Volume 12, number 10: April 5, 2006

CAMPUS NEWS

OTD's New Director Speaks about Tech Transfer

Date: April 5
Time: 5:15 to 6:15 p.m.
Place: 014 Sitterson Hall

The Office of Technology Development's (OTD) new director, Cathy Innes, will share her vision for technology transfer at UNC-Chapel Hill and highlight some of the exciting new activities that are already in progress. Innes's top priorities for OTD include reaching out and building stronger relationships with university inventors and entrepreneurs, academic departments, and the business community; and streamlining operations to build for growth within the office. At this free workshop, Innes will discuss current challenges and opportunities for technology transfer and entrepreneurial growth at UNC. There will be a discussion period for questions and comments and a reception at Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery following the program. READ MORE

Sexual Trafficking: Breaking the Crisis of Silence

Date: April 7-8
Place: Radisson Hotel, Research Triangle Park

The Carolina Women's Center, in partnership with the School of Social Work , the Office of Global Health in the School of Public Health , the Jordan Institute for Families, the Office of Research Development, and state and community partners will sponsor a national conference on the trafficking of women and children.

This conference continues the fight against commercial sexual exploitation of young women and children by raising public awareness to the human rights violations caused by trafficking, including its mental and physical effects on its victims. In addition, the conference examines the demand side of the problem and its impact on local and global economics. The dynamic exchange of information and experience between speakers and participants will result in published proceedings that translate models of intervention into action-oriented approaches for those working with victims of these crimes. READ MORE

IRB Approval No Longer Required For Some Activities

Some research-related activities have traditionally been reviewed by institutional review boards (IRBs), even when they do not technically involve "human subjects research" as defined by regulations. These include:

large training grants, center or core grants and other funding mechanisms that cover multiple projects with individual IRB approvals;
secondary analyses of existing data, records or specimens, if permanently de-identified or coded so that investigators cannot access identifiers; and
classroom projects conducted solely for educational purposes that do not otherwise constitute human subjects research.

IRB approval will no longer be required for these activities, provided certain criteria are met. A new form has been developed to help determine if IRB approval is required. This may be used for projects whose status is uncertain, and/or to document that the IRB has made this determination.

NC DHHS Grant Website

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) has developed a website to announce the agency's current grant opportunities as well as links to awards-made reports. READ MORE

NIH SBIR/STTR University Workshop

Date: April 6
Time: 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Place: 1001 Kerr Hall

The federal government awards thousands of R&D grants and contracts each year through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to small businesses performing innovative research.

Join fellow university researchers and business people at this free workshop to learn more about the National Institutes for Health SBIR/STTR program and how to become a successful applicant. This event is sponsored by North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center. READ MORE (pdf)

Campus Copyright Rights and Responsibilities: A Basic Guide to Policy Considerations

"Campus Copyright Rights and Responsibilities: A Basic Guide to Policy Considerations" (pdf) provides information to guide professors and others in correctly following copyright laws. Copyright law governs research activities such as:

reproducing published and unpublished works in the course of research;
creating derivative works;
publishing original research or other academic work; and
owning the output or work product of research.

Contact Deborah Gerhardt, Copyright and Scholarly Communications Director in the university library, at 843-4829 for questions about interpreting and complying with copyright law.

OHRE Application Forms Updates

The Office of Human Research Ethics (OHRE) forms for submitting New Studies, Modifications, and Renewals have been revised. The changes include:

clarification and reordering of questions;
conflict-of-interest questions revised to reflect campus policy;
mailing addresses updated for institutional review boards (IRB) that have relocated; and
number of copies to be submitted have been simplified and standardized across all IRBs.

Research teams are reminded to routinely obtain forms via the OHRE website with each submission, to ensure use of current materials.

Women's Health Research Day

Dates: April 4-5
Place: Medical Biomolecular Research Building

The Center for Women's Health Research is hosting the annual Women's Health Research Day. There will be presentations from leading researchers in biomedicine, social sciences, and public health. READ MORE

Major Challenges of Clinical Medicine: An Overview for Basic Scientists

The UNC Roadmap Initiative is sponsoring a month-long training program to attract basic biomedical scientists to the opportunities presented by clinically oriented translational research. There will be two iterations of the program, May 1-26 and June 29-July 28. The program focuses on young basic scientists who are at key decision points in their career development and includes:

daily lectures by physician-scientists and other translational researchers on pathophysiology, mechanisms of disease, and challenges and issues in translational research;
weekly lectures/discussions on responsible conduct of research and teamwork and leadership in science;
four weeks of supervised experience in a translational research setting under the supervision of a single mentor; and
mentor-coordinated development of the abstract and specific aims for a National Institutes of Health-type grant proposal on a translational research theme related to the laboratory interests. READ MORE

Create Award Detailed Report for SPARC Database

A new reporting tool, Create Award Detailed Report, is now available on the Sponsored Programs and Research Council (SPARC) website. This tool allows you to select a university and set date parameters to produce a list of awards made to UNC system campuses. The report contains the proposal ID, campus name, project title, award date, amount awarded, and direct sponsor for the corresponding awards. Up to 100 awards may be viewed on a single screen, and all records may be downloaded into Excel with additional identifying fields.

HVAC Services for Researchers

UNC- Chapel Hill 's Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) provides cost-saving services to researchers at Carolina. HVAC offers maintenance and repair of refrigerated scientific equipment. While their main focus is on the ultralo freezers, they handle all refrigerated equipment in a lab. HVAC employees are factory-trained and certified. They can perform repairs for less than an outside contractor, which can stretch grant monies considerably. HVAC also has a 24-hour alarm service for selected equipment and can loan equipment in emergencies. READ MORE