In this edition:

Feature

Did You Know?

Virtual Program: Becoming a Resilient Scientist

The pandemic has demonstrated the value of resiliency and the ability to intentionally pivot! In Spring 2021, Emory's Laney Graduate School and the Office of Postdoctoral Education collaborated on an NIH program: Becoming a Resilient Scientist. A cohort of doctoral and postdoctoral trainees met regularly over the spring semester to discuss a series of webinars highlighting emotional intelligence competencies, skills to improve resilience and navigating school, lab, career and life challenges. Other sessions include self-advocacy and assertiveness, managing-up to maximize mentoring and building feedback resilience. The practical webinar recordings and workbooks are accessible to the general public online.

Funding (* New Opportunities)

NIH Funding Opportunities Specific to COVID-19

This page contains a listing of active and expired funding opportunities specific to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

* NOSI: Re-issue of Availability of Administrative Supplements for Submission of Tissue Chip Data to the Microphysiology Systems Database – Due June 1

This notice announces the availability of administrative supplements for active awards (e.g., award not in an extension period) funded through the NIH Microphysiological Systems (MPS) Program under the following funding opportunities. Note: Administrative supplement projects must be within the scope of the parent award.

SOM I3 (Imagine, Innovate and Impact) Venture Award – Due June 7

Emory SOM is soliciting innovative research proposals to catalyze promising early-stage concepts with commercial potential that do not yet qualify for funding from external sources. The I3 Venture Research Awards aim to cultivate inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs driven to solve medicine’s challenges and create patient impact.

Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program (T32) – Emory Internal Due June 15

The goal of the Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program is to develop a diverse pool of scientists earning a Ph.D. who have the skills to successfully transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) provides support to eligible, domestic institutions to develop and implement effective, evidence-informed approaches to biomedical training and mentoring that will keep pace with the rapid evolution of the research enterprise. For any questions, please contact Holly Sommers (hsomme2@emory.edu).

* RWJF Health Equity Scholars for Action – LOI Due June 16

The goal of HES4A is to support the career development and academic advancement of researchers from historically underrepresented backgrounds who conduct health equity research. Grants will be awarded to address the challenges that underrepresented researchers experience; help them overcome obstacles to earning tenure; and make progress toward acquiring independent research funding.

Center for HIV Structural Biology (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Emory Internal Due June 22

The purpose of this FOA is to support dynamic, multidisciplinary consortia of structural biologists, virologists, and computational scientists to resolve complex biological structures relevant to HIV prevention, treatment, and cure. The consortia are expected to leverage common resources, facilitate new collaborations, and engage and support the next generation of HIV structural biology researchers.

Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center Call for Therapeutic Delivery Innovation Initiative Collaborative Grant Program – Due June 25

This funding mechanism is intended to stimulate new, collaborative research in therapeutic delivery among Georgia Tech, Emory University, and UGA investigators. The collaborative grant team must have a minimum of two investigators and must have an equal partnership of faculty from two of the participating institutions with budgets split between the universities as equally as possible.

* RWJF Research in Transforming Health and Health Care Systems – Phase 1 Due June 28

The purpose is to fund research studies that evaluate or predict the effects of Medicaid policy changes enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding will range from $150,000 to $350,000 per project to accommodate studies of 12 to 36 months.

Pfizer Centers for Therapeutic Innovation – Due June 28

Pfizer’s CTI partnering model focuses on accessing cutting-edge science and innovative discoveries aligned with Pfizer’s current core research areas of Oncology, Inflammation & Immunology, Rare Diseases, and Internal Medicine. Please reach out to Kevin Lei for any questions and to apply.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Leadership and Management of the RWJF Culture of Health Prize – Due June 30

RWJF seeks an organization to lead and manage the national RWJF Culture of Health Prize program. This request for qualifications (RFQ) provides background on the program and outlines qualifications and responsibilities for the next lead organization. As part of this RFQ, RWJF asks the applicant to provide an estimated $4 million to $6 million budget over 27 months.

Pediatric Feeding Disorder/Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder– LOI Due July 1

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to stimulate new research projects, build new collaborations, and increase extramural funding for pediatric research. Proposals should be aimed towards generating preliminary data for subsequent extramural grant applications.

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Rachleff Innovation Award – Due July 1

This award funds extraordinary early career researchers who have an innovative new idea but lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain traditional funding. It is not designed to fund incremental advances. The research supported by the award must be novel, exceptionally creative and, if successful, have the strong potential for high impact in the cancer field.

Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative – Due July 6

Grants awarded are intended to advance our understanding of the genetic basis of ASD and the molecular and cellular consequences of genetic risk, and to provide a foundation for the development of treatments for select genetically defined forms of the condition.

Emergency Award: RADx-UP - Social, Ethical, and Behavioral Implications Research on Disparities in COVID-19 Testing among Underserved and Vulnerable Populations (U01 Clinical Trials Optional) – Due July 7

This Phase II RADx-UP FOA is designed to expand research to understand and address the social, ethical, and behavioral implications of COVID-19 testing interventions among underserved and vulnerable populations.

