The Keck School of Medicine of USC is pleased to again offer INTD 500:  Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR).  This one-week course satisfies NIH RCR training requirements and is open to all staff, postdoctoral fellows, masters and graduate students conducting research.  All PIBBS graduate students must complete and pass INTD 500 prior to advancing to candidacy.  Postdoctoral fellows and masters students auditing the course will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course. Click Here for full course information. To sign-up to audit the course, send an email to ResAdv@keck.usc.edu (postdoc and MS students only).

The USC Vice President of Research has announced the initial solicitation for the Ming Hsieh Institute for Research on Engineering-Medicine for Cancer.  This is an internal funding opportunity for faculty members who have an interest in translational research in nanomedicine.  Proposals are due on June 10. Please click here to view the full solicitation.

The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation is encouraging USC translational research teams to apply for the 2011 Ideas Empowered Program. The Ideas Empowered Program supports groundbreaking projects emerging from USC research that, with the right amount of funding, support, and guidance, could “spin out” of the university within a year or two. The program bridges the gap between ideas and the marketplace by supporting both the idea and the innovator through mentoring, connections to resources, and grants for validation of technical feasibility through proof-of-concept experiments and prototype development. In 2010, the Ideas Empowered Program awarded $459,000 in gap funding to seven USC research teams working on promising technologies.  To learn more about the program or to apply please visit the Ideas Empowered website.

The Margaret E. Early Medical Research Trust was established to assist charitable organizations with substantial research facilities in the Los Angeles area conducting research into the causes, treatment and potential cures of cancer and related diseases. Grant proposals whose budgets, including overhead (20%), that do not exceed $75,000 will be considered.

Because the trust strictly limits the number of applications to ten (10) submitted by any one institution in the annual review cycle, all applications (including renewal applications if you are a current grant recipient) must be submitted for review by a faculty committee appointed by the director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. This committee will select the proposals to be forwarded to the Margaret E. Early Medical Research Trust.

Please submit your biosketch and a one-page Letter of Intent (LOI) which should be a brief description of the research to be conducted no later than Friday, May 27, 2011 to Gracie Mercado at gracielm@usc.edu.  You will be notified if you have been selected for submission no later than Friday, June 17, 2011. At that time, you will be asked to submit a full proposal, completed signed PAR along with seven (7) copies of your proposal together with a CD Rom Disc.

NASA has announced its Informal Education Program: Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums Plus Other Informal Education Institutions.   This competition is institutionally limited; USC has one slot.  KSOM can provide one team.  If you are interested in applying, please send 1-page summary plus CVs to Gigi Petrovich at gpetrov@usc.edu no later than April 18.  "The NASA Office of Education solicits proposals to support NASA-inspired space, science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (S-STEM) informal education projects, including exhibits and partnerships with K-12 schools to support inquiry-based education. Individual total award sizes will range approximately between $100,000 and $1,250,000, with a period of performance not to exceed five years." Click here for further details. NASA application deadline is June 29.

The Lupus Research Institute (LRI) – founded to support highly promising, idea-driven, novel approaches to discover the cause, improve treatment, and cure lupus – invites applications for financial support for Novel Research Projects relevant to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Applications will be judged principally on novelty of the hypotheses, scientific quality, strength of approach, relevance to lupus, and likelihood of success.  Annual funding of up to $100,000 per year, for a term of up to three years, will be awarded for approved projects. Applications due by May 27, 2011.  For complete grant and application details click here.

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Announces the 2011 Innovations in Clinical Research Award Competition Targeted Disease Area: Sickle Cell Disease which provides funding for early-stage research projects in clinical investigation as part of the Medical Research Program’s strategy to foster innovations in clinical research that advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. Letters of Intent for clinical research that has the potential to catalyze innovative breakthroughs in the treatment of sickle cell disease are due June 8, 2011.  Complete competition details, including eligibility requirements and instructions are available at: www.ddcf.org/mrp-icra. Proposals Due: August 3, 2011.

The Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) Defense Appropriations Act provides $150 M to the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) to eradicate breast cancer by funding innovative, high-impact research through a partnership of scientists and consumers. A summary of BCRP funding opportunities is provided here.  LOIs are due on Jun 7.

The DOD issued a pre-announcement for its Autism Research Program  last week to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications if funds become available.  Final program announcements and application instructions package will be made available on the Grants.gov website in the May/June timeframe.

• Extramural Nexus (NIH Office of Extramural Research)
• National Postdoctoral Association POSTDOCket
• Academic Medicine Online
• Science Translational Medicine
• Science Magazine
  
  

• Weekly NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
• Weekly Foundation RFP Bulletin
  

To download an event to your Outlook calendar, please click the relevant hyperlink and at the bottom of the new page choose 'export entry to V-calendar'.

For a comprehensive calendar displaying all research activities currently scheduled, please visit the online Calendar of Events.

Mon May 23rd
12:00am - 1:00pm – KSOM Research Seminar Series – Robert Maxson, PhD, Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, will be presenting a seminar entitled, “From Transcription to Morphogenesis: Foxc1, Msx2 and the Patterned Growth of the Embryonic Skull.” This Seminar will be held in the Aresty Auditorium of the Norris Research Towers, LG. A light lunch will be served in the atrium of the auditorium at 11:40am.  Click Here to View the Live Webcast! For more information please contact Keck Research Advancement or call (323) 442-7732.

4:00pm – Provost Seminar – Scott A. Smaill, MD, Professor of Neurology, Caolumbia University and USC Irene McCulloch Distinguished Lecturer in Neuroscience, will present, “fMRI” in Patients and Animal Models of Disease.” This Seminar will be held in the University Park Campus, Tutor Campus Center, Room 352. Reception to follow. Click Here to RSVP. Code: Small. Click Here for more information.

Tues May 24th
9:00am - Provost Seminar – Scott A. Smaill, MD, Professor of Neurology, Caolumbia University and USC Irene McCulloch Distinguished Lecturer in Neuroscience, will present, “Zooming in on Hippocampal Dysfunction: MRI maps to Molecular Mechanisms.” This Seminar will be held in the Health Science Campus in the Zilka Neurogenetic Institute Herklotz Seminar Room 112. No RSVP is required. Click Here for more information.

To keep up-to-date on available research funding opportunities, visit these institutions and organizations:

• The National Institutes of Health
• The National Science Foundation
• The Foundation Center
• California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
• Office of Research, University of Southern California
• Keck Office of Research Advancement
• Los Angeles Basin Clinical & Translational Science Institute
• Programs in Biomedical & Biological Sciences (PIBBS)
• Links to Professional Societies Promoting Biomedical Research