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August 16, 2018: the "coffee and carrots" edition
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 Learn about publishing in Nature journals and careers in journalism
BSCC Lecture Hall
August 23, 2-3pm
Come to the special presentation by Dr. Megan Cully, a senior editor for Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, a peer-reviewed journal with one of the highest impact factors (2016 impact factor: 57).  She will be giving a presentation on what it takes to publish in Nature and to pursue an alternate career in journalism. The presentation will be followed by a trainee Q+A at 3pm. If you have any burning questions about the publication process at Nature or life as an editor/freelance science writer, here is your chance to ask them!
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 Remember your first poster presentation?
Summer student Eliana Bond has just made her very first research poster describing a qualitative research study she did in PARC, and she'll be presenting it tomorrow.
Everyone is welcome to learn about her project, ask questions, and provide constructive feedback.
2-2:45pm, Friday 17 August, north end of the Atrium
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Grants + awards for ICORDians
- Drs. Bill Miller and Carolyn Sparrey were recently awarded AGE-WELL Catalyst Funding Program grants. These grants support the development of technologies to promote independence, health, and quality of life in older adults.
- Drs. Tom Nightingale (Krassioukov Lab), Jasmin Ma, and Matthew Stork (both of the Martin Ginis Lab) received MSFHR Research Trainee Awards to support their postdoctoral training.
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Fridge purge coming to all ICORD lunch rooms
Tired of finding mouldy food in the fridge? The fridges in the lunchrooms on the third, fourth, and fifth floors of the BSCC will be cleaned out on August 17.
Please make sure to remove anything you want to keep by 3pm that day.
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Have fun working out with your BSCC colleagues:
sign up for Fall Lunchtime Fitness Classes!
Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:10 to 1:00
September 4 to December 14
These classes are a combination of mat pilates and core strengthening, with a variety of exercises targeting all parts of the body (every class is different!).
- 30 classes (twice a week for 15 weeks): $240
- 15 classes: $130 (once a week or equivalent)
- 10-class drop-in: $90 (must be used by the end of the session)
 Zoe Green will continue teaching both “Tough Tuesdays” and “Therapeutic Thursdays.” She offers:
- hands-on adjustments (with permission of participants)
- challenge and difficulty (with modifications for different ability levels)
- a quickly-paced class
- a fun and playful atmosphere
For more information or to sign up for the fall session, please contact Cheryl.
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Doing a beach afternoon, kayaking trip, or backyard barbecue with your lab mates, or just enjoying lunch outside on the lawn? Take some pictures and enter your best ones in our ICORD LOVES SUMMER photo contest! Your shots could be featured in the Summer ICORDian, and you could win a summer treat for your lab! Photos must include at least one ICORD trainee, volunteer, staff or faculty member (but more is encouraged!). Send your best photo of a summer activity or adventure (work-appropriate only!) to Cheryl.
Entry deadline: August 17 (tomorrow).
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Look how much fun the PARC supervisors had on their summer bonding hike! Don't forget to enter your own shots in the summer photo contest!
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Interested in patient engagement on research teams? The BC SUPPORT (Support for People and Patient- Oriented Research & Trials) Unit invites you to a special half-day, in-person workshop to connect you to tools and resources for patient-oriented research.
Format: Both didactic and interactive components. Bring your own laptop, tablet or other device for real-time interaction with online resources.
This workshop will include:
1. Shared exploration of key resources
2. Hands-on deeper dive
3. How the BC SUPPORT Unit can help you
4. Wrap-up and questions
To RSVP, please contact Charele Yousefi
NOTE: This workshop pilots the content and format for a future workshop in October at our annual conference. We’ll be seeking your feedback to refine the content and format.
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Want to learn to draft graphical abstracts for CIHR?
UBC Vancouver campus
August 17, 9-10am
Take part in a SPARC workshop led by medical and scientific illustrator, Vicky Earle, to conceptualize and draft a graphical abstract summarizing your research proposal at a glance of an eye. This workshop is ideal for UBC faculty considering planning applications to the upcoming Fall 2018 CIHR Project Grant and 2018-19 CIHR Foundation Grant competitions.
The use of a simple visual summary can serve to 'tell the story' of your proposed research at a single glance. This workshop seeks to increase awareness and provide suggestions on how to develop a graphical abstract for your next grant application. Registered participants will also have the opportunity to schedule a follow-up consultation with Vicky Earle to further refine their illustrations.
Click here to register.
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Do you recruit participants for research studies?
Come to this important Lunch & Learn at noon on September 18 in the BSCC Lecture Hall
The BC Health Research Connection Project will improve how patients and the public can find and connect to health researchers and research opportunities. The project will develop:
- a website for patients and the public to learn about health research in BC,
- a listing of active health research studies and other types of research engagement opportunities in BC, and
- an online research registry for patient and public volunteers to self-enroll in order to be matched to appropriate research opportunities for which they may be eligible.
