News

Mary Vore was recently awarded the 2014 William R. Willard Award. This award is the College’s highest honor given to individuals who have made singular contributions to the College’s missions in research, teaching and service. Educated at Asbury College, Mary obtained her Ph.D. in pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. She returned to Kentucky as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and rose through the ranks to Professor in 1986.

University of Kentucky researchers led by Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, professor and vice-chair in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky, have made revealing discoveries about the precise mechanisms of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) death in the late stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The findings were released last week in the Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Geographic atrophy, an advanced form of dry AMD characterized by death of the RPE, causes untreatable blindness in millions worldwide.

Most federally-funded grants are currently governed in part by a section of the Code of Federal Regulations known as “Uniform Guidance.”  These regulations address, amongst other things, the allocation of costs to projects.  Uniform Guidance states: “If a cost benefits two or more projects or activities in proportions that can be determined without undue effort or cost, the cost should be allocated to the projects based on the proportional benefit.”  If the proportional benefit cannot be determined because of the interrelationship of the work, the costs

Notice of Clarification of 4-Year Limit of Postdoctoral Research Eligibility for K99 Applicants for PA-14-042 “NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00)”

Notice of Revised NIH Definition of “Clinical Trial”

Notice Number:

NOT-OD-15-015

Key Dates

Release Date: October 23, 2014

Related Announcements

None

Issued by

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

On Oct. 17, the Lexington Convention Center teemed with more than 200 students and scientists sharing their latest research on cardiovascular health for the 17th annual Gill Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Day. Nigel Mackman, Ph.D., director of the McAllister Heart Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented "Hematosis, Thrombosis and Immunity," demonstrating the diverse roles of hemostasis and thrombosis in cardiovascular diseases, cancers and infections. Kathryn J.

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Saturday adopted a sweeping statement of principles, directing President Eli Capilouto to focus on the "most pressing" needs of Kentucky by determining how best to grow UK's research enterprise through strategic investments in facilities and talent. "The challenges are overwhelming, but we can be up to the task of making a difference," Capilouto said. "These are not easy issues, but they must be our issues.

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.