As has been announced previously, the Keck School of Medicine of USC is a co-organizer for the upcoming World Stem Cell Summit, to be held Oct. 3–5 at the Pasadena Convention Center. Keck School Dean Carmen Puliafito will provide introductory remarks at the opening of the Summit. The number of USC speakers continues to increase and now includes faculty members Paula Cannon, Tracy Grikscheit, Mark Humayun, Wange Lu, Brent Polk Henry Sucov, and David Warburton.  Martin Pera, founding director of the Eli & Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research at USC and Karen Kerr, the new business development officer at USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, will also be presenting. 

Discounts on registration are available for anyone associated with USC. These rates are only available to USC faculty, staff, students and postdocs. The following codes are entered on the 2nd page of the registration process at www.worldstemcellsummit.com.

1wsUSCcs1N
USC Non-Profit / Faculty / Staff Rate
$695.00
1wsUSCcs1S
USC Student / Postdoc Rate
$395.00

Please contact Gigi Petrovich in Keck Research Advancement, Caitlin Beck at CHLA, or Contact Alan Fernandez at the Genetics Policy Institute

The 2011 Massry Prize Laureates’ Lectures will be held on Thursday, October 13th from 12 noon until 1:30 pm in the Aresty Auditorium of the Harlyne J. Norris Research Tower, LG. This year’s recipients, F. Ulrich Hartl, MD, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and Arthur Horwich, MD, Yale University, will be presenting their seminars entitled, “Chaperone-Assisted Protein Folding in Health and Disease” and  “Chaperonin-Mediated Protein Folding”.  A reception with a light lunch will be held in the atrium of the Auditorium at 11:30 am. Click here to view the live webcast. Click here to reserve your space online, Code: Massry2011. Click here for further information.

The list includes new grants, competitive renewals, transferred grants to KSOM, supplements, and non-competing continuations. The data for this list was obtained via the USC SCera portal and the Contracts and Grants database.  Congratulations to all the principal investigators on their awards! Click here to view the awards.

Photograph by Andrea Robles

Valerie Askanas, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology and Pathology from Keck School of Medicine of USC presented a seminar entitled, “Inclusion – Body Myositis: Newest Molecular Pathogenic Findings, and Cellular Similarities to the Alzheimer Brain” as part of the KSOM Research Seminar Series. Dr. Askanas' main research interest focuses on inclusion-body myositis, which is the most common muscle disease of geriatric patients. Dr. Askanas and her team have shown that the molecular pathology of inclusion-body myositis muscle has several important similarities to Alzheimer disease brain. The long-term goal of Dr. Askanas research is to develop treatment for this highly disabling muscle disease. For her research she has received a MERIT Grant Award from the National Institute of Aging and support from the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Click Here to view the archived webcast.

The call for nominations for this year’s Associates Awards in Creativity in Research has been released.  The USC Associates Awards are the highest honors the university faculty can bestow on its members based on their distinguished career of creativity, research and scholarship.  Nominations in all fields and disciplines, including areas of artistic expression, are invited.  Two awards of $7,500 are presented each year at the Academic Honors Convocation in April. 

The Center for Excellence in Teaching invites every department across the University to
nominate one teaching assistant or assistant lecturer for USC’s highest teaching award
presented to graduate students. The University Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
emphasizes the critical role of teaching in USC’s mission. Three awards will be presented
at the 2012 Academic Honors Convocation to graduate students who have exhibited
exceptional excellence in their classroom or laboratory instruction and other guidance of undergraduate students. Each award carries a $1,000 prize.  For further information, click here. Nomination deadline is Oct 14th.

The Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching is the highest honor the University Faculty bestows on its members for outstanding teaching. Up to two awards of $7,500 are presented each year at the Academic Honors Convocation (in April) to emphasize the University's recognition of the significant role that teaching plays in its mission.

The award recognizes the career achievements of outstanding full-time tenure track and full-time non-tenure track faculty with a proven track record as exceptional teachers with a positive, inspiring, and long-lasting effect on students and their learning, along with extraordinary, unique, or pioneering contributions to excellence in teaching. It is not intended as a "Teacher of the Year" award. Nominees should thus have spent a significant period of time at the University of Southern California.  For further information visit their website. Nominations due Nov 1.

The NIH Bench-to-Bedside Program is soliciting proposals for the next funding cycle.
 
