2012 Medical Student Research Symposium – April 5

All BSOM students and faculty are invited to attend the 4th annual Medical Student Research Symposium on Thursday, April 5, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in White Hall on the WSU main campus.

The symposium begins at 6:00  p.m. in 101 White Hall  (Gandhi Auditorium) with welcoming remarks and the 2012 Distinguished Scholar Lecture. A poster reception with 48 student research posters  follows at 6:30 p.m. in the White Hall Atrium.

The Distinguished Scholar Lecture will be presented by Kelly Miller, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate who graduates this year from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine.  She completed her Ph.D. research in biochemistry and molecular biology in 2010 in the laboratory of Steven J. Berberich, Ph.D. Her dissertation research examined Induction of p53 Dependent Cellular Senescence through MDMX Inhibition or YPEL3 Expression (see abstratct).  After graduation, she will begin residency training in internal medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

The symposium is organized by the Wright State Medical Student Research Club with support from the BSOM Office of Research Affairs. For more information, contact Adam Deardorff (deardorff.2@wright.edu).

Symposium Proceedings are archived in the WSU Libraries CORE (Campus Online Repository). See 2010 Proceedings | 2011 Proceedings.

Related links:

• Research Learning Community homepage
• 2011-2012 Translational Research Lecture Series

WSU Internists Present Jan. 26 Translational Research Lecture

The next lecture in the 2011-2012 Translational Research Lecture Series will be held Thursday, Jan. 26, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in Room 120 White Hall on the WSU main campus. The lecture is sponsored by the WSU Medical Student Research Club and the Internal Medicine Interest Group. All BSOM faculty and students are invited to attend.

The lecture will be given by two faculty from WSU’s Department of Internal Medicine,  Charlie Abraham, M.D., and Thomas Herchline, M.D. They will discuss current internal medicine research projects. See related readings.

Dinner will be provided on Jan. 26. Please RSVP to Adam Deardorff (deardorff.2@wright.edu) if you plan to attend.

Related links:

• Research Learning Community homepage
• 2011-2012 Translational Research Lecture Series

Translational Research Lecture Series Begins Oct. 27

“Balancing Research Careers” is the theme of the 2011-2012 Translational Research Lecture Series sponsored by the WSU Medical Student Research Club. The first lecture will be held Thursday, Oct. 27, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in Room 120 White Hall. All BSOM faculty and students are invited to attend.

The lecture will be given by three faculty from the Division of Morphological Sciences and Biostatistics in WSU’s Department of Community Health: Richard Sherwood, Ph.D.; Dana Duren, Ph.D.; and Ramzi Nahhas, Ph.D. Their presentation is titled “Tackling Basic And Translational Research: Can You Do It All?”

“Our primary work would be considered basic research across a range of subjects such as craniofacial genetics, bone growth and development, and longitudinal analysis of growth,” Dr. Sherwood says. “We will briefly describe our work and discuss the possibilities, or lack thereof, for moving our findings from the bench to the bedside.”

Dinner will be provided on Oct. 27. Please RSVP to Adam Deardorff (deardorff.2@wright.edu) if you plan to attend.

Related links:

• Dayton Daily News article about Dr. Sherwood’s field work in Nepal
• Research Learning Community homepage
• 2011-2012 Translational Research Lecture Series

NIH Launches Medical Research Scholars Program

A new Medical Research Scholars Program for medical and dental students will begin in September 2012 in Bethesda, Md., the National Institutes of Health has announced. The program will offer research experiences with intramural investigators from across NIH in basic science laboratories, and in clinical and translational research conducted at the NIH Clinical Center, the world’s largest hospital dedicated to patient-oriented research.

The program is made possible through a partnership with the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health supported by a grant from Pfizer Inc and contributions from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The Medical Research Scholars Program builds upon the long history that the NIH intramural program has had in preparing clinician-scientists for leadership roles in biomedical research and incorporates the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-NIH Research Scholars Program and the NIH Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP). The HHMI-NIH Research Scholars Program has historically focused on research in the basic sciences. CRTP participants engage in clinical and translational research. Basic, clinical, and translational research will be part of the Medical Research Scholars Program.

Program applications will be accepted Oct. 1, 2011 through mid-January 2012. About 40 students are expected to be admitted during the program’s first year. The goal is to accept up to 70 students as the program grows.

