The Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Medical School will host their Seventh Annual Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Fall Gathering on Thursday, September 13, 2001. "Graduate Student Awards for Excellence and Teaching" and "Overall Excellence in Research and Service" will be presented.

This years winners are Patrick J. Murphy and Robert D. Loberg for “Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching” and Lisa Gerlach-Bank and Robin L. Erickson for “Overall Excellence in Research and Service”.

The Gathering is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. in the MSRB III Courtyard. In case of rain, the event will move indoors to the "GAP Center", room 2955 Taubman Library. The food will be catered by the West Texas BBQ and the attendees will be entertained by the Community High Jazz Ensemble.

Students and fellows may obtain tickets from their departmental Student Services Representatives.

Dean’s Awards

The Dean is pleased to announce the winners of the University of Michigan Medical School Dean’s Award for Achievement in Clinical Research and the Dean’s Award for Achievement in Basic Science Research.

The team of Sewon Kang, M.D. and Gary Fisher, Ph.D., Associate Professors in Dermatology are the recipients of the Dean’s Award in Clinical Research. Drs. Kang and Fishers’ research focuses on molecular basis of chronological aging of human skin, molecular basis of retinoid action in human skin, and molecular mechanisms by which UV light causes photoaging.

Gabriel Nuñez, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Pathology, is the recipient of the Dean’s Award in Basic Science Research. Dr. Nuñez’s research has led to success in defining pathways leading to apoptosis.

The Medical School Dean’s Research Awards are two awards in a group of seven awards that have been developed in order to recognize the many outstanding achievements of our faculty and staff. The winners will be honored at a ceremony and dinner this fall.

More information on the awards can be found at http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/researchawards.html.

New Appointments

Center for Integrative Genomics

Joseph Metzger, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and of Internal Medicine has been appointed Director of the Center for Integrative Genomics. This Center focuses on the gene-organism-environment paradigm in genetically engineered animals. The center's web site is http://www.med.umich.edu/cig/.

The first major event for the Center will be a symposium on November 7, 2001 in the Ford Auditorium.

The speakers include:

• Dr. R. Kahn, President Joslin Center
• Dr. Ken Chien, UCSD/Salk
• Dr. Joseph Takahashi, Northwestern

Center for Clinical Investigation and Therapeutics

The Office of Research and Graduate Studies is pleased to announce the appointment of Dorene S. Markel, M.S., M.H.S.A. as the Program Director for the Center for Clinical Investigation and Therapeutics (CCIT). Ms. Markel has many years of experience in the administration of clinical research, most recently as the Administrative Director of the General Clinical Research Center. She will continue her institutional service on a variety of committees related to clinical research, including the IRB-Med. Ms. Markel was recently honored by the Office of the Vice President for Research as one of the recipients of the Distinguished Research Administrator Award.

The main function of CCIT is to promote innovative clinical research and training of clinical investigators. Their web site is http://www.med.umich.edu/ccit/.

Award Recipients

PEW Scholar Awarded to Zhaohui Xu, Ph.D.

The Office of Research and Graduate Studies is pleased to announce that Zhaohui Xu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Biological Chemistry is a recipient of a 2001 PEW Scholars Award. The Pew Charitable Trust awards are granted to young investigators who show outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences. These awards are intended to encourage scholarly innovation and to help researchers advance the state of knowledge in the biomedical sciences. This year, nominations from more than 120 institutions were received. The awards provide support to the scholars as they establish their laboratories and continue their research in the areas of AIDS, cancer, childhood infectious diseases and diseases affecting the elderly.

Dr. Xu joined the University of Michigan as a Biological Sciences Scholar in October 1998. While working on his postdoctoral research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Yale University, Dr. Xu solved the X-ray structure of the GroELoGroES complex (involved in protein folding), one of the largest structures characterized to date. Dr. Xu is continuing his research into the structure and function of protein folding mechanisms.