Once again, CTSAs, AIAMC (Alliance for Independent Academic Medical Centers) and NIH investigators will be able to initiate applications jointly for Bench-to-Bedside research projects. Up to $135K per year for two years is available to support these intramural/extramural partnerships in clinical research. As in prior years, intramural investigators in all Institutes/Centers are eligible to serve as project leaders on proposals.
 
Extramural principal investigators (PIs) with an existing NIH grant are invited to initiate proposals in one of two ways:

• Extramural investigators may seek an intramural partner at NIH who would function as the project leader and serve as the point of contact. To identify an intramural collaborator, extramural investigators can consult the NIH’s intramural research database. Extramural investigators also may contact the Bench-to-Bedside Program Office for assistance in identifying an intramural partner.
• Extramural investigators may initiate proposals and serve as project leaders. In this role, extramural principal investigators will develop letters of intent and, if approved, may develop full proposals. In this scenario, extramural investigators are required to identify an intramural collaborator on the project. On behalf of the lead extramural PI, the intramural investigator will be responsible for submitting both the letter of intent and full proposal electronically using proposalCentral.

For the 2012 awards, a letter of intent must be submitted by September 28, 2011.
 
The NIH Bench-to-Bedside program was originally established in 1999 to integrate the work of basic and clinical intramural scientists. Since 2006, it has been open to partnerships between intramural and extramural programs.
 For additional information, visit the Bench-to-Bedside Program website or contact BenchtoBedside@mail.nih.gov.

The Pioneer Program seeks to fund individual investigators who propose creative and transformative approaches to addressing challenges in the fields of biomedical and behavioral research.  Applications are due October 7, 2011.

The California HIV/AIDS Research Program at the University of California is pleased to announce the release of our 2011 Call for Applications in two targeted research areas:

Epidemic Interventions Demonstration Project Research Awards: 
Grants from this Call for Applications will support the testing and evaluation of innovative approaches toward the combined implementation of two interventions (PrEP and TLC+) intended to improve health outcomes and curb the HIV epidemic in California.  Awards are for up to $1.2 million per year in direct costs for up to four years.
Webinar: Sep 27
LOI: Oct 11

Collaborative HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center Awards:
Grants from this Call for Applications will support multi-disciplinary teams of investigators working in partnership with providers, consumers, advocates, and policymakers to conduct policy-relevant research.  Awards are for up to $500,000 per year in direct costs for up to four years.
Webinar: Sep 27
LOI: Oct 11

The New Innovator Award seeks to fund a small number of early-stage investigators who propose bold and highly-innovative research with the potential for unusually high impact.  The New Innovator Award seeks to address two goals: stimulating highly-innovative research and supporting promising new investigators. Applications are due October 14, 2011.

Similar to the Pioneer Award, the New Innovator Award is a High-Risk Research Initiative of the NIH Common Fund, which supports exceptionally innovative programs that are inherently high-risk but have the potential for high-payoff by catalyzing research across all of NIH’s institutes and centers (ICs).  The NIH Director's New Innovator Award program is different from traditional NIH grants in several ways. It is designed specifically to support unusually creative new investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of their career when they may lack the preliminary data required for an R01 grant. The emphasis is on innovation and creativity; preliminary data are not required, but may be included. The procedure for evaluating applicants' qualifications is distinct from the traditional NIH peer review “study section” process and will emphasize the individual’s creativity, the innovativeness of the research approaches, and the potential of the project, if successful, to have a significant impact on an important biomedical or behavioral research problem.  Click here for more information about the New Innovator Award.

The A.P. Giannini Foundation provides fellowships to postdocs who have completed no more than 3 years of postdoctoral research experience and are US citizens or permanent alien residents and hold or will complete a PhD, MD or equivalent degree before they activate the fellowship. If you are interested in this funding opportunity, kindly contact Gigi Petrovich in the KSOM Office of Research Advancement. Note: all applications will be forwarded to the Foundation through our office.  Please submit your applications to Gigi Petrovich by the internal deadline of November 1, 2011. Interested applicants should work closely with their mentors in preparing their applications. Questions can be directed to Gigi Petrovich or to Dr. Cheryl Craft, director, Postdoctoral Scholars Program. For COMPLETE APPLICATION INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES, click here.

