When asking friends about their vacation to South America, one doesn’t expect stories about ear reconstructions, cleft lip and palate repairs, or accounts of people with severe burn scars finally getting treatment. But those are the memories that several UK physicians and residents brought back with them after a week of volunteer medical service with Medical Mission Ecuador (MME) last March. And while they weren’t typical vacation memories, each one was worth keeping and sharing.

For medical students, there is one day a year that means as much, and might be as stressful, as all the exams and studying. After four years of medical school, and numerous interviews, medical students find out where they will spend the next years of their lives in residency programs. Match Day is a culmination of the hard work and dreams of students on the path to becoming doctors.

This story was originally published on UKNow.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 25, 2016) — When you ask Brett Spear about what he most admires in his wife and colleague, Martha Peterson, a smile instantly appears on his face.

When you ask Brett Spear about what he most admires in his wife and colleague, Martha Peterson, a smile instantly appears on his face.

The pair, both professors in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department ofMicrobiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, has been married for 32 years and has two sons. Yet, because they have different last names, not everyone on campus recognizes their connection. 

OSPA recently published instructions allowing PIs to track their own eIAFs.  To access the instructions, follow the link below.

http://www.research.uky.edu/ospa/info/docs/OSPA%20PI%20Tracking%20Report%20Instructions.pdf

Global Health Case Competition Tackles Child Obesity in Mexico

NIH is now requiring grant applicants to validate key reagents to be used in the proposed research, particularly cell lines.  Major journals are also starting to require such validation for publication.  The preferred validation method is STR (short tandem repeat) profiling.  Commercial firms provide this service for fees ranging from $70 to $300, depending on the firm and the precise work being done.