At the Lunch + Learn on September 18, you can
- learn about what the project is about and how it can help your research
- find out how the project is being planned, and about upcoming project activities
Who should attend? PIs, research staff and trainees who recruit participants for health research studies. Click below to RSVP. The password is "REACH"
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Health Evaluation Lunch + Learn series
RHI is developing a monthly Lunch + Learn series about Health Evaluation. Please note that registration is required, and that there is a fee for registering. These are the first two sessions:
At the intersection of knowledge translation, evaluation and implementation science: Navigating a role for evaluation
BSCC Lecture Hall
September 13, 12-1pm
Presenter: Sarah Farina, President of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), past President of the BC & Yukon chapter of CES and Co-Chair of the 2017 CES conference
Register here
How To know if it’s working: Developing an organizational KT evaluation framework
BSCC Lecture Hall
October 11, 12-1pm
Presenters: Penny Cooper is a professional evaluator with over twenty years’ experience in evaluation and applied research. She is the former Director of Evaluation & Impact Analysis for the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), and currently works as an independent consultant. Penny is deeply engaged in evaluation of KT initiatives through her ongoing relationship with MSFHR and other BC-based clients. Gayle Scarrow is the Director, Knowledge Translation at MSFHR. She leads the development, implementation, evaluation and ongoing management of MSFHR's knowledge translation plan for the purpose of fostering and accelerating the impact of health research in BC and beyond.
Register here
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ICORD Journal Club: Updates coming soon!
International Society of Neuroimmunology Congress: August 27-31
ICORD Seminar Series Lecture: September 11
Lunch & Learn (details above): September 18
UBC Full Faculty Meeting: November 26
Motherhood after SCI: Autonomic Symposium: February 13, 2019
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Meet Iara de Schoenmacker of the Kramer Lab
 Iara grew up in Pfungen, in the Winterthur District of Switzerland. She completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich, where she is now studying for her Master of Neuroscience, and she recently joined the Kramer Lab to begin her thesis project.
Iara found out about ICORD through former Krassioukov Lab postdoc Dr. Michèle Hubli (now the Deputy Head of Research at Balgrist University Hospital) where Iara was completing an internship for her master’s program. “I was looking for somewhere to do my thesis, and Michèle brought up ICORD. I feel very lucky to have heard about the opportunity to do research here—I was in the right place at the right time.”
As a member of the Kramer Lab’s laser study team, Iara is comparing brain responses to contact evoked heat potentials (CHEPs) and radiant (laser) heat stimuli, as well as investigating how application of capsaicin changes these responses. Iara has been involved in the study design and in setting up the experimental framework. She has assisted with data collection, and she will perform data analysis later on in the project.
Since moving to Vancouver, Iara has enjoyed the beach and mountains, and she likes that everything is so much easier to get to here than in Zurich. “There’s a parkour park right by my apartment that I go to, and I bike everywhere.” Iara plays beach volleyball once a week, and she has found some kindred spirits in the Kramer Lab. “We’re already gone hiking and windsurfing together, and we’re planning other weekend adventures.”
Iara doesn’t have a favourite scientist, but is inspired by the researchers who surround her on a daily basis. “When we talk about famous scientists, we see them from such a great distance, but when I’m in the lab, I can see how hard the people around me work and what approaches they take. I really like scientists who think outside the box and go against accepted ideas, because that’s how we innovate and make new discoveries.”
Want to advance the science of neuropathic pain? Let Iara know if you’re interested in participating in the Kramer Lab’s study next time you see her in the BSCC!
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Volunteer to be profiled! Or nominate someone. You don't even have to know them (that's the whole point of this column!) Send ideas to Max.
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  Applying for funding? Assistance is available with editing & proofreading, lay summaries, signatures, ICORD boilerplate, infographics and illustrations. Contact ICORD's Research Facilitator, Max Thompson. Email / phone 604-675-8879 / BSCC Admin Office.
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A full list of funding opportunities can be found here.
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UBC VP Research and Innovation:
Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters
Targeted at catalyzing research initiatives at UBC. Funding is to be used strategically by recipients to attract further opportunities for cluster development. Click here for full details.
Amount: $100,000 to 200,000
Duration: 1 year
Eligibility: Faculty
Deadline: Sep 17 (NOI)
Neilsen Foundation Allied Health Professional Research Award of ASIA
The Neilsen Foundation Allied Health Professional Research Award of ASIA is a $25,000 one-year award to a clinically based physical or occupational therapist, or similar professional. The purpose of the award is to encourage clinicians in the field of SCI to incorporate an element of research into their professional practice. The recipient will be selected by the ASIA Awards Committee and will receive his/her award in person at the ASIA 2019 Annual Meeting. The recipient will be asked to present their work at a future ASIA meeting.
Read more about criteria, the submission process and a sample score sheet here.
Deadline for submission is August 17 at 11:59:59. All documents should be submitted as a combined PDF, electronically to Patty Duncan: patty@asia-spinalinjury.org
Weston Brain Institute Big Ideas: Canada
Although ideas can be submitted after August 17, they will be reviewed at the end of August. Please see the Program Call for further information.
