APRIL 2024

NEWSLETTER

The Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI) newsletter lists upcoming events, resources, services and research funding opportunities for UMB research faculty and fellows. 

Upcoming CARTI Seminars:

• Funding Seminar: Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (Apr 4 @ 9am; Zoom)
• International Research Support Services at UMB (Apr 17 @ 1pm; Zoom)
• Common Strategies in Scientific Writing (Apr 18 @ 9am; Zoom)
• Establishing Collaborations and Creating Your Network (Apr 23 @ 9am; Zoom)
• NIH Basics: Understanding Grant Mechanisms, Funding Announcements, and using NIH RePORTER (Apr 25 @ 9am; Hybrid) 
• Writing and Conducting a Systematic Review (May 9 @ 9am; Zoom)
• Holding Effective Mentor Meetings (May 15 @ 1pm: Zoom)
• CARTI/OBGYN Distinguished Research Lecture Series: "Creating Paradigm Shifts in Molecular Diagnostics Through Circulating Fetal DNA" (May 17 @ 8am; UMMC STC Auditorium)
• Tips for Making Your Research Understandable to Broad Audiences (May 22 @ 2pm: Zoom)



To register for CARTI's events, click HERE.

Additional Events:

• UMSON Research Seminar Series: IACUC Update: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Apr 18 @ 12pm; Zoom) 

Research Funding Opportunities: 

• Pew Biomedical Scholars Program
• The Johns Hopkins Mid-Atlantic Center for Cardiometabolic Health Equity (MACCHE) 
• Robert A. Winn Diversity In Clinical Trials (Career Development Award)
• Gerber Foundation (Nutrition, Care and Development of Infants and Young Children)
• Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation and Harrington Discovery Institute
• DoD, Congressional Directed Medical Research Programs

Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)

Thursday, April 4

9:00 –10:30am

Zoom

The Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) funds innovative and impactful biomedical research for service members, their families and the American Public. This seminar will introduce participants to the various types of research programs available through the CDMRP. Subjects will include how to identify the appropriate award mechanism, tips for applying, and insights into the review process.

Target audience: Faculty and Postdocs

To view a list of currently funded research programs, visit: https://cdmrp.health.mil/researchprograms 

Guest Speakers:

Cecilia Dupecher, PhD, Program Manager, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command

Melissa R. Miller, PhD, Program Manager, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command

Common Strategies in Scientific Writing

Thursday, April 18

9:00 – 10:00am

Zoom

Scientific papers that are organized and structured in ways that speak to the expectations of most editors and reviewers tend to have higher rates of acceptance; however, many scientists are unsure of how to present their research in a way that makes it easier for readers to follow along. This seminar focuses on common strategies in writing scientific research papers with a primary emphasis on organization and sentence structure. The session will review examples from various scientific disciplines to illustrate these principles and leave participants with some tangible action steps on how to review their own writing before submitting it to a journal.

Speaker: Isabell May, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, Science Communication Program, Graduate School; Director, Writing Center, UMB

Writing and Conducting a Systematic Review

Thursday, May 9

9:00 – 10:00am

Zoom

This seminar provides an overview of the systematic review process. According to the Cochrane Handbook, a systematic review is “...a review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review.” This differs from narrative reviews, which are often authored by experts in a field and are generally narrative summaries of a topic. Find out what you should know before starting, important steps for conducting a review and resources to help you throughout the process, including the HSHSL Systematic Review Service.

Speaker: Emily Gorman, MLIS, Research and Education Librarian, School of Pharmacy Librarian, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, UMB

Information Session:

International Research Support Services at UMB

Wednesday, April 17

1:00 – 2:00pm

Zoom

The International Operations (IO) division serves the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) community as it engages in the international implementation of global education, research, and service. In partnership with the Center for Global Engagement (CGE), they provide comprehensive assistance through the Global Hub for personalized support of international activities conducted by UMB personnel. This session will provide an overview of the services available to UMB researchers including support for international travel, safety and security, procurement, finance, human resources, compliance, and other operational areas.

