Today, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) released its first annual report, available on the NCATS website. NCATS administers the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, whose funding supports the work of UAMS’ Translational Research Institute (TRI).

The NCATS report highlights major milestones and achievements during 2012 and 2013. It also showcases how NCATS’ innovative programs, initiatives and collaborations are helping to advance translational sciences for the broader research community.

“Every NCATS project is designed to address what I call the 3Ds: develop new approaches, technologies, resources and models; demonstrate their usefulness; and proactively disseminate the data, analysis and methodologies so that other scientists can implement them,” said NCATS Director Christopher P. Austin, M.D. “Though NCATS is still relatively new, early successes showcase how our distinctive approaches can help solve some of the most challenging problems in translational sciences.”

Read the NCATS Annual Report.

May 1 – TRI Request for Applications Will Be Released
June 2 – Letter of Intent Due
June 16 – Full Applications Invited
August 4 – Full Applications Due
Awards are $50,000 maximum with a 1-year time limit.

New for 2014
IRB or IACUC approval letter required with full application

Letter of intent and application instructions will be available May 1.

Please contact Kelly Bulloch at 501.686.5417 or KWBulloch@uams.edu.

The National Institutes of Health has announced a policy change that allows researchers to submit an application as a new proposal even though the proposal had been previously reviewed by an NIH study section. The notice number is NOT-OD-14-074 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-14-074.html).

The next Showcase of Medical Discoveries featuring telehealth is June 4, 4-5:30 p.m., in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute 10th Floor Rotunda. The event will include the work of investigators from UAMS and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The College of Medicine is joined in this Showcase by TRI and the UAF as co-sponsors, and a new pilot funding mechanism co-sponsored by TRI and UAF will be announced at the event.

This showcase is open to all interested faculty, students, staff and invited guests. The series’ ongoing goals include fostering communication and collaboration between investigators and increasing awareness of exciting research in Arkansas. View a flyer about the event.

Elvin Price, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a 2013 UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) KL2 Career Development awardee, was recently selected to serve as an associate scientific advisor for Science Translational Medicine, sister publication of the journal Science.

Price, an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy, is the first scientist from UAMS to earn the selection in the publication’s five-year history. It was based on his writing sample and a nomination from Robert McGehee, Ph.D., who directs TRI’s Research Education, Training and Career Development Program. Price is among just 26 early career researchers nationally selected as associate scientific advisors for 2014.

Price will write nine editorials for the publication this year. The April issue of Science Translational Medicine includes his first editorial on cardiac ischemia titled: “Dancing with the Scars: Choreography of the Macrophage Two Step After Myocardial Infarction.”

“This is a really cool opportunity,” Price said. “I get to work with senior editors from the science family, and I can already see the benefits to the quality of my writing for applications that I will submit in June and to the manuscripts that I’m working on.”

McGehee, dean of the UAMS Graduate School, noted that the editors at Science Translational Medicine were looking for an inaugural set of investigators who could be associate editors and bring interests and expertise across multiple disciplines in recognizing and moving translational medicine forward.

“Dr. Price was a natural and perfect choice,” McGhee said. “His training background in clinical pharmacy as a Pharm.D., furthered by his Ph.D. training in cardiovascular pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, provide him with a very unique translational skill set for such a role, and it is very rewarding the editors recognized this.”

“These are the kinds of opportunities that we really like to see our KL2 Scholars get involved with,” he said.

Price is one of 13 promising early career researchers selected over the last five years for a KL2 award by the Translational Research Institute. The award provides salary and research support to help jump-start the research programs of junior investigators like Price.

Price is studying promising genetic predictors that he hopes will help doctors prescribe the right cardiovascular medicines for their patients.

Science Translational Medicine, established in 2009, is an interdisciplinary medical research journal established by the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It aims to advance the field of translational medicine, which promotes the transfer of basic science discoveries and experimental approaches of modern science to the alleviation of human disease.

The March issue of The TRIbune is now online. The newsletter features new TRI Director Laura James, M.D., and Associate Director Cornelia Beck, Ph.D., R.N., who built their research careers studying the opposite ends of the human lifespan.

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The fifth annual Nanotechnology for Health Care Conference will be held April 2-4 at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute atop Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton.

To learn more and to register, visit arkansasnanohealth.com. Standard registration is $300. For students and postdoctoral fellows, the cost is $100. Meals and lodging are included. For more information call (501) 727-5435.

UAMS is one of several partners of the event that brings together leading researchers in nanotechnology science and engineering with talent in the health and medical sciences to develop collaborations to improve health care.

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UAMS BioVentures is hosting two free commercialization workshops in April for entrepreneurs and academic researchers.

The workshops are from 8 a.m. to noon on April 3 and April 17. Sharon Ballard, CEO and president of EnableVentures, will be the featured speaker at both events.

Commercialization Strategies Event Details and Registration
Best Proposal Practices for the SBIR/STTR Program Event Details and Registration
Registration is required.

UAMS researchers planning to attend are encouraged to contact Ben Wofford at BioVentures at bwofford@uams.edu for more information about commercialization assistance.

UAMS BioVentures is a startup incubator and the commercialization and licensing arm for UAMS.

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Be part of the year’s premier research meeting – register today for Translational Science 2014! Join more than 500 of your peers April 9-11 in Washington, D.C., for three days of networking and education. Connect with leaders and peers to learn and share best practices, and go back to your lab with new ideas and strategies to take your research even further!

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The abstract submission deadline for Student Research Day is March 26. Check out the new online form and other pertinent information for the April 16 Student Research Day.

The 2014 McGehee Distinguished Lectureship speaker is Tom Caskey, M.D., F.A.C.P., professor of molecular and human genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Caskey will present “Genome Sequencing Utility in Disease Gene Discovery and Patient Care” at noon in the Wilson Education Building, Room 126.

Contact: Linda Williams, ldwilliams@uams.edu

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