A new Medical Research Scholars Program for medical and dental students will begin in September 2012 at the National Institutes of Health. The program will offer research experiences with intramural investigators from across NIH in basic science laboratories, and in clinical and translational research conducted at the NIH Clinical Center. According to NIH, the Program "builds upon the long history that the NIH intramural program has had in preparing clinician-scientists for leadership roles in biomedical research and incorporates the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-NIH Research Scholars Program and the NIH Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP)." NIH also said, "Program applications will be accepted Oct. 1, 2011 through mid-January 2012. About 40 students are expected to be admitted during the program's first year. The goal is to accept up to 70 students as the program grows."  For more information, click here.

In order to encourage more medical students to pursue academic and research careers, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) offers several "year-out" and summer research training programs for students enrolled in schools in the U.S. Women and under-represented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Students enrolled in MD/PhD programs are not eligible to apply.  HHMI Medical Research Fellows Program enables medical, dental, and veterinary students at schools in the U.S. to spend a year conducting basic, translational, or applied biomedical research at any school or nonprofit research institution in the United States, except at the NIH. The Medical Research Fellows Program at Janelia Farm offers students with an interest in neuronal networking and/or imaging at the cellular and molecular level an intense year-long research training experience, living and working at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus. The HHMI Summer Medical Fellows Program will support up to 20 students working in HHMI laboratories (with HHMI investigators or at the Janelia Farm Research Campus), for a minimum of 8 consecutive weeks (10 weeks preferred). Students must be in good standing at a medical, dental, or veterinary school located in the U.S. Those who are enrolled in a combined professional degree/Ph.D. program or who have already received a one-year award from any year-out research training program are not eligible to apply. The program is primarily aimed at those students who wish to explore the summer research experience with the intent of applying for the year-long program. For further information, including application deadlines and stipend information, click here or e-mail medfellows@hhmi.org.

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation is currently accepting applications from medical students and residents/fellows for its Seed Grant Research Program (MD-PhD students are eligible to apply).  Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded for basic science or clinical research projects in four categories: cardiovascular/pulmonary diseases, HIV/AIDS, pancreatic cancer, and neoplastic diseases.  Applications are due December 5, 2011.  For more information, click here.

The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience supports innovative research designed to bring science closer to the day when diseases of the brain can be accurately diagnosed, prevented, and treated. These awards were established to encourage emerging neuroscientists to focus on disorders of learning and memory. Applicants for the McKnight Scholar Awards must demonstrate interest in solving important problems in relevant areas of neuroscience, including the translation of basic research to clinical neuroscience. Awards are given to exceptional young scientists who hold the M.D. and/or Ph.D. degree and who are in the early stages of establishing an independent laboratory and research career. Traditionally, successful candidates have held faculty positions for at least one year. Up to 6 McKnight Scholars each will receive three years of support, beginning July 1, 2012. For application forms and guidelines, please visit our website or email The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. Completed applications must arrive no later than January 3, 2012. Click here for complete details.

These awards support researchers in early stages of their careers engaged in basic or clinical research that may lead to a better understanding of neurological and psychiatric disorders.  Candidates must hold a PhD and/or MD and have completed all post-doctoral training, be permanent residents of the US and it is expected that their research will be carried out in a US institution.  Candidates should be independent investigators holding a tenure track academic rank, but not yet holding tenure.  For complete eligibility requirements and award guidelines visit their website. Applications due January 10, 2012.

Medical Faculty Women's Association (MFWA) Research Fund is accepting proposals for Seed Money for Pilot Projects  Emergency Interim Funding to Continue Ongoing Projects. Applications require a research plan of no more than 3 pages. Applications are due October 1, 2011.  All proposals must be submitted by email to Dr. Florence M. Hofman.  Funding of $10,000 for one year will be based on scientific merit and need. For further information and proposal guidelines contact Dr. Florence M. Hofman.

USC Stevens Institute for Innovation is offering a new internal funding opportunity. The USC - Johnson & Johnson Translational Innovation Partnership Program seeks to further groundbreaking research in a wide range of therapeutic areas and will showcase emerging technologies or innovations with high potential for impact in life sciences. It is a matching fund program designed to improve the development speed and relevance to industry of early stage USC technologies that hold the greatest potential to benefit patients and the healthcare system. The funded work may also contribute to additional discoveries or data that may strengthen patent coverage.  