CVC McKay Grant Winners

The UM Cardiovascular Center (CVC) is pleased to announce the following award recipients of the CVC McKay Grant competition:

• John Kelley Bentley, Ph.D., Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Pharmacology, Title: PDE 2 and CREB in Sympathetic Neurons.
• John Robert Charpie, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor II, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, Title: Cyclosporeine-induced Endothelial Dysfunction and Vascular Oxidant Stress.
• Flavia B. Consens, M.D., Lecturer, Department of Neurology, Title: Perioperative Sleep Related Breathing Disturbances and Adverse Cardiac Events in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease.
• David B. Dyke, M.D., Lecturer, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Title: Integrin Expression and Function in Human Heart Failure
• Anatoli N. Lopatin, M.S., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Title: Regulation of Cardiac Excitability inTransgenic Mice With Altered Potassium Permeability.
• Margaret V. Westfall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Section of Cardiac Surgery, Title: Influence of Troponin I phosphorylation by Protein Kinase C on Cardiac MyocyteContractile Function.

The next due date for grant submission is December 15, 2001. Applications are available through the website at http://www.med.umich.edu/hcp, but watch for notices as the new UM Cardiovascular Center website is launched within the next few months.

Seminars

Graduate Program in Immunology Seminar - http://www.med.umich.edu/immprog/

The Graduate Program in Immunology and the Experimental Immunology Training Grant will sponsor a seminar to be held on Wednesday, September 26, 2001 from 12:00-1:00 PM in room 5623 Med. Sci. II. The speaker will be Timothy P. Bender, Ph.D., Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Virginia. The topic will be “Conditional Mutagenesis to Study c-Myb Function in Lymphocytes."

Research Responsibility Program Dates

The Office of the Vice President for Research has to announced the 2001-2002 Research Responsibility Program dates. The dates can be found on OVPR’s web site at http://www.responsibility.research.umich.edu/. Please mark the dates on your calendar and share the information with interested colleagues.

The program this year includes two sessions on Human Participant Protections in the Social Sciences (October and February), and two sessions on Human Participant Protections in the Biomedical Sciences (December March)

Other topics this year are Introduction to Responsibility in Research (September), Authorship (October), Data Management (November), Conflict of Interest (January), and Animal Subject Protections (February). Presentations are scheduled on central campus and on the medical campus.

Center for Organogenesis Seminar

The Center for Organogenesis will host a seminar on Friday, September 28, 2001 at 3:30 PM in room 5915 Buhl Building. The speaker will be Jeffrey S. Nye, M.D., Ph.D., Director, CNS Genomics Research Laboratory Pharmacia Corporation in Kalamazoo, MI. Dr. Nye will speak on “Notch Signal Transduction and Neurodevelopment."

Funding Opportunities

Michigan Life Sciences Corridor-Deadline November 5, 2001

Michigan Life Sciences Corridor Steering Committee has issued a request for proposals. The RFP and required forms may be obtained on the web site http://medc.michigan.org/lifescience/proposal/. Preproposals are due November 5, 2001. Full proposals are by invitation only. Careful review of the RFP is advised in order to design a proposal that complies with the program criteria. Preproposal applications must be submitted using a web-based application system. No paper submissions will be accepted.

Approximately $25M for individual or group proposals is available. Collaboration and a bonafide research partnership with a for-profit company is encouraged. Questions on the RFP should be directed to MLSCINFO@michigan.org.

The Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program (PBF) 2001 - Deadline October 15, 2001

Parker B. Fellowships are awarded for the support of postdoctoral candidates in the fields of pulmonary medicine and anesthesiology as they make the transition to independent faculty members. The Fellowship grants provide stipends and modest incidental expenses. The grants are awarded at $120,000 over a period of three years. UM may not have more than two PBF Fellows in the same department at one time. Candidates must have two to five years of research experience at the time of application. Applicants must also have participated as an author on a minimum of two or three research publications. Candidates from underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Application deadline is October 15, 2001. For complete information, eligibility guidelines and application procedures please see the web site at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pbf/.