Support for students selected for the program includes a stipend and resources for education enrichment, such as travel to scientific meetings. There will be a curriculum in clinical protocol development and the conduct of human subjects research, along with seminars focusing on basic and laboratory studies and their translation into clinical protocols.

via NIH News

New Research Elective Approved for Second-Year Medical Students

The Biennium 1 Electives Subcommittee at WSU Boonshoft School of medicine has approved a new elective course titled “Research Learning Community 2.” It will be listed as SMD 617 in the B1 elective catalog published later this year. It will run longitudinally from September 2011 through April 2012.

The elective for M2 students builds on the concepts and activities established in SMD 616 (Introduction to the Research Learning Community). The M2 elective provides a supportive environment for continuation or completion of research projects begun in SMD 616, but SMD 616 is not a prerequisite.

The M2 elective also supports students who have participated in research SIE’s (student initiated electives) or extracurricular research projects, and it can accommodate students looking for a research mentor during year 2. Students who have not taken WSU’s training workshop on research misconduct and the CITI course on the protection of human subjects (training included in SMD 616) will need to acquire both certifications sometime during the M2 elective.

According to the course description:

In September-December, students will participate in monthly seminars and Collaboration Labs surveying models and methodologies in translational research, clinical research, clinical trials, and evidence-based medicine. In addition, students will participate in ongoing meetings of the Translational Research Lecture Series, the Medical Student Research Club, and the Medical Student Journal Club, completing reading and reflective writing assignments associated with program content. Each student will prepare and lead a discussion of a recent research article at a seminar or Journal Club meeting.

In January-April, students will participate in skills development workshops on making and presenting scientific posters. Students will prepare a capstone project that may take several forms. Option 1 is presenting a scientific poster at the annual Medical Student Research Symposium in April. Option 2 is writing a paper on a critically-appraised topic (CAT) in evidence-based medicine that could serve as a roadmap for a future translational research project. Option 3 is participating in a faculty-mentored research project during the academic year.

SMD 617 represents approximately 80 contact hours and counts as one of two required elective experiences in Biennium 1.

Permission of the course director is required to enroll in SMD 617. Please contact Mark Willis (937-775-3814; mark.willis@wright.edu) to schedule a meeting to discuss enrollment.

Your Invitation to the Medical Student Research Symposium – April 21

All BSOM students and faculty are invited to attend the 3rd annual Medical Student Research Symposium on Thursday, April 21, from 5:45-8:00 p.m. in White Hall on the WSU main campus.

The symposium opens at 5:45 p.m., when 29 student research posters will be available for viewing in the White Hall Atrium. It continues at 6:00 p.m. in 101 White Hall  (Gandhi Auditorium) with welcoming remarks and the inaugural Distinguished Scholar Lecture. A poster reception follows at 6:30 p.m. in the Atrium.

The Distinguished Scholar Lecture will be presented by Katie Bullinger, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate who graduates this year from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine.  She completed her Ph.D. research in neuroscience in 2009 in the laboratory of Timothy Cope, Ph.D. After graduation, she will begin a one-year transitional residency at Kettering Medical Center followed by a residency in interventional neurology at Emory University. At the first Medical Student Research Symposium in 2009, Bullinger won awards for Best Overall Poster and Best Presentation.

The symposium is organized by the Wright State Medical Student Research Club with support from the BSOM Office of Research Affairs.

For more information about the Medical Student Research Symposium, contact Adam Deardorff (deardorff.2@wright.edu). Read more about previous symposia: 2009 | 2010.

Attention: Faculty Research Mentors

“Introduction to the Research Learning Community” (SMD 616) is a new research elective course for first-year medical students at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. The elective is designed for highly motivated medical students who want to gain research experiences during their medical education.

SMD 616 introduces students to the range of biomedical, clinical, and translational research conducted at WSU ; it provides training in basic skills that will prepare students to contribute to a faculty research project; and it demonstrates strategies for identifying potential research mentors and collaborators.

Fifteen M1 students are enrolled now in the course, which runs from January-July. In the next few weeks, they will begin to contact department chairs and faculty to ask about the availability of summer research experiences in areas that interest them. If students in SMD 616 contact you, please make time to meet with them to discuss the possibilities.

For the purposes of this elective, a research experience means participating in some meaningful aspect of a faculty mentor’s research project. The research experience might include: conducting a literature search, drafting a human subjects or lab animal protocol, obtaining informed consent from patients, conducting retrospective chart reviews and other kinds of data collection and analysis, or observing and learning specific research procedures. While the experience is not expected to be a fully developed and independent research project, it could provide a pathway for developing such a project later in medical school.

Students and mentors will develop a suitable plan for a research experience involving at least 40 hours of contact time. Plans will be finalized by May. Research experiences will be completed in June-July.

