Essential Policy and Procedure Updates
NSF Cracks Down on Delinquent Progress Reports
In an unprecedented action for Stony Brook, the National Science Foundation recently de-obligated the final increment of a multi-year NSF award due to the failure of the principal investigator to submit his annual progress report in a timely manner.
In this particular case, the report was due just prior to the beginning of the federal government's new fiscal year and NSF was in the midst of trying to make funding decisions for the coming year. Ultimately, NSF decided to allocate the money (approximately 41K) to an NSF grant recipient at another institution.
As you can well imagine, such an action can be disastrous for a research project and can harm the reputation of the institution and the principal investigator.
The Office of Sponsored Programs urges faculty to take all progress report deadlines regardless of sponsor very seriously, and make every effort to comply with them. If there are extenuating circumstances preventing a submission, please let us know so that we can intercede with the sponsor. Should anyone have any questions, please contact Ivar Strand, Assistant Vice-President of Sponsored Programs at IStrand@notes.cc.sunysb.edu, or via phone at 2-4402.
NIH Reduces Temporary “Error Correction Window” for Electronic Grant Applications from Five Business Days to Two
NIH will reduce the “error correction window” (i.e. the time allowed after the submission deadline to address NIH system identified errors/warnings) from five (5) business days to two (2) business days for all electronically submitted grant applications with submission deadlines on or after January 8, 2008.
For more information click here.
IRBNet is Live!
The Office of Research Compliance is pleased to announce that SBU's IRB processes are now fully electronic.
Effective immediately, you may proceed to the IRBNet website at www.irbnet.org, register, and begin using the system for submission of your new and continuing review studies. After December 21, 2007, paper submissions of these materials will no longer be accepted.
Please take a moment to review the resource information developed for you at http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/irbnet/.
• If you are a researcher, you will find information on how to use IRBNet for creating, sharing, submitting, and obtaining appropriate signatures for your application packets.
• If you are a department chair, or chair of a departmental review commitee, you will find out how to review and provide your electronic signature on IRB submissions from your faculty. This is important, because submissions for new and continuing review studies will not be accepted without your e-signature.
Please forward this information to your study teams (if you are a PI) and members of your department (if you are a Department Chair) as soon as possible.
Note that study coordinators and other representatives from the east, west, and south campuses have received in-person training from the Office of Research Compliance (ORC). Ask your study coordinator if s/he has undergone such training so that s/he can assist you and others in your department with IRBNet.
If you are planning on submitting a study (new or continuing) in the near future, and would like personalized training on the electronic submission process, appointments may be scheduled by calling ORC at 632-9036.
NSF Seeks Comments on New Proposed Progress Report
The National Science Foundation (NSF) published a notice in the Nov. 9 Federal Register (72 FR 63630) seeking comments on a proposed new standardized Research Performance Progress Report.
The standardized form is an initiative of the Research Business Models Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council, and if adopted, would be used across federal science agencies, not only for NSF.
The Federal Register notice with more information about the form and detail for submitting comments is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr/. The draft form is also provided at that site.
Comments are due by January 8, 2008.
Also, information about the Business Models Subcommittee is available at: http://rbm.nih.gov/
New F&A (Indirect Cost) Rates
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has approved Facilities and Administrative Cost (Indirect Cost) rates for the University, for the next four years, covering the period 7/1/07-6/30/11. The revised rate structure is described below. Effective for all proposals due 11/12/07 and thereafter, these are the appropriate rates to use when submitting new proposals through The Research Foundation of SUNY. If the beginning of the budget period falls outside of the Research Foundation's fiscal year (7/1/-6/30), the F&A rate that is in effect at the onset of the budget period should be utilized, increasing annually in accordance with the rates below.
Effective 7/1/08, the Office of Sponsored Programs will be incorporating the new rate structure into all funded proposals submitted prior to 11/12/07. This will affect the pace at which budgeted F&A costs are drawn down, but will not increase the amount of the Facilities and Administrative Costs charged against these awards nor affect Direct Cost budgets associated with these projects. These budgets are limited by the amounts approved at the time of the sponsored award.