Recommended deadline: August 17, 2018 (tomorrow)
Other Opportunities:
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Want to try free coffee and tea?
Check out the Vancouver International Coffee and Tea Awards Festival at David Lam Park from 10-4 August 19 at David Lam Park.
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And now, two things about carrots!
Carrots might make concrete stronger
Carrots make interesting vegan hot dogs
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Attention: Speaker suggestions needed!
We want YOUR suggestions for speakers to come to ICORD to speak on SCI-related research in our monthly seminar series in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019. These speakers are invited to promote scientific exchange and collaboration. Students and trainees, please suggest names to your supervisors. Supervisors please send suggestions to Dr. McPhail: mcphail@icord.org
Who do you want to bring to ICORD?
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Join the ICORD Trainee Committee Writing Club!
 We all have something we need to write—proposals, theses, grants, papers—but it can be hard to set aside the time! Need a little help scheduling it? Or perhaps some peer pressure? Join the ICORD Trainee Committee Writing Club on Tuesday afternoons for a couple of hours of getting into the writing habit.
Bring your laptop, papers, pencils, or whatever else you need, and join your fellow writers in the fourth-floor meeting room on Tuesdays from 2PM to 4PM (or any portion of that time you can make it). All are welcome: trainees, researchers, and PIs, anyone who has something to write (that’s everyone)! If you have any questions please contact Diana at dianavhunter@gmail.com
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 What is ICORD researching?
Check out the Published Research page on the ICORD website.
This page highlights new papers by ICORD researchers and will be updated monthly. If you have a paper coming out soon, please let us know. We'll be really excited if you include a short—a few sentences—lay summary.
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Do you recruit participants for research studies?
If you do, and you want your studies to be posted on the ICORD website, you might be happy to know that you can submit your study information online.
Just log into the members section of the site (scroll down to the bottom of any page and click on ICORD user: login (contact Matt if you need a reminder of the login ID and password). Complete the form, and the ICORD communications team will create a new study page using the information you've provided.
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ICORD wants to recognize your achievements!
Have you or one of your trainees published a paper, won an award, a scholarship, a chili cook-off? Seriously, don't keep this to yourself. Send us your good news, so we can bask in your glory with you. If you’ve received an award and are missing from this list, please let us know, so we can add you. Send Max an email to share any achievement!
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What is the BICP?
You've likely seen the badge in our newsletter and the posters around the atrium, telling people about the Blusson Integrated Cures Partnership, but do you know about all of the different kinds of research and activities being supported by the BICP? ICORD and the Rick Hansen Institute have created a webpage to inform you about the work that we're doing together with the Rick Hansen Foundation through this unique collaboration.
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An exclusive offer for you! Purchase 10 cases of the same size serological pipets and get another case of the same size FREE. Please contact Nadia or Clare for more information and promotional offers.
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Don't get locked out!
Are access cards in your lab expiring soon? With up to six-week delays in processing renewal requests at VCHPhotoID, it's good to be aware of when your BSCC access is expiring. If you know your building access is going to expire soon, and you need it to continue, have your PI or lab manager email Matt with your pass number, name, and the new expiry date at least four weeks before your card expires to make sure you're not locked out.
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Maintenance issue in the BSCC? Let us know!
Is a faucet in one of the washrooms not functioning properly? Does a light in your lab need to be changed? Email bscc-maintenance@icord.org so we can get the VCH maintenance team to fix it. We're happy to help!
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Need logos?
We can help you with that!
Click the images to download full-size .png versions. Other logos and other file types are also available by contacting Cheryl at the ICORD Admin Office.
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Blusson Spinal Cord Centre contact list
• ICORD bookings (meeting rooms, AV, temporary parking requests): bookings@icord.org
• Building-related work requests + reports: bscc-maintenance@icord.org
• Email problems? Computer issues? Contact MedIT at 1-877-266-0666 or medit.servicedesk@ubc.ca.
• Lost items? Contact Paladin Security for lost and found items in BSCC: 604-677-3734
• For media inquiries, please contact Cheryl Niamath (niamath@icord.org)
• After-Hours *emergency only* maintenance for BSCC: 604-875-4111 x62601
• After-Hours emergency cleaning needs? Call Crothall at 1-844-372-1959
• Paladin Security Urgent: 604-677-3672 (from an inside line: 88)
**To subscribe to the Buzz send an email to sahl@icord.org
Have you ‘liked’ or 'followed" ICORD on Facebook or Twitter?
*Reminder: The BSCC is a scent free workplace. Please refrain from wearing scented products if you work in the building.
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The Blusson Buzz welcomes your submissions
Do you have something you would like to share with the Buzz readership? The Blusson Buzz welcomes submissions from everyone. If you have any announcements, congratulations, paper recommendations or interesting things you think belong in the Buzz, please submit a short blurb to mthompson@icord.org. Submissions received by 12 PM on Wednesdays will make it into the current week's issue.
You are subscribed because you work in the BSCC, are a member of ICORD, or signed up to receive this. To unsubscribe, click the link below.
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