For more information about SMD 616, see the course home page on MedU. If you have questions, contact  course director Mark Willis (mark.willis@wright.edu; 937-775-3814).

Feb. 22 Lecture Surveys Medical Education Research

The next lecture in the 2010-2011 Translational Research Lecture Series is scheduled on Tuesday, Feb. 22, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in Room 120 White Hall. The series is presented by the WSU Medical Student Research Club. All BSOM faculty and students are invited to attend.

The lecture will survey “Medical Education Research at WSU” with a panel of faculty and medical student investigators led by Nicole Borges, P.H.D. (above left), associate professor of community health and assistant dean of medical education research and evaluation. Faculty presenters also include Gary Nieder, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology; and Brenda Roman, M.D., professor and director of medical student education in psychiatry. Student presenters include Micah Prochaska (M4), Heather Rodabaugh (M4), and Adam Deardorff (M.D./Ph.D. student). Download the agenda (MS Word).

Dinner will be provided on Feb. 22. Please RSVP to Adam Deardorff (deardorff.2@wright.edu) if you plan to attend.

“Framing Answerable Research Questions” is the theme of the 2010-2011 Translational Research Lecture Series. Visit the Research Learning Community on MedU for the series schedule and links to videos and related reading for the lectures.

Dec. 2 Translational Research Lecture Explores Year-Out Research Experiences for Med Students

The next lecture in the 2010-2011 Translational Research Lecture Series is scheduled on Thursday, Dec. 2, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in Room 120 White Hall. The series is presented by the WSU Medical Student Research Club. All BSOM faculty and students are invited to attend.

The featured speaker will be Kristine Busse, an M4 student at WSU who spent the past academic year in a year-out research program at the Psoriasis and Skin Treatment Center at the University of California-San Francisco. She was sub-investigator in 6 clinical trials in psoriasis and eczema, working under the mentorship of John Koo, M.D., a key opinion leader in the psoriasis field. Busse’s talk will discuss clinical trials as well as the process of putting together a year-out research experience during medical school.

Dinner will be provided on Dec. 2. Please RSVP to Adam Deardorff (deardorff.2@wright.edu) if you plan to attend.

“Framing Answerable Research Questions” is the theme of the 2010-2011 Translational Research Lecture Series. Visit the Research Learning Community on MedU for the series schedule and links to videos and related reading for the lectures.

American Brain Tumor Association Announces Translational Research Funding Opportunities

The American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) is now accepting applications for its 2011 Basic Research Fellowship and Translational Research Grant programs. Applications are due in the ABTA office no later than 5 pm (CST) January 7, 2011 for Fellowships and Translational research projects to begin July 1, 2011.

American Brain Tumor Association Basic Research Fellowships: These two-year training awards support the salaries of young researchers entering the field of brain tumor research. This is often the first award of a researchers’ career, and is coveted honor on an investigator’s curriculum vitae. The experience provides an opportunity in which young, bright, motivated investigators learn from motivating mentors. Basic research fellowships are $80,000 payable over two-years ($35,000 salary support and $5,000 discretionary funds per year). Criteria for selection include the quality of the individual candidate, including their commitment to neuro-oncology; the quality of the training program mentorship; and the proposed research. Instructions and downloadable applications are available at: http://bit.ly/b6myQ2

American Brain Tumor Association Translational Grants: These awards help scientists further develop studies on the cusp of moving from the laboratory into patient testing. These $75,000 one year grants support the collection of the preclinical data researchers need to apply for major funding from other sources, such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI) or the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stoke (NINDS). Criteria for funding include the quality and therapeutic potential of the research, the as well as the quality of the laboratory environment and the investigator. Instructions and downloadable applications are available at: http://bit.ly/b6myQ2

The American Brain Tumor Association distributes research funding through five primary programs. In addition to the Basic Research and Translational Research programs, ABTA offers funding through the Discovery Research Grant Program, providing one-year, $50,000 grants for high-risk, high-impact projects deemed to have the potential to change current diagnostic or treatment paradigms for adult and pediatric brain tumor care (the application deadline has passed for 2011); the Medical Student Research Fellowship Program, offering $3,000 grants for ten-to-twelve week summer laboratory experiences; and, various Collaborative funding efforts with professional and other brain tumor organizations.

More information on the American Brain Tumor Association’s Research Awards Program is available at: http://www.abta.org/Research_Progress/36.

Founded in Chicago in 1973, the American Brain Tumor Association was the first national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to brain tumors. Today, the American Brain Tumor Association is a leader in brain tumor research and patient information, education and support. Learn more at http://www.abta.org or 1-800-886-2288.