Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Announcements

REMINDER: DOM Ease of Research Initiative
Deadline to provide feedback: Thursday, November 16 *Responses will be kept confidential.
The goal of the DOM Office of Research Ease of Research Initiative survey is to identify barriers investigators experience while conducting research. We will share with you our progress and plan to address the identified thematic areas where improvements will help facilitate research efforts across the department.

SOM Software Resource offerings
Did you know that SOM IT Services offers discounted rates for group software licenses? You can find the list of these discounted software offerings and so much more on the SOM IT 360 Services' SharePoint page.  

NIH to simplify review criteria
After careful input gathering, development, and discussion, NIH has announced that a simplified review framework will be implemented for grant receipt deadlines of January 25, 2025, and beyond. The five current review criteria are being reorganized into three. Reviewers will consider all three factors in determining the overall impact score, which reflects their overall assessment of the likely impact of the proposed research.

• Factor 1: Importance of the Research (Significance and Innovation), factor score 1-9
• Factor 2: Rigor and Feasibility (Approach), factor score 1-9
• Factor 3: Expertise and Resources (Investigator and Environment), either rated as sufficient for the proposed research or not (in which case reviewers must provide an explanation)

Upcoming Events

Geriatric & Gerontology Guest Lecture: Building an Interdisciplinary and Evidence-driven Long-term Care Research Program
Wednesday, November 15 | WMB, Room 1109 and Zoom
Speaker: Huiwen Xu, PhD (Assistant Professor, School of Public and Population Health, and Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch)

Emory Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) Women's Health Research Lecture Series: Forget Me Not: Sex Differences in the Clinical Expression of Alzheimer’s Disease Neuropathology
Wednesday, November 15 | noon | Register
Speaker: Dr. Erin Sundermann, Associate Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry, University of California San Diego

FAALI lecture series: Advancing Health Science Through News Media: Essential Tips for Media Interactions
Friday, November 17 | noon – 1 p.m. | Zoom

Atlanta MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS): Quarterly Atlanta MWCCS Science Seminar Series
Friday, November 17 | 1 p.m. | Virtual | Register
Guest seminar presentation features Dr. Azuka Patrick Okwuraiwe, PhD, MSc, Research Scientist, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, presenting, "Interaction Between Antiretroviral Therapy and Female Sex Hormones in Women Living with HIV in Nigeria: Implication in Menopause and Aging".

Do you have an upcoming event or educational opportunity?

Highlighted Resource

Funding & Award Opportunities

A searchable External Funding Opportunities Database has been compiled from FOAs in this weekly newsletter, including archived COVID FOAs.
Emory credentials are required to view.

Advancing Genomic Medicine Research (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)
Deadlines: Friday, December 1, 2023; July 8, 2024; February 11, 2025
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to solicit proposals that stimulate innovation and advance understanding of when, where, and how best to implement the use and sharing of genomic information and technologies in clinical care provided to all persons irrespective of racial/ethnic background or socioeconomic status.

Interventions on Health and Healthcare Disparities on Non-Communicable and Chronic Diseases in Latin America: Improving Health Outcomes Across the Hemisphere (R01 - Clinical Trial Required)
Deadlines: 30 days prior (LOI); Monday, February 5; June 5; October 5, 2024; 2025; 2026 (Full application)
The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support innovative and interdisciplinary team research focused on clinical, health services, and/or community-based interventions that address health and healthcare disparities related to non-communicable and chronic diseases (NCDs) with the highest disease burden and mortality in Latin America and among U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. 

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Development of Organotypic Culture Models for Transplantation Immunology Research
Opens: Monday, February 5, 2024; Closes: November 17, 2026
The purpose of this FOA is to encourage applications that focus on the development and validation of tissue-, stem-, or progenitor-cell-derived “3D” organotypic culture models (OCM) for transplantation immunology research.

Targeting Inflammasomes in HIV and Substance Use (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Deadlines: Tuesday, February 13, 2024 (LOI); Wednesday, March 13, 2024; 2025 (Full application)
The goal of this NOFO is to encourage research to explore mechanisms of inflammasome activation and their link to neurocognitive disorder (NCD) and immune function in people with HIV and substance use disorders (SUDs). 

Long-Acting Drug Delivery Systems for ART Optimization in Children Living with HIV-1 II (LADDS II) (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Deadlines: 30 days prior (LOI); Wednesday, March 13, 2024 (Full application)
The purpose of this NOFO is to accelerate the development of safe and effective long-acting drug delivery systems for improved, simplified treatment of HIV-1 in children.