Click Here to access the new F&A Rates.
Please note that the Office of Sponsored Programs will continue to honor special rates that are dictated by sponsor regulations and/or Stony Brook University/Research Foundation policies. To view a copy of the current rate agreement please access the link at http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/spo/IDCRateAgreement.pdf
Should you have any questions, please contact Ivar Strand, Assistant Vice-President of Sponsored Programs at 2-4402 or via e-mail at istrand@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.
Research Compliance Reminder: Use of recombinant DNA and/or gene transfer technology requires prior Institutional Biosafety Committee Review/Approval!
You must apply to, and receive, approval (or confirmation of exemption) from SBU’s Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) prior to commencing with the following types of research:
Recombinant DNA research involves molecules that:
(a) are constructed outside living cells by joining natural or synthetic DNA segments to DNA molecules that can replicate in a living cell, or
(b) result from the replication of those described in (1).
Human gene transfer research involves the deliberate transfer of recombinant DNA, or DNA or RNA derived from recombinant DNA into the somatic cells of human subjects.
All the information you need regarding this requirement (including policies, procedures and applications) is provided here.
The federal Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA), within the National Institutes of Health has jurisdiction over recombinant DNA and gene transfer activities conducted at SBU. Their guidelines and IBC requirements are applicable to all faculty, staff, students, and users of the facilities of this University who propose and conduct research involving recombinant DNA, regardless of source of funding. See IBC policy for approval requirements for activities conducted off-site at collaborating Institutions.
Recently, NIH issued a notice reminding the grantee community of the
principles and requirements of the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving
Recombinant DNA Molecules.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-096.html
Please review this notice for confirmation of the need for compliance in this area. If you have any questions, please contact Judy Matuk at Judy.Matuk@stonybrook.edu, or 632-9036.
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Funding Opportunities
AACR Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Pilot Grants
Four Pilot Grants of $100,000 each will be awarded in 2008
Application Deadline: December 17, 2007
Grant Terms Begin: July 1, 2008
These grants are open to both Young Investigators (postdoctoral or clinical fellows; instructors; junior faculty; or the equivalent who are working under the auspices of a scientific mentor) with demonstrated potential for and commitment to pancreatic cancer research and Established Investigators.
Proposals will be accepted for innovative research projects that have a direct application or demonstrate relevance to the early detection or treatment of pancreatic cancer; projects may be in any discipline of basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological cancer research.
Proposals that will develop preliminary data necessary to prepare and submit a competitive research grant application to a major federal funding agency will also be accepted.
Special emphasis will be placed on research that is not duplicative of other efforts and has the potential for national application.
Please visit the AACR Website or our application site proposalCENTRAL for additional details.
Upcoming Funding Opportunities
You can now access our new weekly Funding Opportunities Bulletin at http://www.stonybrook.edu/fundingopportunities. Here, you can search for Funding Opportunities by discipline, deadlines and keywords.
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News and Events
Announcements
NIH seeks applicants for Pioneer and New Innovator awards
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are seeking applicants for the NIH Director's Pioneer Award and New Innovator Award. Both programs support creative scientists who propose highly innovative-and often unconventional-approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. Women and members of underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
The Pioneer Award provides $2.5 million in direct costs over five years. Applications for this award will be accepted between Dec. 16 and Jan. 16.
The New Innovator Award is open to new and early career research investigators only. It provides $1.5 million in direct costs over five years. Applications will be accepted March 3-31.
New Genomics Server for Stony Brook Faculty
The Genomics Core Facility is pleased to announce the availability of a new genomics server for Stony Brook Faculty. The server can be accessed via the web and has the latest freezes for human, mouse and rat genomes, in the form of a mini-mirror of the Santa Cruz server. The site can be accessed at the following address: http://genomics01.arcan.stonybrook.edu/ For those wishing to perform large volume searches, please contact Jizu Zhi at jizu@osa.sunysb.edu or Eli Hatchwell at eli.hatchwell@stonybrook.edu.
