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Don’t forget to apply to exhibit your work at Showcase 2008. This March 7 event focuses on the university’s applied research, technology and other projects that have created strategic partnerships (or have the potential to do so) with industry and regional groups.
Space for Showcase exhibits will be limited. Download the Showcase application (.pdf) and apply today.
As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to check out research.uc.edu for the latest research magazine, news and announcements.
Sandra Degen, PhD
Vice President for Research
NEWS/GRANTS
RFP Posted for Wright Projects Program
A request for proposals (RFP) for the 2008 Third Frontier-funded Wright Projects Program is now posted at www.thirdfrontier.com. These grants provide support to “specifically defined near term commercialization projects requiring major capital acquisitions and improvements at Ohio higher education institutions and nonprofit research organizations.” Letters of intent are due by 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7. Proposals are due by 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 11. Awards will be announced in June.
Orientation Program ‘On Hold’
Due to low attendance, the biweekly Research Orientation Series—the series held Fridays at 9 a.m.—has been canceled for the remainder of the academic year. The program will be reviewed and “revamped” for 2008–09. A one-day workshop for new faculty will be designed and presented in the fall. You’re encouraged to offer suggestions for improving the series. Please send comments to research@uc.edu. Review presentations from last year’s series.
Ethics Inventory
The National Science Foundation (NSF) will soon require that research proposals address research ethics training for all trainees including undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and fellows. The Office of Research is currently working with Sponsored Research Services to develop a paragraph that can be included in all NSF grants. Please provide the research office with a brief description of any college or department-level ethics training already being offered. In addition to helping prepare the NSF grant language, your feedback will also help to identify gaps in ethics training that need to be addressed university-wide. Please send ethics training information to Sandra Degen at sandra.degen@uc.edu.
Research Scholars Update
Ohio’s Innovative Partnership Program received 43 letters of intent from across the state for its Research Scholars Program—a $150 million per year effort to recruit scientists and their teams to state universities and colleges. After reviewing all letters, Ohio’s Board of Regents recommended that many projects across several universities be consolidated. UC is currently working to refine its five letters of intent—some of which involve collaborations at other universities. UC’s five projects focus on intelligent propulsion and advanced life management systems, sustainable urban engineering, neuro-technologies, microbial sensing, and targeted molecular cancer therapeutics. Read all letters of intent and response letters from the Board of Regents.
Chemical Inventory
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a final rule related to its Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. As a result, the university is now required to create and maintain a campus-wide inventory of regulated chemicals. The Office of Research is now collecting data for the chemical inventory. Researchers should review the chemicals listed on the "Chemical Inventory" document and indicate maximum quantity (in pounds or gallons) and location of chemicals on hand in each laboratory. Download the inventory document (.xls).
Every department and principal investigator must participate in the inventory and information is due to the Office of Research by Feb. 1, 2008. Chemical inventories should be sent to Sandra Degen, PhD, vice president for research, at sandra.degen@uc.edu. Questions should be directed to Jan Utrecht in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at (513) 556-4968. Review the Appendix to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard (6 CFR Part 27).
New NIH Animal Policy
In early 2007, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a clarification of its policy on “Allowable Costs for Grant Activities Involving Animals When Terms and Conditions Are Not Upheld.” This clarification may have serious financial consequences for investigators relating to their NIH grant awards. The NIH requires a valid Animal Welfare Assurance, approved by the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), and a valid Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval on all grant awards involving live, vertebrate animals—including research, research training, experimentation, biological testing, custom antibody preparation or related purposes. IACUC approval must be dated within the last three years in order to be valid. IACUCs are not authorized to administratively extend approval beyond three years. UC currently has a valid Animal Welfare Assurance.
Institutions are now required to report to OLAW and to the NIH grants section any serious protocol deviations. Principal investigator name and grant number must be included in this report. Serious protocol deviations include procedures performed without having a protocol, procedures performed which are not specified on a protocol and/or procedures performed on an expired or suspended protocol. The NIH has required several other institutions to "pay back" monies for animal care and investigator/tech salary. The NIH reviews each report on a case-by-case basis, however all those involved in animal research should make sure that an active protocol, covering all procedures, is in place. For more information, contact George Babcock, PhD, at george.babcock@uc.edu.
New Grants Awarded in December
Writing winning grants is tough. We understand the hard work that goes into preparing a proposal and want to make sure that effort doesn’t go unnoticed. Check out your great work—and that of your colleagues—at uc.edu/ucresearch/new_grant_winners.html.
GREEN BITS
The university is working collaboratively with four other major organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area to reduce its carbon footprint. There are several things you can do in labs and offices to improve energy and waste management. Research Update—with the help of Eric Gruenstein, PhD, professor of molecular genetics—will begin providing monthly “greening” tips for research faculty and staff.
Tip #1: Use Both Sides of the Paper
If you have access to a printer that can print on both sides of the paper, you can cut your paper usage in half, lighten the load of material you have to tote around with you and increase the effective amount of space in your file drawers. While your desktop printer may not have automatic duplex printing, it may very well have the ability to do it manually with one simple flip of the pages. Check out the Microsoft Word help menu under “duplex printing.”
On the other hand, many departmental copier/printers can do duplex printing automatically. But if your current unit can’t do duplex, consider buying or renting a duplex-capable copier/printer to save money and reduce paper usage. A department that purchases $600 worth of paper each month could save upwards of $200 monthly by switching to duplex printing. And because a duplex laser jet printer can be purchased for under $800, it would take just four months to recoup the purchase price—a return on investment of 300 percent! Not a bad deal. For you, for your department and for the trees, it’s a win-win-win situation. Think about it.
To learn more about duplex printing, copier renting and/or in-house duplicating services, visit www.healthnews.uc.edu/communications/duplicating/ or www.uc.edu/printingservices/.
SPOTLIGHT
Mary Beth Genter, PhD
Environmental health researcher Mary Beth Genter, PhD, chairman of the University Research Council, spends her days studying environmental toxicants—particularly those that have effects on the olfactory and auditory systems. Genter, an associate professor who received her PhD from the Duke University integrated toxicology program, joined UC’s faculty in 1995. She spent three years in the department of molecular and cellular physiology before transitioning to the department of environmental health in 1999. Genter has a strong interest in understanding how certain pesticides cause tumors in the olfactory system. She’s also studied how compounds like acetaminophen cause toxicity to same “smell-related” system in the body. She and her team are now researching how metals accumulate in the brain and are interested in understanding how these metals are transported into the ear—findings that could provide answers to questions about hearing loss.
EVENTS
Graduate Student Grant-Writing Workshops
Two grant-writing workshops will be offered to help graduate students as they prepare their University Research Council Graduate Student Summer Fellowship applications.
Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008
9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Vontz Center’s Rieveschl Auditorium
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008
9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Tangeman University Center Room 400B
Questions about the application process or grant-writing workshops should be directed to Linda Minton at linda.minton@uc.edu.
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