Michigan Society of Fellows - Deadline October 5, 2001

The Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies Michigan Society of Fellows, announces their 2002-2005 Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities and Arts, Sciences, and Professions.

Applicants must have received their Ph.D. degree between June 1, 1999 and September 1, 2002. Fellows are appointed as Assistant Professors or Research Scientists and as Postdoctoral Scholars in the Society of Fellows. They must reside in Ann Arbor during the academic years of the fellowship, teach one academic year, participate in the intellectual life of the Society, and devote time to their research.

Application materials can be found on the web site at http://www.rackham.umich.edu/Faculty/society.html or contact the Society by e-mail (socitey.of.fellows@umich.edu), phone (734) 763-1259 or in writing at Michigan Society of Fellows, University of Michigan, 303 Rackham Building, 915 East Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070.

Funding Available for Studies of Aging in Animal Models

The Geriatrics Center’s Core Facility for Aged Rodents makes available aged mice and rats for University of Michigan faculty scientists who wish to carry out pilot research in the biology of aging or disease processes in old age. Work on drug effects, infectious disease, neurosciences, genetics, behavioral sciences, pathology, physiology, and metabolism are all appropriate, so long as the project requires the use of aged rodents and is aimed at developing new research approaches. There is no deadline, and applications can be submitted at any time. For more information contact Dr. Richard Miller at 936-2122 or millerr@umich.edu

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences - Deadline November 30, 2001

The General Secretariat of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is pleased to invite nominees from recognized medical organizations to submit applications for the Awards for Medical Sciences. Four awards are available to applicants.

1. Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services. Up to $72,000 (US dollars) will be awarded to four winners with each winner to receive $18,000 (US dollars).
2. Hamdan Award for Original Research Paper Published in Emirates Medical Journal - from inside and outside UAE. Up to (AED 100,000) to be awarded to four papers, each receiving (AED 25,000). For papers to be eligible, they must be published or accepted for publication between August 1, 2000 and April 30, 2002.
3. Grand Hamdan International Award in the Field of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The award is $80,000 (US dollars).
4. Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence. The value of the award is $27,000 (US dollars). This award is open to qualified Doctors, Researchers, Universities, Research Centers and Medical Scientific Societies for work of excellence in the following categories:

• Gene Therapy of Inherited Disorders
• Pathogenesis & Therapy of Autoimmune Disorders
• Apoptosis in Disease & Health

The application deadline is November 30, 2001 for the awards. For further information on three of the awards, please see the web site at http://www.hmaward.org.ae/ or e-mail shhaward@emirates.net.ae. For information on the Hamdan Award for Original Research Paper, please see the web site at http://www.emiratesma.org or e-mail emj@emirates.net.ae.

Brookdale National Leadership in Aging Program - http://www.ewol.com/brookdale/bnf.html

This program awards competitive fellowships to support investigators in the developmental stages of their careers, as well as to established researchers who are changing the focus of their work to the field of aging.

Awards are made for two years. Medical - $60,000 year one; $67,000 year two. Humanities, Policy, Behavioral and Social Sciences - $50,000 year one; $55,000 year two.

Completed applications (with Proposal Approval Form) must be received by DRDA no later than Friday, October 12, 2001 to be considered for this year's competition. All applications will be reviewed by an institutional review panel. Guidelines are on-line at the web site listed above. Application forms are available from DRDA.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A 2002 Faculty Expansion Program (FEP) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been announced in the Federal Register.

The Program is a five year program that will provide resources to four medical schools in the United States for the support of faculty positions specializing in areas related to STD prevention and control and to support the development of linkages between health departments and medical schools.

Funding is variable throughout the project period. Supplemental research funding opportunities will also be available. Deadline for applications is October 23, 2001. Further information on this program can be found at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html or contact Kathryn Koski, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at kkoski@cdc.gov or 404-639-1818.