Emergency Awards: Community-engaged COVID-19 Testing Interventions among Underserved and Vulnerable Populations RADx-UP Phase II (U01 Clinical Trial Optional) – Due July 8

This FOA uses an emergency U01 mechanism to support Phase II of RADx-UP initiative. These two-year Testing Research Projects will (1) expand the scope and reach of RADx-UP testing interventions to reduce COVID-19 disparities among underserved and vulnerable populations and (2) address scientific questions on interventions to increase access and uptake of COVID-19 testing given the increasing availability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

* CTSA Translational Research Fellowship Opportunities – Due July 15

NCATS and the CTSA One Health Alliance are supporting 2-year research fellowships to engage veterinary clinical specialists in inter-disciplinary research teams. Residency-trained veterinary specialists in comparative cardiology, oncology, neurology, internal medicine, ophthalmology, nutrition, critical care, dermatology, and other disciplines have expertise in naturally occurring animal models of human disease are eligible to apply.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards – Due August 1

The Foundation welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences and aligned disciplines that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression.

Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (P30 Clinical Trial Optional) – Internal Due August 2

This FOA invites applications from institutions/organizations that propose to establish core centers that are part of an integrated and existing program of nutrition and/or obesity research. The Nutrition Obesity Research Centers program is designed to support and enhance the national research effort in nutrition and obesity.

Education

Free Online Trainings for Clinical Research Professionals

Georgia CTSA and the University of Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI) have created a new Online Course Catalog with free course and program offerings available to clinical research professionals. Participants earn a certificate or badge with contact hours (continuing education – CE) from an accredited provider upon completion of a course or a program (series of courses). Contact hours can be used to meet requirements for CRP certification renewal. The newest program, “Clinical Research Career Pathways”, is now available online. Select a course/program that interests you and click on the blue “Enroll” button.

QUAL-WORKS Qualitative Research Workshops

QUAL-WORKS offers a series of training workshops online on qualitative research. Three types of workshops will be offered: scheduled workshops, individual mentored sessions, and customized workshops.

Data Analytics, Synthetic Bio, Robotics, & Nursing Workshops

The Pediatric Technology Center offers workshops in the areas of: Data Analytics, Synthetic Bio, Robotics, & Nursing. The goal is to promote collaborations between Georgia Tech scientists and engineers and Children’s clinicians in the solving of problems that impact the healthcare of children.

Research Resources

N3C - COVID-19 Analytics Platform

Researchers studying COVID-19 are able to access an innovative analytics platform that contains clinical data from the electronic health records of people who were tested for the novel coronavirus or who have had related symptoms. Part of the NCATS National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Data Enclave, the centralized and secure data platform features powerful analytics capabilities for online discovery, visualization and collaboration.

Call for Mentors

Are you a mid- to senior-level faculty member with a strong research track record and looking to enhance your mentoring and communications skills? The Georgia CTSA TEAMS (Translational Education and Mentoring for Science) Program is seeking learning community mentors, one-on-one mentors and content experts to participate in the 2021-2022 academic year program

Call for Mentees

Are you a junior level faculty member, post-doc or clinical fellow? Fellows participating in the TEAMS (Translational Education and Mentoring in Science) Program will have the opportunity to meet colleagues from other Georgia CTSA institutions, improve communication skills, understand strengths and areas for development through self-assessment, hone grant writing skills, obtain 1:1 and group mentoring, and develop an individual development plan.

Georgia CTSA COVID-19 Biorepository

The Georgia CTSA Clinical Research Center at Emory has established a COVID-19 Biorepository that includes residual nasopharyngeal (NP) swab samples from over 1,700 patients known to be COVID-19 positive and negative. Our goal is to provide de-identified samples to investigators validating or developing diagnostics and therapeutics in an effort to improve the understanding of the effects, response, and mechanism of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants.

Georgia CTSA Ethical Dilemma of the Week

Participant Recruitment: We're Not Recruiting Enough Participants! (PDF)

Innovation & Translation

Understanding Medical Device and Diagnostic Development Processes and Contemporary Realities: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 – June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23

Join Harvard Catalyst for a webinar series on medical device and diagnostic innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic via Zoom from 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM. Each session will include brief talks by innovators, followed by facilitated discussion and time for questions from the audience. Registration will close weekly at 12:00 PM on the Monday before each session.

PTC Pediatric Endowment Seed Grants - App Development – Due July 16

The purpose is to support the development of smartphone apps and related software for implementation in the clinic or at home with the patient with preference given to those that use a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to achieving health equity with underserved populations - racial, ethnic, and rural equity across the state of Georgia. Grant awardees will work with the Georgia CTSA Innovation Catalyst’s AppHatchery program to tackle a clinical problem using a patient centered design and development process.

Community

Participants Needed for COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Studies

All races and ethnicities are needed to participate in COVID-19 trials. Please spread the word to help recruit minorities, especially for vaccine trials.

Events

CCIV Seminar – June 2

Join us via Zoom at 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM to learn more about “HIV Cure Approaches in Nonhuman Primates” with Assistant Professor Maud Mavigner, PhD.

CNH-NIAID Virtual Symposium – June 3 and June 4

The 4th Annual Symposium will be held as a virtual event that highlights current research on COVID-19 and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, and the intersectionality of COVID-19, allergy, and immunology on the pediatric population. Keynote speaker pediatric neurologist and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam will talk on the COVID-19 pandemic and strategies to reintroduce children into schools and sports.

CIAG Seminar – June 4

Join us via Zoom at 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM to learn more about “When Precision Medicine Meets the Real World at Scale” with Associate Professor Joel Dudley, PhD.

Southeastern Pediatric Research Conference – June 11

Please join us for the 10th anniversary of our annual event to highlight the scope of pediatric research being conducted across the southeast and specifically at Emory, Children’s, Georgia Tech, and MSM. Get ready for an exciting day of presentations, poster sessions, networking and knowledge-sharing, plus a special 10th anniversary reception! Learn more and register .