Speakers:  

• Danielle Hill, Senior Program Specialist, International Operations, UMB 
• Virginia Rowthorn, JD, LLM, Assistant Vice President, Global Engagement, UMB; Executive Director, Center for Global Engagement, UMB
• Anna Schowengerdt, Assistant Vice President, International Operations, UMB
• Herty Cortez Diaz, Director, International Risk Management, UMB

Establishing Collaborations and Creating Your Network

Tuesday, April 23

9:00 – 10:00am

Zoom

Collaborations are a crucial aspect of developing and maintaining a successful research program and should be developed and maintained carefully. Often, early stage faculty are uncertain as to how to identify the best collaborators, as well as how to obtain the most meaningful input from collaborators. This session will cover:

• How to build successful collaborations and maintain relationships
• How to Identify venues to network and how to create your own networking opportunities
• The importance of establishing a network for career progression
• Challenges early stage investigators often face when collaborating and how to deal with them effectively
• How to make the meeting/conference experience professionally useful
• Using social media to network

Speaker: Lynn Schriml, PhD, Associate Professor, Institute for Genome Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UMSOM

NIH Basics: Understanding Grant Mechanisms, Funding Announcements, and using NIH RePORTER

Thursday, April 25

9:00 - 10:00am

Hybrid Session: Zoom & In-person

(HSRF3 Building, Room 1010, 670 W. Baltimore St (1st floor)

Understanding the NIH organizational structure, how to identify the right funding mechanism and announcement, and the grants review process is an essential first step before applying for NIH funding. This session will provide an overview of the NIH grants process, as well as, helpful resources for early stage faculty not familiar with NIH funding. This session will cover topics including: an overview of the different NIH funding mechanisms; identifying Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs); using NIH RePORTER; and the NIH system of Peer Review.

Speaker: Marey Shriver, PhD, Executive Director for Faculty Development, Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI), UMSOM

Holding Effective Mentor Meetings

Wednesday, May 15

1:00 – 1:30pm

Zoom

Receiving regular feedback and guidance from your mentoring team is essential for achieving research and career development goals. This session will discuss recommendations for holding effective meetings with your mentoring team, including how to prepare for meetings, the best format to get the feedback you need, and how often you should meet with your mentoring committee. 

Speaker: Marey Shriver, PhD, Executive Director for Faculty Development, Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI), UMSOM

The Center for Advanced Research Training and Innovation (CARTI) in partnership with the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences announces the launch of a new, annual Distinguished Research Lecture Series. This series will feature world-renowned researchers who will share a peek behind the scenes at their paths to success. Jon us for the inaugural lecture below:

"Creating Paradigm Shifts in Molecular Diagnostics Through Circulating Fetal DNA"

Friday, May 17

8:00 – 9:00am

UMMC Shock Trauma Center Auditorium

(Virtual option will be available)

This lecture will be given by 2022 Lasker Award winner Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo, DM, DPhil, Chairman and Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Lo won the 2022 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his discovery of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal blood, which he then leveraged to develop noninvasive prenatal testing for Down syndrome. Today, cell-free DNA testing has expanded beyond prenatal testing to determine the success of organ transplants, diagnose, and monitor cancer, and diagnose acute coronary syndrome, among other conditions. Visit our WEBSITE for more information.

Tips for Making Your Research Understandable

to Broad Audiences 

Wednesday, May 22

2:00 – 3:00pm

Zoom

Your research is on a signal transduction pathway in an invertebrate model organism, and you find yourself at a social function with non-scientists where someone asks, “So what do you do?”  

You’re in line at Starbucks and introduced to a successful businessperson who is looking to make a philanthropic gift to researchers at the University of Maryland, they ask you to describe your research before they get their order and must leave…  

You are applying for funding from a foundation, and they ask you to give a lay summary of your project…  

How do you start? 

