GRANT WRITING WORKSHOPS SERIES

AGENDA

Wednesday, March 2^nd, 3:50 PM

Gross Chemistry Building., Room 103

3:50-4:00	General introduction and technical arrangements. Distribute handouts.
4:00-4:05	Introduce the invited speakers. State the overall goal of the workshop Faculty introduce their research interests and give a brief overview of their grant proposal	Dr. Tomalei Vess, Program Director, Graduate School Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, Professor in the Sanford Institute of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy (GELP). Dr. Lori Setton, Professor in the department of Biomedical Engineering and department of Surgery
4:05-4:10	Group arrangement: divide participants into two groups	Dr. Tomalei Vess, Alexei Valiaev Jun Xu
4:10-4:50	Discussion of a case study proposal Focus on specific aims, background, methods and materials, approach and timeline.	Dr. Lori Setton, Professor in the department of Biomedical Engineering and department of Surgery Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, Professor in the Sanford Institute of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy (GELP).
4:50-5:00	Long-term funding trends for health research. Positioning your research--what funding is likely to grow, what areas are likely to shrink?  Can you figure out what areas are most likely to be hypercompetitive, more likely to succeed?	Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, Professor in the Sanford Institute of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy (GELP).
5:00-5:10	Summarize dos and don’t in writing grant proposal narratives Questions and comments.

Questions or comments: discuss them online: http://cierd.cs.duke.edu/forum/

Workshop speakers

Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, Professor in the Sanford Institute of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy (GELP).

Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, is director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law, and Policy at Duke’s Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. He is also Research Professor in Public Policy Studies and the Department of Medicine. Until July 2002, he directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship program at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), National Academy of Sciences, after four years as founding director of IOM's National Cancer Policy Board. While at IOM and other parts of the National Academies 1991-2002, he worked on mental health policy, tobacco control, cancer policy, biomedical research policy, and federal R&D budgeting. He worked at the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health in its inaugural year 1989-1990), and was acting executive director of a congressional bioethics commission 1988-1989. From 1982 through 1988, he worked at the Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress, joining OTA as a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow directly from a postdoctoral position in molecular biology at the University of Colorado. He graduated from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1979, and from Harvard College (chemistry, magna cum laude) in 1975. He chairs the Royalty Fund Advisory Committee for the Alzheimer’s Association and the external

advisory board of a four-site project on genetic testing for Alzheimer’s susceptibility. In 1997-1998, he chaired Section X (Social Impacts of Science and Engineering) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where he is also a Fellow. From 1996-2003, he was a seminar leader for the Stanford-in-Washington undergraduate program. Dr. Cook-Deegan was a member of the Board of Directors, Physicians for Human Rights, 1988-1996, with whom he participated in human rights missions to Turkey, Iraq, and Panama.

Dr. Lori Setton, Professor in the department of Biomedical Engineering and department of Surgery

Research in the Dr. Setton’s Laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanisms for degeneration and regeneration of soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system, including the intervertebral disc, articular cartilage, and meniscus. Tissue Engineering Work in the Laboratory is focused on the development and evaluation of novel three-dimensional scaffolds that can be used to promote tissue repair. Scaffolds under investigation include in situ polymerizing hydrogels composed of elastin-like polypeptides, in a collaboration with Ashutosh Chilkoti of BME, and photocrosslinkable biodendrimers in a collaboration with Mark Grinstaff of Boston University. The laboratory collaborates with T. Parker Vail of Orthopaedic Surgery to evaluate the feasibility of scaffolds to assist in functional tissue repair. A key component of this work is the development of rational biomaterial design strategies using statistical and machine learning algorithms, in a collaboration with Mansoor Haider of NC State. This work is supported by the NIH, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Office of Naval Research and Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation. Cartilage Mechanobiology Studies in the Laboratory are focused on determining a role for mechanical factors in controlling cellular responses that may contribute to degenerative joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration. Well-controlled systems to load isolated cells, cell-gel constructs and tissues in vitro have been developed to determine cellular responses to compression, osmotic loading, and tensile stimuli. Modern techniques in molecular and cell biology are used in combination with engineering analysis to determine relevant physical stimuli and to identify new regulators of the associated cellular responses. The laboratory collaborates with Jun Chen of BME, Virginia B. Kraus of Rheumatology, William J. Richardson of Orthopaedic Surgery, Ed Hsu of BME and Tod Laursen of Civil and Environmental Engineering in these studies supported by the NIH and industrial partners. Collagen Mutations and Extracellular Matrix Mechanics Mutations in genes for proteins of the cartilage extracellular matrix have been associated with premature onset of osteoarthritis or disc degeneration in humans and animal models. Work in the Laboratory is focused on determining the mechanisms by which collagen mutations give rise to joint degeneration through combined studies of extracellular mechanics, biochemistry and gene and protein expression. Collagen mutations are associated with changes in matrix stiffness, but also the expression of inflammatory factors and matrix-degrading proteases, that may be responsible for premature onset of joint degeneration. This work forms the basis for one project of a 5-year NIH-funded Program Project led by Dr. Farshid Guilak. The Setton Laboratory collaborates with Drs. Yefu Li of Harvard Dental School and Bjorn Olsen of Harvard Medical School in these studies. Other investigators dedicated to the study of Biomechanics and Inflammation in Osteoarthritis are Drs. Frank Keefe of Psychiatry , Virginia Kraus of Rheumatology, David Pisetsky of Rheumatology and Brice Weinberg of Hematology/Oncology.