UNYTE Newsletter, Issue #5

Director's Corner

Welcome to the fifth issue of the UNYTE Newsletter. This issue is full of exciting news including announcement of the winners of our UNYTE Grants program, a preview of an upcoming UNYTE sponsored conference, highlights of award winners at our Genomics and Proteomics “Un-meeting,” and an overview of some of the great collaborative work UNYTE member institutions are doing in the field of suicide prevention. In addition as you may have noticed we’re using a new email friendly format for this newsletter that we think you will find easier to share with your colleagues.

We’re excited to have now started our third cycle of grants through our UNYTE Pipeline to Pilot grants. These 8 month awards are designed to foster collaborations between partners at UNYTE institutions and lay the foundation for pursuit of future external grants. The winning proposals range from exploration of molecular tools for virus detection to development of a community-wide bioinformatics education partnership. For more information on these projects see "2019 UNYTE Pipeline-to-Pilot Awards", below.

While these new grants will provide opportunities for new connections, upcoming and recent meetings have also provided a chance for UNYTE members to build new partnerships. In March, UNYTE conducted an “Un-Meeting” on Translational Genomics and Proteomics. The “Un-Meeting” structure was designed to be less formal and more open to the spontaneous new interpersonal connections that are often the most important outcome from a conference. However, even in this non-traditional format we did present our traditional poster awards to three excellent research teams described later this issue.

In the fall, UNYTE will cosponsor an upcoming Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Collaborative Conference. This is our first time working with this great existing partnership between clinician-researchers at UNYTE member institutions. More information to follow over the next few months.

Finally we close this issue with a brief overview of innovative research published by UNYTE member institutions in the area of veteran suicide prevention. This important project brought together faculty from three UNYTE member institutions to examine communication in primary care clinics and its relationship to suicide prevention.

There are a lot of exciting things happening inside the UNYTE Network. If you have changes or collaborations you’d like to share with the UNYTE team let us know at UNYTE@urmc.rochester.edu

2019 UNYTE Pipeline-to-Pilot Awardees

We are pleased to announce the awardees of the 2019 UNTYE Translational Pipeline-to-Pilot grants. These awards of up to $10,000 are intended to stimulate research partnerships between UNYTE member institutions to compete for future external translational biomedical research funding. Research teams must consist of one faculty member from the University of Rochester and at least one faculty member at another UNYTE member institution. This year’s awardees are:

Rochester Bioinformatics Cooperative
University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology
John Ashton
André Hudson
Jacquelyn Lillis
Paula Vertino
Gary Skuse

CRISPR-Cas13 Enabled Sensitive Optofluidic Platform for Zika RNA Sensing
University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology
Mitchell O’Connell
Ke Du

UNYTE Institutions Collaborate on Study Examining Team Communication Within Integrated Primary Care in the Context of Suicide Prevention

Researchers from the Veteran’s Administration Medical Centers in Syracuse, the Veterans Administration VISN 2 Center for Excellence in Suicide Prevention, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and the University of Rochester conducted a sequential exploratory mixed methods study to examine how communication related to suicide prevention occurs among primary care team members working within a group of clinics in the Veterans Health Administration that has embedded integrated behavioral health providers (BHPs) and an EMR. The data suggested good team communication was occurring, and that there were opportunities to enhance communication through the use of huddles and from PCPs to other team members when the patient’s medical status changed.

Jennifer S. Funderburk (VA Center for Integrated Healthcare in Syracuse), Brooke Levandowski, (VA VISN 2 Center for Excellence for Suicide Prevention in Canandaigua, SUNY Upstate Medical University, now with the University of Rochester), Marsha Wittink (Univeristy of Rochester) and Wilfred R. Pigeon (VA VISN 2 Center for Excellence for Suicide Prevention in Canandaigua, and the University of Rochester) published their findings in Psychological Services (http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ser0000287).

Researchers Gathered for Translational Genomics & Proteomics Un-Meeting.

On March 13, 2019, 75 researchers from 9 UNYTE institutions gathered at the University of Rochester for the Translational Genomics & Proteomics Un-Meeting; to discuss and develop new, innovative and effective ideas for genomics and proteomics translational research. The concept of the Un-Meeting is an event without the rules and structure of a classical conference.

	Yi Wen, pictured with UNYTE Director Gary Noronha, is Phd student of Biomedical Engineering of SUNY-Binghamton University, and won the Student Poster Award for the poster “Diagnosis of malignant Ground Glass Opacities with Extracellular Vesicles derived DNA.”
	Jacquelyn Lillis, Bioinformatician at the Genomics Research Center and Center for Pediatric Biomedical Research at the University of Rochester won the Staff Poster for the poster “Single-cell transcriptome analysis of embryonic hematopoietic progenitor cells reveals erythro-myeloid lineage heterogeneity.”
	Cameron Baker, Staff Scientist with the Genomics Research Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center, (not pictured) won the Staff Scientist Poster Award for the poster “Single Cell Transcriptional Profiling Defines an Intercellular Signaling Network that Organizes the Developing Coronary Vasculature.”

October 25, 2019
3rd Annual Thruway
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Collaboration Conference

University of Rochester Medical Center

Program Highlights include:
- Biomedical & translational research
- Advances in psychosocial care in pediatric hematology/oncology

October 25, 2019 3rd Annual Thruway Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Collaboration Conference

University of Rochester Medical Center

Program Highlights include: - Biomedical & translational research - Advances in psychosocial care in pediatric hematology/oncology

October 25, 2019
3rd Annual Thruway
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Collaboration Conference

Program Highlights include:
- Biomedical & translational research
- Advances in psychosocial care in pediatric hematology/oncology