Solar System Upgraded to version 8.9
The Division of Information Technology has developed a series of tutorials and printable materials to help familiarize you with the new version.
Please take a few moments to look at the demonstrations. To help you focus on your specific use of SOLAR, the demonstrations are divided into three groups: Students, Instructors, and Employees.
The link to the new Solar System is: http://www.stonybrook.edu/solarsystem
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News
Joint Effort by Stony Brook, Brookhaven and Cold Spring Harbor Leads to Major Breakthrough in Neuroscience
Adapted from the NIH press announcement and Science's report of the first major publication by researchers from all three institutions:
For the first time, investigators have identified a way to detect neural progenitor cells (NPCs), which can develop into neurons and other nervous system cells, in the living human brain using a type of imaging called magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). The finding, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment for disorders ranging from depression and schizophrenia to Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and cancer. Until now, there had been no way to monitor neurogenesis in the living human brain.
"The recent finding that neural progenitor cells exist in adult human brain has opened a whole new field in neuroscience. The ability to track these cells in living people would be a major breakthrough in understanding brain development in children and continued maturation of the adult brain. This has the potential to open the doors to research that could not have been done in humans before," says Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "If it's validated, it's the coolest thing since sliced bread," says neurobiologist Theo Palmer of Stanford. . . ."
Stony Brook pediatric neurologist Mirjana Maletic-Savatic and colleagues began their search for an NPC biomarker in a series of experiments with cultured mouse cells, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to compare the chemical makeup of neural progenitor cells from embryonic brain tissue with that of other types of cells, including mature neurons and glial cells. The NMR spectra of the neural progenitor cells had a prominent peak that was not present in the other cells, indicating high levels of a compound specific to neural progenitors. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, a method that works on the same principles as NMR but can be used with the scanners found in many hospitals and research centers, they sought the same biomarker in live rats. At first, the spectra from the live rat experiments were messy; the biomerker's defining peak was a tiny blip in a sea of squiggles. But Prof. Petar Djuric , Electrical and Computer Engineering, aided the researchers in developing a mathematical algorithm that separated the peak from the noise. They found the same results in 11 healthy human volunteers.
The study results were published as "Imaging Neural Progenitor Cells in the Living Human Brain," Science, November 9, 2007. The authors are: Louis N. Manganas (SBU, CSHL), Xueying Zhang (SBU), Yao Li (SBU), Raphael D. Hazel (SBU, BNL), S. David Smith (BNL), Mark E. Wagshul (SBU), Fritz Henn (BNL), Helene Benveniste (SBU, BNL), Petar M. Djuric (SBU), Grigori Enikolopov (CSHL), Mirjana Maletic-Savatic (SBU, CSHL).
US Participation in the T2K (Tokai-to-Kamioka) Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment in Japan led by Stony Brook (PI: Chang Kee Jung) was approved for $4.7M by DOE this year.
This project involves over 300 physicists from 12 countries and 8 institutions from the U.S. The experiment is the first of its kind and is a continuing effort of Profs. Jung and Clark Mcgrew in neutrino physics, following their successful effort in the Super-Kamioaknde experiment and the K2K experiment, and is one of the most exciting fields in elementary particle physics.
Team Mentored by Chemistry Professor wins Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology besting more than 1000 teams.
Excerpts from Newsday.com state that Amanda Marinoff and Janelle Schlossberger, both 17, won the top team prize at the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology.
The seniors from Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School won a $100,000 scholarship, which they will split, for their tuberculosis research. The girls created a molecule that helps block the reproduction of the bacteria of drug-resistant tuberculosis. They combined two existing drugs, concluding that the new molecule impeded the production of protein essential to the growth of TB, preventing the bacteria's reproduction.
