News

Please join us to view the following NIH-sponsored webinars in the Multi-purpose Room 27 of 138 Leader Avenue:

Wednesday, November 5, Fellowship Awards

Monday, November 10, Research Project Grants (R01s)

The webinars will run from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., including a 30 minute Q&A period.

Viewers will see presentations by Five CSR/NIH Experts

The Alzheimer’s Association has awarded a $100,000 New Investigator Research Grant to Jose Abisambra, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA), to study a brain protein that becomes abnormally modified in the course of developing Alzheimer's disease. The New Investigator Research Grant program is part of the Alzheimer’s Association’s effort to increase the number of scientists conducting Alzheimer’s research by supporting early-career development that will lay the groundwork for future research grants.

The University of Kentucky has been approved to lead a $14.9 million project from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to identify the most effective approaches for patient care transitions as they move between hospitals, nursing homes and their own homes.

Dear Chairs and Center Directors,

 In response to feedback about the draft IDP, we have created a slightly modified version, which is attached. The major change in this version is the specific inclusion of questions in Parts II and III related to understanding responsible conduct of research, in order to ensure that our training plans are meeting with NIH standards in this area.  In addition, we slightly modified the introductory paragraph so that it can be directly cut and pasted into a progress report.  This section now reads:

[From VPR Office]

As a result of recent lapses in biosafety practices at Federal laboratories, the Federal Government has issued a “Safety Stand-Down” for federal facilities to ensure safety of laboratory researchers and the American public. The University of Kentucky as a recipient of Federal research funding is encouraged to conduct similar reviews.  

Have you submitted a proposal or do you plan to do so in the next few months?

[From NIH Website]

[From the NIH Website] 

Request for Information (RFI): Consideration of Sex As a Biological Variable in Biomedical Research

Notice Number: NOT-OD-14-128

Key Dates
Release Date: September 11, 2014
Response Date:  October 13, 2014

Related Announcements
None

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

Background

In her research, Sarah D'Orazio, associate professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, investigates why some people get sicker than others after ingesting the foodborne bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.

The Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky will hold its fourth annual Markesbery Symposium on Aging and Dementia on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21-22. The Markesbery Symposium is named in honor of the late Dr. William R. Markesbery, founder and long-time director of the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and an internationally renowned expert on aging and dementia. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease (AD) today and millions more are affected by their role as family member, friend or caregiver to those with memory loss.

NIH recently updated policies regarding application submissions.  That update allowed resubmission of an A1 application as an A0.  One of the restrictions outlined in the policy update states that the second A0 submission can not reference any previous reviews.  NIH is rejecting any application making reference to previous reviews.  To read more of the policy, click here.  For questions, contact your GPS.

[From NIH eSubmission Items of Interest - September 18, 2014]

Systematic Application Compliance Checking – What It Is and What It’s Not 

Automated enforcement of business rules by NIH eRA systems plays an important role in the application submission process – it helps you and it helps NIH. Understanding what that role covers can be the difference between your application moving forward to review and not. 

System-enforced application validations are what they are – nothing more, nothing less. 

In response to the third cycle of NCI Alliance activity, we are organizing a team to work on a proposal for  “NCI Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence”. The UK proposal is entitled  “RNA Nanotechnology Center for Cancer Therapy".   We strongly encourage UK faculties to participate in this proposal.  Please contact Peixuan Guo (peixuan.guo@uky.edu) for a recommendation to a project leader.  The deadline is the beginning of November.

Two independent groups of researchers led by Sidney "Wally" Whiteheart, PhD, at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. Charles Lowenstein, at the University of Rochester, have published important studies exploring the role that a gene called STXBP5 plays in the development of cardiovascular disease. According to Whiteheart, previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified a gene called STXBP5 as a factor that regulates a protein called Von Willebrand factor (VWF). VWF is an important contributor to normal blood clotting.

As a reminder, an Internal Approval Form (IAF) is no longer routinely required for non-competing progress reports. This change primarily effects multiple year awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). An IAF will still be required for significant changes (for instance, if there is a 25% or greater change in budget from the proposal that was originally routed, if a co-Investigator is added or if the Enrichment distribution changes). 

You are probably aware that the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has made a major change to the underlying guidance by which university recipients of federal awards have operated for decades. OMB combined eight separate circulars, applicable to different types of grantee organizations, into a single document, “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards,” commonly referred to as the Uniform Guidance (UG).

Starting in October 2014 (just a few weeks away!) eRA Commons Usernames for graduate and undergraduate student project roles will be required for both the PHS 2590 Non-Competing Continuation Progress Report and Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR).

Public Law 110-81: Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007  imposes stringent requirements on universities and other organizations engaged in lobbying. The University of Kentucky, as a registered lobbying entity, must exercise comprehensive oversight over all lobbying activities undertaken on behalf of the University and must file quarterly disclosure reports with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

A new study by University of Kentucky researchers has identified a novel molecule named Arylquin 1 as a potent inducer of Par-4 secretion from normal cells. Par-4 is a protein that acts as a tumor suppressor, killing cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. Normal cells secrete small amounts of Par-4 on their own, but this amount is not enough to kill cancer cells.

Did you know that you can help others by participating in research? Health-focused research affects every aspect of our lives, from the medications we take to the health of our environment. Researchers are working hard to identify new treatments and strategies to improve the health of our communities, but research needs healthy volunteers and volunteers with medical conditions in order to succeed.