Q & A with 2014 CTSI Faculty Pilot Awardee

In the most recent CTSI Stories Blog, Carla Beckham, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Urology at URMC, who worked with Edward Messing, M.D., professor of Urology at URMC on a 2014 CTSI Faculty Pilot project, shares information about treatment for bladder cancer, the fifth most common cancer and the most expensive to treat over a patient’s lifetime. She discusses how the Pilot Award gave her career a huge launch into the field of exosome research, an exciting new direction for this particular cancer. To read the full CTSI Stories Blog and learn more about the Pilot Studies Program, click here.

Wilmot Cancer Institute NCI Designation

One year ago, the Wilmot Cancer Institute began a concerted effort to prepare an application for National Cancer Institute designation by 2021. The NCI-Designated Cancer Centers are recognized for their scientific leadership, resources, and the depth and breadth of their research in basic, clinical, and/or population science as well as substantial transdisciplinary research that bridges these scientific areas.

Wilmot Cancer Institute Director, Jonathan W. Friedberg, M.D., M.M.Sc. shares information about important progress made over the past year in a video on the Wilmot intranet site. To view the video, click here.

More information about the NCI-Designated Cancer Centers can be found here.

Technology Development Fund
Offers Awards Up To $100,000

Applications are now being accepted for spring 2017 University Technology Development Fund awards of up to $100,000.

Any faculty member, post-doctoral fellow, graduate student, or other employee of the University of Rochester is eligible to apply for funding. Applications for technologies from all fields of science, medicine, dentistry, nursing, business, education, music, and engineering will be accepted.

Submissions should be sent to omar.bakht@rochester.edu. Eligible projects should propose the development of a technology to a commercial endpoint. An invention disclosure must be filed with UR Ventures. Non-inventor developers can propose to develop technology that they did not invent.

The deadline for pre-proposals is Tuesday, May 23, 2017.
Click here for additional information.

Last Call for Community Health
Mini-Grant Applications

The Center for Community Health is accepting Community Health Mini-Grant Applications for a grant to be awarded in May 2017. This competitive grant program began in February 2009 in response to faculty and staff surveys that considered ways to address barriers to pursuing community health partnerships. It has provided URMC and community partnerships with additional funding to address issues such as transportation, childcare, meeting space rental, refreshments for meetings, etc. Grant funding up to $1,000 is made on a quarterly basis. Applications are welcome from either URMC or community partners.

The application deadline is Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 12:00 pm.
Click here for the application and instructions, or call 585-224-3062 at the Center for Community Health.

The Chemokine CCL3in the
Leukemia Microenvironment

Presented by: Benjamin Frisch, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Wilmot Cancer Institute, URMC, Faculty Candidate, Cancer Biology, Wilmot Cancer Institute

Discovery of mechanisms of support for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) during both homeostatic and stressed hematopoiesis has evolved to the identification of novel therapeutic targets in malignant hematopoiesis, such as acute myeloid leukemia. His current research is focused on alterations of the bone marrow microenvironment induced by myeloid malignancies, which has led to the identification of the chemokine CCL3 as a potential target for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

Date: Monday, May 8^th
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: WCI Formicola Conference Room (2-0727)

Workshop on
Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C)

Jane Skok, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology

The University of Rochester Committee for Interdisciplinary Studies (UCIS)
Cluster in Epigenetics and Genome Stability Presents:

Jane Skok, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology, New York University
Pedro Rocha, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Medicine
Sana Bendaoud Badri, Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Informatics Program

Chromosome conformation capture (3C) is a term that encompasses a group of related methods for analyzing the spatial organization of the genome as chromatin in the eukaryotic nucleus. Using these methods, it is possible to interrogate the associations that occur between DNA sequences that are otherwise located far from each other on the linear genome, both at the level of specific sequences (3C, 4C) and at much broader levels, involving large numbers of sequences (5C, Hi-C, ChIA-PET, Capture-C, etc.) This workshop will provide an introduction to the theory and practice of 3C-related techniques, including bench-level issues of performing the assays and related bioinformatics tools.

Lunch will be provided.

Date: Monday, May 15th
Time: 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
Location: Adolph Auditorium (1-7619)

"All About Grants" Podcasts on Application Appendix and Post-Submission Materials

The Office of Extramural Research (OER) talks to NIH staff members about the ins and outs of NIH funding. Designed for investigators, fellows, students, research administrators, and others just curious about the application and award process, we provide insights on grant topics from those who live and breathe the information. Episodes are available as mp3s for download, via iTunes, or via RSS feed.

“A Look at NIH’s Appendix Policy,” with Dr. Cathie Cooper, director of the Division of Receipt and Referral in the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review, talks about what can be submitted in an application’s appendix.

In the podcast, “NIH’s Post Application Submission Policy,” Dr. Sally Amero, NIH’s Review Policy Officer, provides insight into why NIH has such a policy, and what grant application information can be updated after submission of an application but before peer review.

To view these and other podcasts, go to National Institutes of Health.

Research Initiative Award
for Undergraduates

This annual award recognizes excellence in the early phases of undergraduate research, demonstrated by the initiation and organization of a project leading towards a senior thesis, capstone project, or an independent research project.

Applicants must be full-time undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Rochester and be interested in working towards a senior thesis, capstone project, or an independent research project. The award is open to all undergraduates, but students in their late Junior year or early Senior/Take Five year are especially encouraged to apply.

Award Amount: $1,000
Application Deadline: Friday, November 17, 2017

For more information, click here.