News

In the July 2013 issue of the UK ORI IRB Review, the topic of internet research is discussed.  Follow this link to read the article.

Through early support of promising investigators in fields ranging from lung cancer to Alzheimer's disease to pediatric heart disease, the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) has seen great return on their investment in recent years in the area of biomedical imaging at UK. The growth through investment ratio in this area has been great, with the return in federally-funded grants greatly multiplying the initial investment by the CCTS in the investigators' work. 

Researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, led by faculty member Donna Wilcock, have recently published a new paper in the Journal of Neuroscience detailing an advance in treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Gammagard™ IVIg is a therapy that has been investigated for treatment of Alzheimer's.

Dr. James DuBois, St. Louis University, was awarded a contract from the ORI RCR Resource Development Program to create an RCR casebook with case studies and role playing activities. ORI will be releasing the finished casebook shortly via the ORI website. To read an example case study, click here.

The Facilities and Administrative Cost rate utilized for industry funded clinical trial agreements is the off-campus research rate negotiated with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).   The federal government caps that rate for universities at 26%.    An agreement has been issued to the University of Kentucky by DHHS with new rates that will be effective July 1, 2013.  According to information submitted by the Office of Controller and Treasurer to DHHS to develop the new rates, the actual off-campus rate is 27.44%.   The actual rate, ro

Sally Rockey, Deputy Director for Extramural Funding at NIH talks about percentile scoring of grant proposals on her blog. To read her comments on percentile scoring, click here.

Since Thursday, July the 4th is a Federal holiday, all NIH offices will be closed. Friday, July 5, 2013 is not a Federal holiday. NIH and its help desks will be open, and application deadlines of July 5th remain in place. If you have an application due on July 5, NIH recommends planning to submit early in the week to give yourself time to respond to errors and to view your application in the eRA Commons before the deadline.

NIH along with other government granting agencies is transitioning to updated electronic forms packages.  The new packages are called FORMS-C and will be required for any submissions after September 25, 2013.  NIH has provided detailed information regarding the changes to the forms.  To read more, click here.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: The University’s policy, as instituted by the Vice President for Research in April 2012, mandates that eIAFs for sponsored research proposals be fully routed 3 business days prior to the sponsor’s proposal deadline. Anyone in an investigator role must provide their own certification. Chairs, Directors, and Deans can set up a delegate to provide the required certification if they won’t be available. Your CGO can provide assistance to make these arrangements, if needed.

As a reminder, the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) is currently required for all NIH grantees for SNAP and Fellowship awards. This would include most standard R series awards. SNAP and Fellowship progress reports submitted in another format will not be processed by the NIH and will require submission in the RPPR format. More information is available at these NIH links: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rppr/ and http://era.nih.gov/services_for_applicants/reports_and_closeout/rppr.cfm. The RPPR should be routed to your CGO.

The University of Kentucky has been selected to host the 28th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) from April 3rd – 5th, 2014. Part of the planned festivities will include an event called ‘Open Houses’, which is intended to showcase and promote research at UK. Open Houses will take place on Thursday April 3rd from 4-6pm. We would like to provide participating undergraduates with an opportunity to take part in a number of interactive demonstrations hosted by departments and academic units across campus.

The UK COM RO1 Consultant Review Program is a process that will facilitate a faculty member engaging an authoritative external consultant to provide an assessment of a complete, but not yet submitted, RO1 (or equivalent) application. Read more.

Does you lab door have proper signage? For a fillable template, please visit the EH&S website at http://ehs.uky.edu/docs/pdf/bio_s_lab_signage_0001.pdf.

June 5-6, 2013

From UK Biosafety News, Newsletter Date May 2013. With the return of warmer weather and summer approaching, the UK Department of Biological Safety would like to issue the following friendly reminders: Please remember to add new personnel, including summer interns and students, to your IBC registrations (http://topaz.uky.edu). Please be advised that all high school volunteers must be approved by UK Environmental Health and Safety (http://ehs.uky.edu/ohs/minors_0001.php). Minors under the age of 14 are NOT PERMITTED inside of any research laboratory, greenhouse, or animal facility at the Un

On May 8, 2013, NIH released its new Fiscal Policy for grant awards for its FY 2013. To information on the policy including changes from previous years, click here.

According to NIH grants policy, all grantee publications about research that are funded by NIH must include a specific acknowledgment of NIH grant support. A new web page on NIH funding acknowledgement provides grantees with useful guidance to meet the award requirements. The new web page can be found by clicking here.

Two University of Kentucky faculty members were honored on April 25 with awards recognizing their outstanding contributions to teaching and scholarship at UK. Sidney W. Whiteheart, professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry in the UK College of Medicine, was awarded the 2013 Albert D. and Elizabeth H.

The Provost Budget Office Grant Group collaborates with college, program, and central Units to provide tools which will enable departments to achieve operational and strategic goals through guidance on best practices with regards to pre- and post-award grants management. For more information, check out their website.

We’ve become aware that while the transition to RPPR is effective for all NIH continuing awards to be made July 1 or later (for all reports due beginning in May), both the eSNAP and RPPR options may be available in eRA Commons. PLEASE advise your faculty to select the RPPR option. They should not select eSNAP.