Dr. Iwao Ojima, director of the Institute for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at Stony Brook University, mentored the team on their project called "FtsZ Inhibitors as Novel Chemotherapeutic Agents for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis."
Marinoff and Schlossberger bested more than 1,000 competitors to become the first Long Island students to take the prize since 2001.
Click here to access the story in its entirety.
NPR Science Editor Reports on Novel Approach to Reducing Fat
NPR Science Editor Joe Palca reported on the air and in Science Times on findings by Professor and Chair Clint Rubin, BME, that “standing on a gently vibrating platform for 15 minutes a day can build bone mass and reduce fat in mice.
The changes are due to a stem cell in bone marrow that can become muscle, bone or fat. Testing has begun in humans. Fat and bone are cellular cousins — the same stem cell that's a precursor to bone cells is also a precursor to fat cells. Rubin said scientists have known for a good long while that bones that get a lot of shaking tend to get larger. Tennis players are a perfect example. The theory for why vibrations affect bone mass is that somehow the bone-marrow stem cell senses the motion and begins turning itself into bone to better tolerate the jiggling.
Rubin and his colleagues set up an experiment in which they gave two groups of mice identical diets, but one group was put on a gently vibrating platform for 15 minutes a day. When he measured the body fat of the group that got the daily jiggling, Rubin said, "Sure enough, they had 30 percent, 27 percent, less fat 15 weeks later." The mice also had stronger bones, as Rubin reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Scientists are about to launch a similar study in humans. One important thing to note is that the vibrations do not remove fat cells. Rubin said that once fat cells form, they tend to stick around. And vibrating won't get rid of them. "If you have a fat mouse, in order to get rid of the fat, you need to metabolize it, just as we've all learned," Rubin said. "You need to get those mice out running marathons or pumping iron, or whatever it is that mice do to reduce their fat mass. Scientists are pretty clear that the techniques for reducing fat mass will work in humans, too.”
- “Vibrations Shown to Build Bone, Reduce Fat.” New York Times, 30 October, 2007, and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15721992&ft=1&f=1002
Events
A Former Academician’s View of NCI Review from the Inside
Pathology Department - Special Seminar
by Marvin L. Salin, Ph.D.
Scientific Review Administrator
Division of Extramural Activities
National Cancer Institute, NIH
Thursday December 13, 2007 at 12 Noon Basic Sciences Tower Room T9-145.
Provost Lecture Series
Barry Castleman - “Globalization and the Export of Hazards”
Wang Center Lecture Hall 1, 4:00 pm, Thursday, December 13.
A chemical engineer who earned his Doctor of Science degree in 1985 from the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, he has served as an environmental consultant, representing many clients including the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Greenpeace since 1991. For more than 30 years he has provided Congressional testimonies and written numerous articles on the health effects and global impact of asbestos. His publications have investigated the export of hazardous industries to developing nations, corporate influence on exposure standards for toxic substances, and most recently global corporate policies on health, safety, and the environment.
This lecture is held in conjunction with the conference "Dangerous Trade: Histories of Industrial Hazard across a Globalizing World", December 13- 15, Wang Center.
Dangerous Trade Conference
“Histories of Industrial Hazard Across a Globalizing World”
Thursday, December 13 – 15
For more information, please consult: http://www.stonybrook.edu/dangeroustrade
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For More Information
Gail S. Habicht is Vice President for Research. She can be reached at (631) 632-7932. An abundance of specific information for the research community is available on our website, where past issues of this bulletin can also be found.
Office of the Vice President for Research -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/
Research News and Monday Memo archive - http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/monmemo/mmarchive.html
All Past issue of Research News and Monday Memo are keyword searchable. The index can be accessed at - http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/sitemap.html.
If you have information you would like to contribute to Research News please email it to the editor, Ann-Marie Scheidt, at amscheidt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
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