July 6 – 12

CIHR and its partners have recently announced the following open competitions:

In addition, please note that this will be the final competition for the following Legacy Open Programs:

The Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) and Canadian Lung Association (CLA) are pleased to announce the launch of the Emerging Research Leaders Initiative (ERLI). This multi-partnered initiative, led by HSF and CLA, includes organizational partners from non-profit, government, industry, and emerging / existing networks. Partners include, Allergy, Genes and Environment Network (AllerGen NCE), the Brain Canada Foundation, the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, Pfizer Canada Inc., the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS), the Canadian Stroke Prevention Intervention Network (C-SPIN), the Canadian Vascular Network (CVN), and the Canadian Respiratory Research Network (CRRN), Canadian Arrhythmia Network, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS), CIHR’s Institute for Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH).

The Emerging Research Leaders Initiative (ERLI) is an establishment grant program for researchers at the transition stage from post-doctoral fellow to early professional career stage in the areas of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and/or respiratory health research.

This initiative aims to support successful early career launch of new investigators. Through this initiative, partners will provide establishment grant funds that will create a set of conditions conducive to the successful career launch of emerging research leaders in the cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and/or respiratory health research domains.

Establishment grant programs are intended to assist new investigators in establishing independent health research programs and achieving the research productivity necessary to obtain major funding from national and other external granting agencies.

For further details, please visit the HSFC website.

In recognition of the need to establish an effective bridge between students and the wide knowledge base of medical research professionals and faculty both within UBC and abroad, the Faculty of Medicine has limited funds available for the support of Point Grey discussion groups and seminar series.

Only one application per UBC Faculty of Medicine department/centre will be accepted. Up to $1500 per group will be awarded.

Please visit the Discussion Groups website for more details.

The American Optometric Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Academy of Optometry, is inviting applications for research projects related to glaucoma or the anterior segment.

Through the Allergan Foundation Research Grant program, a single grant of $60,000 will be awarded in support of innovative research on glaucoma or the anterior segment. In addition, a $750 travel grant will be provided for the principal investigator and up to three co-investigators on the project to attend the next AAO annual conference.

The award is open to all faculty and researchers in optometry and vision science.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, visit the AOF website.

The Canadian Diabetes Association has recently opened their 2015 Operating Grants competition. Applications must be submitted online through ResearchNet.  Individuals whose Operating Grant funding ends June 30, 2016 are eligible to apply to this 2015 competition.

Please visit the CDA website for full details.

The Weston Brain Institute is launching the Early Phase Clinical Trials 2015 program to help outstanding Canadian researchers accelerate the development of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases of aging.

Additional information about the program can be found here

An interactive Information Session Conference Call will be held on August 4, 2015 from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT for anyone interested in learning more about the Early Phase Clinical Trials Program. We will be providing details on the application process and an opportunity for open questions.

Register here

The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation supports independent, peer-reviewed musculoskeletal research and education related to finding clinically relevant advancements that orthopaedic surgeons can apply in daily practice to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

To that end, OREF, in partnership with the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, is accepting applications from new investigators for research projects on biologic skeletal reconstruction, including implants and stem cells. Grants of up to $98,000 over two years will be awarded as seed funding for both basic and clinical research.

For a project to be eligible for a grant,  the principal or co-investigator must be an orthopaedic surgeon. Ph.Ds and D.V.Ms are considered eligible for the principal or co-investigator role if they are affiliated with an orthopaedic department and currently work with an orthopaedic surgeon.

Visit the OREF website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

Research investigating the pathologic mechanisms underlying frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is advancing, creating new targets for drug discovery. As potential therapies move forward, the need for biomarkers for early diagnosis, to distinguish FTD subtypes, and to monitor disease progression is also critical. The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) seek to accelerate and support innovative drug discovery programs and biomarker development for FTD through this Request for Proposals (RFP).

Priority areas for this program include:

For further details, please visit the ADDF website.

Please note that there will be two speakers at our upcoming seminar on Wednesday, July 8:

MSc Candidate in Conway Lab,

Centre for Blood Research

PhD Candidate in Strynadka Lab,

Centre for Blood Research

I wanted to bring to your attention a new course that will be offered next year as part of the renewed MD Undergraduate curriculum that will offer a number of new teaching and mentoring opportunities for the faculty in your Department.  In the Fall of 2015, we will be launching a course called FLEX; FLEXible and Enhanced Learning. FLEX is an innovative new course that provides both time and space for medical students to participate in a variety of different learning activities, including research projects. The course will promote scholarly inquiry by introducing students to the basics of research and scholarship, and then provide them with time and support to pursue, design and participate in projects in their area of interest.

FLEX will span the first three years of the MD Undergraduate curriculum and will make use of one afternoon per week and dedicated blocks of time which are devoted solely to FLEX activity. As such, the framework for the course will support student engagement in larger, longitudinal projects, including research projects that may span more than one year.

We are currently collecting the names of faculty who are interested in working with a medical student. Attached to this email is our “FLEX Call For Proposals”. The package contains a pdf that provides background information about the course (goals of the course, information about course scheduling and how to get involved) and instructions for filling in the FLEX proposal form. The remaining two word files are the proposal forms themselves (.docx and .doc versions).

FLEX will serve to connect students with specific projects, and connect students with potential supervisors. If you have faculty within your Department that would like to work with a medical student but do not have not have a specific project in mind, we invite them to submit a proposal form that simply outlines their area of interest and/or a few potential ideas.  We will begin populating the FLEX database in August 2015. If you would like to work with a student in the upcoming academic year (2015/2016) and you would like have your activity posted to the database ford students to review this fall, please submit your proposal forms by July 30.

Please feel free to distribute this package to the faculty in your Department or to other individuals you feel would be interested. If you have any questions, do let me know. I am happy to meet with you personally, present to your group and/or meet with any individuals who are interested in getting involved. I should also note that faculty will receive evaluations and letters for their teaching dossiers and the assessment requirements of the faculty are both streamlined and minimal.

For more information please contact the course co-directors; Dr(s). Dawn Cooper (d.cooper@ubc.ca) and Richard Lazenby (Richard.lazenby@unbc.ca).