Join us for a panel discussion with three PhD scientists-turned-professional communicators—a fly geneticist, a developmental biologist, and a clinical psychologist—who will share best practices for making science understandable. We will talk about approaches that work, and pitfalls to avoid, and leave ample time to provide suggestions to attendees who would like to seek assistance from the experts.  

Panelists:

• Audrey Huang, PhD, MA, Director, of Science Communications, CARTI, UMSOM 
• Melissa Laitner, PhD, MPH, Senior Program Officer, National Academy of Medicine 
• Vanessa McMains, PhD, Science Writer, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NICDR)/NIH 
• John Timmer, PhD, Senior Science Editor at Ars Technica 

Scholarly Writing Accountability Group (SWAG) Program

Virtual Program to Help Faculty Increase Their Scholarly Writing Productivity

The Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI) provides a virtual peer accountability/support program designed to increase writing productivity among UMB early stage faculty called Scholarly Writing Accountability Group (SWAG). A description of our virtual SWAG program follows, including details on how to participate.

What is a VIRTUAL SWAG?

A virtual SWAG is an active peer-led writing group for UMB junior faculty that meets for 1-hour, once a week over a 10-week period using Microsoft Teams/Zoom. Groups follow a structured agenda including 15 minutes of updates and goal-setting followed by 30 minutes of individual writing and then 15 minutes of reporting and wrap-up. Each group is limited to 4-8 members who must commit to attending at least 8 out of the 10 weekly sessions. In a SWAG, there is no peer review of writing; SWAGs focus on the process of writing, not the content. The purpose of SWAG is to help junior faculty get in the habit of 1) writing in short blocks of time daily or almost every day and 2) identifying and prioritizing feasible writing goals.

Writing accountability groups are being used at multiple major medical schools. The data which have been reported on the results of this program are very favorable, reflecting marked increases in the quantity and quality of writing by junior faculty participants.

What are the Benefits of Joining a SWAG?

Faculty who join SWAG will:

• Develop new writing habits to achieve writing goals
• Improved time management skills
• Gain a greater sense of control over the writing process
•  Build a small community of support/social network

Registration

New SWAGs at UMB are being formed on a rolling basis. If you’re interested in participating, please submit the following REQUEST FORM.

Questions? Email Stacie Mendoza

CARTI'S Seminar Slides & Recordings

CARTI'S Individual Consultations

CARTI'S Funded Grants Library

The Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI) now has a funded grants library available to faculty who are preparing an NIH grant application. These samples were shared by UMSOM faculty who have funded NIH grant applications including, but not limited to the following mechanisms:

• Loan Repayment Program (LRP) Awards
• Career Development Awards (K): K01, K08, K23, K24
• NIH Research (R) Grants 
• Diversity Supplements

CARTI'S Mini LIbrary

University of Maryland School of Nursing

Research Seminar Series

IACUC Update: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Thursday, April 18

12:00 - 1:00pm

Zoom

The UMSON is proud to host the Office of Animal Welfare Assurance Director and Chair of the UMB IACUC (Angela Peiser, MS, CPIA and Graham Aberdeen, Ph.D., respectively) as they provide an overview as to what the IACUC is, what research requires IACUC involvement, why the IACUC exists, who the IACUC applies to and when to be involved, how to navigate the IACUC review process, and tips for researchers and research team members looking to understand and improve the way they work with the IACUC. Post approval monitoring and ways to ensure your lab remains compliant will also be discussed. 

Speakers:



Angela Peiser, MS, CPIA, Director, Office of Animal Welfare Assurance, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, UMB

​

Graham W. Aberdeen, PhD, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Chair, Office of Animal Welfare Assurance, UMB

Research Funding Opportunities

Seeking Foundation Funding for your Research?

The SOM’s Office of Development, Corporate and Foundation Relations, provides services and resources to assist UMSOM faculty with identifying private foundation funding for research, programs, educational initiative, and community outreach at the local, regional, and national level. Visit their website for more information and to schedule an appointment. 

Additional funding opportunities can be found at:

 UMSOM Internal Funding Opportunities & External Funding Databases

UMGCCC Funding Database

(Cancer related research)

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