Congratulatory Corner

Inaki Sanz (PI), Christopher Tipton, and Scott Jenks (Co-Is) (Rheumatology) received funding from Medical University of South Carolina/NIAID for a project entitled, “A phase II controlled trial of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of refractory lupus.”

Nadine Rouphael (Infectious Diseases) received funding from CDC for a project entitled, “Safety of simultaneous mRNA COVID-19 and IIV4 vaccination in pregnancy study” and “EMORY-CHOA clinical immunization safety assessment.”

Chandan Devireddy (Cardiology) received funding from Medtronic for a project entitled, “The SPYRAL AFFIRM global clinical study of renal denervation with the symplicity spyral renal denervation system in subjects with uncontrolled hypertension (SPYRAL AFFIRM).”

Have you or a colleague recently received an award or grant funding?

Recent Notable Publications

Chandan Devireddy (Cardiology)
Kandzari DE, Townsend RR, Kario K, Mahfoud F, Weber MA, Schmieder RE, et al; SPYRAL HTN-ON MED Investigators. Safety and efficacy of renal denervation in patients taking antihypertensive medications. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023 Nov 7;82(19):1809-1823. Read more

Michael Woodworth, Stephanie Pouch, Ahmed Babiker, Aneesh Mehta, Kaitlin Sitchenko, Amanda Strudwick, Cecile Philippe, Sarah Lohsen, Rachel Friedman-Moraco, David Weiss, Colleen Kraft, Christina Mehta (Infectious Diseases), Dean Jones (Pulmonary), and Thomas Ziegler (Endocrinology)
Woodworth MH, Conrad RE, Haldopoulos M, Pouch SM, Babiker A, Mehta AK, et al. Fecal microbiota transplantation promotes reduction of antimicrobial resistance by strain replacement. Sci Transl Med. 2023 Nov;15(720):eabo2750. Read more

David Holland and Sophia Hussen (Infectious Diseases)
Curtis MG, Reed M, Newman A, Doraivelu K, Patel SA, Crawford ND, Holland DP, Hussen SA. Exploring the association between indicators of socioeconomic instability, survival sex, and methamphetamine use among young adult black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men: A cross-sectional study. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2023 Nov-Dec 01;34(6):538-547. Read more

Have you or a colleague recently published an article? 

Spotlighted Researcher

Patrick McLinden
Senior Research Specialist – Pulmonary

What is your professional background?
I completed my undergrad in Microbiology at the University of Michigan at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Serendipitously, with the entire world focused on the field of pulmonary medicine and disease, I found a real calling for myself working in that very same field. Amidst early pandemic lockdowns and a relatively bleak job market, I consider myself infinitely lucky to have found myself—a mere three months later—working in the lab of Dr. Vibha N Lama.

Which division do you work in? Who is your mentor?
I work in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, and my research mentor and Principal Investigator is Dr. Vibha N Lama.  

Briefly describe your research. Why is it important?
Despite excellent advances made in the medical management of many end-stage lung diseases, lung transplantation is often the best available recourse for improving the quality of life for many patients. This fact is juxtaposed, however, next to the reality that lung transplants have the lowest 10-year survival rate among all solid organ transplants performed in the U.S. 

The Lama Lab fights every day to improve the outcomes these patients face. Our work’s primary focus is on lung-resident mesenchymal cells and their contribution to fibrosis and chronic lung allograft dysfunction or CLAD, which is the leading cause of death in lung transplant recipients. So our work is imperative—patients with a lung transplant deserve a fighting chance to breathe both easily and without the concern they’re simply living on borrowed time.

What do you like most about Emory?
The last few months have been a real whirlwind. Transitioning a lab to a new institution isn’t easy, but thanks to the hard work of so many phenomenal people and teams here at Emory, our research picked right back up where we left off within two months of arriving!

As such, what I love most about Emory so far is how committed the research community and its various organs are to making sure Emory’s research never stops. 

What is your favorite movie or TV show?
I’m a real film buff so please forgive the (likely) obscure reference here, but my favorite film of all time is The Third Man (1949).

What do you like to do in your spare time?
When I can, I love to bake, hike with my partner and our two dogs, and explore Atlanta’s great dining scene. 

What is a fun fact about you?
 A fun fact about me is that in my free time, I teach first-year medical students sensitive exam techniques and patient-centered care.