Orthopaedic Research Fellowships for Medical Students
The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) sponsors summer research fellowships for medical students who want to gain experience in basic, clinical or translational research in rthopaedics. Medical student need to identify an investigator with an ongoing orthopaedic research project who is willing to accept the student as a research assistant and act as mentor. OREF provides a $2,500 stipend for the student. The application deadline for 2007 summer fellowships is February 5, 2007 (this is the due date, not the postmark date). See the OREF web page to download an application form and watch for future deadlines. [Posted 120706]

Clinical Research Fellowships for Medical Students
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation sponsors an annual clinical research fellowship program that provides research experience at ten U.S. medical schools to encourage medical students to pursue careers in clinical research. A minimum of 50 fellowships will be awarded for the 2007-2008 fellowship year, plus twelve international fellowships for students interested in conducting clinical research in Africa. Students who have completed two or more years at any U.S. medical school are eligible to apply to any of the participating medical schools. Fellowships include a $27,000 stipend; health insurance; financial support to attend research meetings; and supplementary research and training funds. The application deadline is January 17, 2007 for fellowships beginning July 1, 2007. See the foundation web page for application details and future deadlines. [Posted 120606]

Boonshoft Innovation Fund
The Strategic Resource Committee meets Dec. 8 to review proposals for the Boonshoft Innovation Fund. For consideration in this review, letters of intent should be submitted prior to the meeting to committee chair Timothy Cope, Ph.D. (Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, and Physiology,228 Biological Sciences; timothy.cope@wright.edu). Funding levels are expected to range from $200,000-$600,000 over a two-year period, although there is no limit to the amount of funds requested in a well-justified plan. Follow the link for more details about the proposal process. [Posted 112006]

NIH Seeks Comments on R01 Application Change
The NIH is considering reducing the current 25 page limit for the Research Plan section of the research project grant (R01) application. A significant number of applicants and reviewers have suggested that NIH peer review could be improved by focusing less on experimental details and more on key ideas and the scientific significance of proposed projects. A committee has been formed at NIH to gather additional information from the external community and explore possible options. NIH seeks input from grant applicants as well as study section reviewers. See NIH NOT-OD-07-014 for details. Responses will be accepted through January 5, 2007. [Posted 111706]

AMA Foundation 2007 Seed Grant Program
The AMA Foundation sponsors a seed grant research program to encourage medical students, residents and physician fellows to enter the research field. The program provides grants to help them conduct small basic science, applied, or clinical research projects. These funds are intended to round out new project budgets rather than sustain current initiatives. In 2007, the Foundation will award $2,500 grants in the following research categories: cardiovascular/pulmonary diseases; HIV/AIDS; leukemia; neoplastic diseases; and secondhand smoke. The application deadline for the 2007 program is December 1, 2006; awards will be announced in March 2007. See the AMA Foundation web page to download an application form. [Posted 110106]

AHA Predoctoral Fellowships
The American Heart Association Ohio Valley Affiliate funds predoctoral fellowships for post-baccalaureate, predoctoral students who are working toward a Ph.D. or M.D. degree and are seeking research training and experience under the supervision of a sponsor/mentor prior to embarking on a postgraduate research career. Medical students who wish to take time from their clinical training to obtain research training may apply. Funding is $18,000/year for up to 2 years. Follow this link for program information, forms and instructions. The application deadline is January 10, 2007 for award activation on July 1, 2007. [Posted 110106]

New Guidelines for the 2007 Seed Grant Program
The Boonshoft School of Medicine awards seed grants to fully-affiliated faculty who are directly employed by Wright State University for promising new projects in basic biomedical, clinical, and medical education research. Seed grants provide funding up to $10,000. New guidelines have been established for the 2007 Seed Grant Program which apply uniform evaluation criteria to all three proposal categories. Priority will be given to the criterion that all proposals demonstrate potential for future funding (in the past, clinical and medical education proposals did not have to meet this requirement). The guidelines web page has been redesigned to improve readability and navigation. Links and instructions for NIH forms used in the seed grant proposal have been updated according to PHS 398 revisions made in April 2006. The application deadline is Monday, December 11, 2006. Funding selection will be made by March 31, 2007. [Posted 101706]

NIH Changes Grant Application Deadlines for 2007
The National Institutes of Health issued a notice (NOT-OD-07-001) on Oct. 6 changing the grant application deadlines for many NIH grant mechanisms, including the R01, R21, and others. The new receipt dates will be effective as of January 2007 and will apply to both paper and electronic applications. NIH is changing the application schedule to facilitate the conversion to its electronic submission process. See the complete list of grant application schedule changes.

