News
National Science Foundation Announces $20 Million
Research Award to South Carolina: The Largest Single Competitive NSF Award in SC
History
Columbia, SC - July
23, 2009—The National Science Foundation (NSF) today awarded South Carolina $20
million to establish a statewide alliance in the field of tissue biofabrication.
For the full press release, go to: http://www.scepscoridea.org/event
The South Carolina Project Wiki
The South Carolina Project introduces its new
wiki.
This will broaden the communication of project accomplishments and bolster
collaboration among the greater biofabrication community. Also, you can
keep up-to-date with news and information by following the
South Carolina Project
on Twitter.
Current Opportunities
Summer Undergraduate Research in at
Furman University
Furman is pleased to announce an opportunity for summer undergraduate research
in physics, biology, chemistry and psychology. As a part of a five-year award, Furman University will
provide: research salaries of $5,000 (NIH-INBRE, tax withheld) OR, summer
stipends of $4,500 (no tax withheld) to students from other SC
institutions participating in 10 weeks of full-time research. Research
will take place between May 17 through July 23. (Starting/ending dates are flexible with
permission of the research advisor. ). Participants work directly with Furman faculty members in
exciting areas of biomedical research based on background and interest. A primary goal for all participants will be
presentation at a regional or national meeting (travel
funding also provided), with the additional
possibility of coauthorship on refereed publications. Students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the
sciences are encouraged to apply. For an application or additional
information, please contact Ms. Sydney Wood at Furman University (sydney.wood@furman.edu).
Also,
view the brochure here.
Computational Structural Biology Courses
A course taught by Dr. Homayoun Valafar at the University of South Carolina
will be televised to Clemson and MUSC. Students should be able to receive
the lectures in any of the institution's teleconference facilities. Dr.
Valafar is also investigating if the course can be distributed online.
This course is intended to familiarize interested investigators with theoretical
concepts and some subset of the algorithmic tools currently utilized in the
field of protein folding such as ROSETTA and I-TASSER. Other software packages
such as Xplor-NIH and AMBER that are extensively used by the community of
experimental/computational biologists will also be introduced . Upon the
completion of this course, participants are expected to be able to embark in
competitive research in the area of protein folding.
The course
announcement is available here.
Tenure-Track Biochemistry Assistant Professor at Winthrop
The Department of Chemistry at Winthrop University (http://chem.winthrop.edu/)
invites biochemist applications for an assistant professor of chemistry
position. Application deadline is December 20, 2009. Materials received after
the deadline will be considered if an acceptable candidate has not been found.
This is an opportunity to work in a growing department at a top tier regional university that focuses primarily on quality undergraduate education. The selected applicant will work with the Department’s two other biochemists and eight chemists to mentor undergraduate research and to teach courses in support of Winthrop’s ACS Biochemistry Degree Track.
The selected applicant will immediately become a target faculty member in Winthrop’s acclaimed NIH INBRE program for faculty development that provides funding for research supplies, for student and faculty summer stipends, and that reallocates a portion of the teaching load to focus on undergraduate research. We are particularly interested in applicants with a strong biochemistry experimental background who are passionate about undergraduate research mentorship, particularly students from underrepresented groups.
Qualifications include Ph.D. in biochemistry or related discipline, passion for mentoring undergraduate research, expertise to teach biochemistry and general chemistry; potential for undergraduate teaching; recent research publications; and expertise in area that matches interests and complements current strengths. Email letter, CV, transcripts, teaching philosophy, teaching interests, undergraduate research interests, and 3 recommendations to chemistry@winthrop.edu by December 20, 2009
Upcoming Events
Webinar: Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence for Clinical and
Translational Research
March 25,2010 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST
The NCRR Division of Research Infrastructure will conduct a webinar to
disseminate information about a new initiative to promote the development of
Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence for Clinical and Translational
Research (COBRE-CT) at institutions that are eligible to receive grant support
through the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program. The COBRE-CT
initiative aims to strengthen and enhance clinical and translational research
infrastructure at IDeA-eligible research institutions that award doctoral
degrees in health-related sciences as well as independent research institutes
with clinical components or collaborating clinical entities.
NCRR welcomes input from the IDeA community regarding the COBRE-CT initiative. Webinar participants will be able to submit questions and comments prior to, during and after the event. Details about the webinar program and instructions for participating will be posted to the above linked page several weeks prior to the event.
Congratulations
The EPSCoR/IDeA State Office would like to congratulate Drs. Susan Lessner and Michael Sutton, who were recently awarded a three-year NSF grant in the amount of $323,559 for their project entitled "Novel Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Understand Biomechanics of Atheroscleroic Plaque Rupture." Atherosclerotic plaque rupture is the leading cause of acute cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, and the investigators will new approaches to better model rupture in mouse models. The award will also provide the opportunity for mechanical testing and data analysis to area high school students by providing an educational/laboratory experience module for the SCienceLab outreach program developed by the USC Center for Science Education. This SCienceLab module will be the first in the program to focus on engineering concepts. Dr. Lessner is in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy in the USC School of Medicine and was an INBRE new faculty hire from 2006. Dr. Sutton is in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at USC and is a Thrust Leader in the 2009 NSF RII.
diSCovering Research is the quarterly newsletter of the EPSCoR/IDeA office.
The Summer 2009 issue is available here as both a PDF and as a webpage.
Previous newsletters are available as PDFs: Winter 2009 Fall 2008