The program is open to full-time faculty at USC. Project teams can include USC faculty, student researchers and staff members.  The application deadline is October 20, 2011. Guidelines and application are now available online. Annette Kleiser is managing the program for USC Stevens. Please feel free to call Annette or Rick Friedman with any questions.  

Visiting Professor Dr. Axel Imhof, Histone Modifications Group, Scientific Coordinator ZfP (Zentrallabor für Proteinanalytik), Adolf-Butenandt Institute from the University of Munich, Germany will presenting a lecture entitled, “Incompatible Chromatin-What Makes the Difference?” This seminar will be held in conjunction with the KSOM Research Seminar Series on Monday, September 26th at 12pm in the Aresty Auditorium, Norris Research Towers, NRT LG. A light lunch will be served at 11:45am in the Atruim of the Auditorium. Dr. Judd Rice will be presenting the introduction. Click Here to watch the live webcast! For further information feel free to contact Andrea Robles.

The Ming Hsieh Institute for Engineering Medicine for Cancer symposium will be held September 29th, in the Aresty Auditorium within the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Harlyne J.Norris Research Tower on the Health Science Campus. The symposium will address opportunities for translation research in nanomedicine, and include both industry and academic participants. President Nikias will deliver the welcoming address at the symposium. For the agenda please go to:  https://research.usc.edu/ming-hsieh-institute-events/. To RSVP, go to:  www.usc.edu/esvp - ESVP Code:  Hsieh

Deborah L. Johnson, Ph.D. ,Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Associate Dean for Ph.D. Graduate Programs at Keck School of Medicine of USC, will be presenting a seminar entitled, “Maf1: A New Molecular Link Between Metabolism and Cancer.” This seminar is presented by the Research Center for Liver Diseases and will be held on Thursday, September 29th from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm in the Hastings Auditorium of the Hoffman Medical Research Building, HSC. Lunch will be served. For more information, please call (323) 442-1283.

Sverre Vedal, MD, MSc , Professor Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences  from the University of Washington, will be presenting a Seminar entitled, “Particulate matter health effects: Does chemical composition matter?” This seminar will be held in the Soto Building, 2001 N. Soto Street Los Angeles, CA 90089 - SSB 116 on Friday, October 7th at 11:40 am. For further information, please call (323) 442- 1096.

Lee Niswander, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor from the University of Colorado, will present, “Exploring Neural Tube Closure via Genes, Environment and Imaging.” as part of the KSOM Research Seminar Series. This seminar will be held on Monday, Octoberber 10th at 12pm in the Aresty Auditorium, Norris Research Towers, NRT LG. A light lunch will be served at 11:45am in the Atruim of the Auditorium. Dr. Gage Crump will be hosting her visit and presenting the introduction. For further information feel free to contact Andrea Robles.

“Thirty Years of HIV/AIDS – an L.A. Perspective” is one-day symposium sponsored by Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, Keck School of Medicine of USC; Office of the Provost, University of Southern California; and the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Department and Institute for Emerging Pathogens and Immune Diseases will present this event to commemorate when the AIDS virus was first described in Los Angeles, and will showcase how far we have come. The speakers will include USC professors from different departments and clinics, highlighting USC’s diverse HIV/AIDS programs, and guests from other institutions across the city and beyond. Click here for further information.

The UC San Diego Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI) and Nature Medicine would like to invite you to attend the 6th Annual Frontiers of Clinical Investigation Symposium on October 13-15, 2011. The theme for the meeting will be "Vascular Disease 2011" which will explore innovative approaches to bridge laboratory investigation and clinical research in disorders affecting the vasculature, including cancer, inflammatory disease and cardiovascular disease.

Multi-disciplinary sessions will include basic, translational, and clinical presentations on cutting edge research to provide an integrated approach to understanding the pathogenesis and treatment of vascular disease, as well as novel clinical trial designs and imaging modalities for development of new therapeutic agents. This symposium will provide unique insights and tools for optimizing and streamlining clinical investigation from discovery to drug approval.  For further information and registration visit their website at http://cme.ucsd.edu/b2b2011/

Piotr Grodzinski, Director of the National Cancer Institute for Nanotechnology in Cancer and the National Cancer Institute will present a seminar on the advances in nanotechnology in cancer on Tuesday, October 18th from 1:30pm to 2:30pm in Aresty Auditorium. Click here for complete details on the seminar.