Supporting Faculty Mentors for Medical Student Research
The Boonshoft School of Medicine can provide limited financial support to faculty who serve as research mentors for WSU medical students. Students must have approval of the Office of Student Affairs before undertaking mentored research projects. Funds may be used to buy project supplies and support student travel to present research results at scientific conferences. Funds may not be used for salaries or medical student stipends. See the Policy for Support of Faculty Mentors for Medical Student Research for application details. Faculty who are interested in working with medical students in their research programs should contact Mark Willis (775-3814; mark.willis@wright.edu). [Posted 092606]

Boonshoft Innovation Fund
Thanks to philanthropist Oscar Boonshoft's $28.5 million gift to the School of Medicine, new resources are available to support faculty innovation in medical education, patient care and research. The Dean's Office has established the Boonshoft Innovation Fund to encourage and review proposals by fully-affiliated faculty. Proposals are intended to generate innovative and collaborative programs/projects, and are left open to the applicants' imagination and creativity. Two useful guidelines are that the projects should be in line with the Boonshoft School of Medicine's Strategic Plan and must become financially self-sustaining. The Boonshoft Innovation Fund is intended to support collaborative groups, rather than single individuals, and comprehensive projects, as opposed to research projects by individual investigators, e.g. it is not intended for the sort of projects supported by Research Challenge Funds. There is no limit to the amount of funds requested in a well-justified plan, although funding levels are expected to range from $200,000-$600,000 over a two-year period. Follow the link for more details about the proposal process.

Eminent Scientist Series - May 19
Guido Zampighi, Ph.D., D.D.S., will present "The Structure of Chemical Synapses as Determined by Conical Electron Tomography" on Friday, May 19, at 2:00 p.m. in room 495 Millett Hall. Dr. Zampighi is professor of neurobiology at the UCLA School of Medicine. The seminar is sponsored by the Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Physiology and the Cell Biophysics Group.

NIH Electronic Submission Begins
Faculty investigators preparing for NIH's conversion to electronic grants submission will find a good overview of the process in this "Grant Doctor" column on the ScienceCareers.org website. The Grant Doctor writes: "Converting to the new process is not rocket science, but it's not trivial either. It requires some effort from you and your institution, so you need to be prepared. If the process seems more complex than it ought to be, it's because NIH isn't merely switching to electronic application forms; they have a legal mandate to switch to a government-wide standardized electronic-submission procedure. The process of submitting electronically is iterative and takes time, so get started early."

Biomarker/Biomonitor Conference - March 28
The Tri service Biomarker/Biomonitor Conference will be held March 28-29, 2006 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Fairborn. This two day conference will encompass DOD biomarker discovery, detection/development procedures, and the present and future projected state of biomonitoring devices and programs. Investigators currently working on the development of new devices in joint efforts with the US government are invited to present their general capabilities for delivering real-time field-forward testing methods. The conference also is identified as "Applied Biomarker Research for Selection and Development of Robust Field Forward CBW Exposure and Treatment Biomonitoring Devices" in federal listings.

Research Challenge Collaborative Grants
Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) requests proposals for the next competition in the Research Challenge program funded by the Ohio Board of Regents. The Major Collaboration and Infrastructure Grant Program is intended to provide funding to encourage the formation of collaborative research teams and the development of proposals for major external grants and contracts. Only collaborative partnerships of three or more fully affiliated faculty (preferably from two or more departments or units) will be eligible to apply for this competition. Applications are due in the RSP Office by April 7, 2006.

2006 Central Research Forum The Offtice of Research Affairs hosted the 2006 Central Research Forum on Thursday, February 9, in the Wright State Student Union. This year's CRF brought together investigators from the Boonshoft School of Medicine, the College of Science and Mathematics, and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. "The talks were truly exciting and stimulating and filled with magnificent data," says Robert E.W. Fyffe, Ph.D., associate dean for research affairs. "The prospects for developing these projects and for cross-fertilization of the areas represented bodes well for the research enterprise at Wright State."

Last updated 01/02/07 (mw). For more information, contact Research Affairs.