.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE CCMBM

If you have received a CCMBM grant, used one of our cores, or formed a collaboration at one of our events that led to a publication, please acknowledge our Center in related publications and presentations. We suggest stating:

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30AR075055. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.