We are pleased to welcome Andrew Bindman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Health Policy, Epidemology & Biostatistics, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, from the University of California San Francisco to present a Seminar in conjunction with the Dean’s Translational Medicine Seminar Series. Dr. Bindman’s work focuses on access to primary medical care, health outcomes associated with barriers to primary care, evaluating the impact of health policies on low-income patients’ access to and quality of care, and the evolving role of primary care physicians and safety net providers in US health care system. This Seminar will be hosted by Dr. Michael Cousineau, Associate Professor of Research Division of Community Health Family Medicine, and will be held on October 26th in the Aresty Auditorium.

The 2011 Mobile Health (mHealth) Winter Institute will be held December 5-9, 2011 in Washington DC.  The Institute’s application deadline is August 26. Click here for further details.

The purpose of the Institute is to bring together leaders in mobile technology, behavior sciences, and clinical research to lead a cross-training event for early career investigators with an interest in mHealth.  Applicants should be early career investigators who have not yet received R01 funding and have received a doctoral level degree (PhD, ScD, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.) within the last five years in any of the following: Social and Behavioral sciences, Medical Health and Dental sciences, Biological, Physical or Earth sciences, Computational sciences and Mathematics, Engineering. 

The Center for Excellence in Research Workshops provide training and forums for dialogue on research topics spanning all academic disciplines, covering proposal development, book preparation, funding strategies and academic scholarship. Inquires  and registration can be directed to the Office of Research at 213-740-6709 or usccer@usc.edu. RSVP is required. Click here for full fall schedule with speakers and workshop titles.

Wednesday September 28th  - DoD/DoE/NASA Young Investigators Proposal Workshop – James Murday – 4 pm – 6 pm

Thursday September 29th – Ming Hsieh Institute Symposium –  Office of Research - 9 am  - 4 pm

• 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.

Monday September 26th
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – KSOM Research Seminar Series – Axel Imhof, PhD, Professor of Molecular Biology and Chromatin Modifications Ludwig from the University of Munich, Germany will present a lecture entitled, “Incompatible Chromatin-What Makes the Difference?”  This seminar will be held in the Aresty Auditorium, Norris Research Towers, NRT LG. A light lunch will be served at 11:45 am in the Atruim of the Auditorium. Dr. Judd Rice will be hosting. Click here to view the live webcast! For further information feel free to contact Andrea Robles.

Tuesday September 27th
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Norris Cancer Center Grand Rounds - Joe W. Gray, PhD, Director for the Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine, Associate Director for Translational Research for the Knight Cancer Institute of OHSU, will present, “A Systems Approach to Breast Cancer Management - Omics and Beyond.” Peter Laird, PhD, Associate Professor for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Surgery from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, will present, “The Cancer Epigenome: From Cancer Origins to Clinical Applications.” Dinner will be served. Please RSVP (CODE: GRAY). This event is hosted by Dr. Debu Tripathy & Dr. Michael Press. For more information contact Gracie Mercado.

Thursday September 29th
2:00 pm – Computational Biology Colloquium - Yi Xing, Department of Internal Medicine & Department of Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa will be presenting, “RNA Regulatory Networks in Health and Disease”. This seminar will be held in the Ray R. Irani Hall for Molecular and Computational Biology, RRI 101. Jasmine Zhou will host.

Friday September 30th
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Molecular Biology Seminar Series -–  Robert Reed, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Integrative Biology from UC Irvine will be presenting, “Developmental Genetics of Butterfly Wing Pattern Evolution.” This seminar will be held in the Ray R. Irani Hall for Molecular and Computational Biology, RRI 101.

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Center for Excellence in Teaching – “Regulating Laptops in the Classroom” – A collaborative discussion on the use of laptops and other personal technology in the classroom. This event will be presented by CET Undergraduate Fellows James Green & Michelle Tomkovicz and will be held in HNB 100. Lunch will be provided. Click herefor further information.

Saturday October 1st
10:00 am – 12:00 pm – Research Training Awards: Info Session - Pre and Post-doctoral Research & Career Development -  SC CTSI Center for Education, Training, and Career Development will hold this workshop at (HSC) Norris Research Towers, NRT LG 503. Click Here to RSVP. For more information please contact Amy Zhu.

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