The plasminogen activation system and related proteolytic systems are essential regulators of tissue remodeling events as well as of cell functions through activation of cell signaling pathways. Through early studies involving in vitro biochemical investigations and, more recently, in vivo biological studies involving gene modified technology, the plasminogen activation pathway has been identified as a major participant in the regulation and progression of a number of clinically relevant human diseases. These include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurological pathologies and bacterial pathogenesis.

The conference’s keynote speaker will be Désiré Collen, director of the Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine Group (comprising the Center for Molecular and Vascular Biology of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology) in Leuven, Belgium.

Collen has co-authored more than 620 research papers and has received four honorary degrees. He led the team that initially developed t-PA, currently the most effective drug for thrombolytic therapy of acute myocardial infarction.

Contact: Victoria Ploplis, 574-631-4017, vploplis@nd.edu

Postdoctoral scholars are researchers who have received their Ph.D.s and who are undertaking additional training before assuming their professional careers, be it in the academy, industry, government or nonprofit setting. There currently are 271 postdoctoral scholars at Notre Dame.

Building on a foundation put in place by the Office of Research — which formerly managed the appointments of postdoctoral scholars — the new office will consolidate services and provide additional professional development training and resources that will allow postdocs to flourish both at Notre Dame and beyond in their careers.

“The fact that the Office of Postdoctoral Scholars will report through the Graduate School signals Notre Dame’s recognition that postdoctoral appointments are developmental positions for scholars preparing for the next stage in their careers,” said Christine Maziar, acting dean of the Graduate School.

Primary functions of the office will include:

• Serving as a central location for providing services aimed at postdoctoral scholars’ needs.
• Developing a postdoc professional development program in partnership with the Graduate School Professional Development program that is focused on research, teaching, career and professional ethics.
• Building a strong and interactive postdoctoral community through orientation, information sessions, workshops and social events.
• Providing assistance to faculty with recruiting and hiring postdocs.
• Providing oversight of postdoctoral appointment procedures and policies.
• Serving as a resource for visa issues involving postdocs.

Originally published by Susan Guibert at news.nd.edu on May 14, 2013.

Exhibitors, including the CORES software program, will hand out one-page descriptions of their services and lists of personnel. “People can walk away with something from each of those booths,” says Melanie DeFord, director of grants business management. “It’s amazing to me that people on campus don’t know what we have.”

While many people are aware of the longstanding Mass Spetrometry and Proteomics Facility, many other such services are less widely known, she says. “They may not know that anything else exists for them,” DeFord says. “We’re hoping that with some good promotion of this facility fair we can get the people who actually use them to know of the many offerings on the campus.”

Article originally featured in the March 21, 2013 issue of NDWorks. Download PDF >>

What does the re-designed Office of Research website have to offer?

• Clear, concise content and information

• Improved usability, so you can easily navigate your way around the website and find your way back to where you started

• Updated design to meet the University’s branding standard

• Upgraded technology that allows you to view the website on any device (smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer)

The goal of the Office of Research is to make your work as a Notre Dame researcher as distraction free as possible, by removing as many of the grant-related administrative hassles that drain time away from focusing on your research programs. The new website is a reflection of this goal. The re-designed site’s focal point is the Services We Provide to you the researcher, so you have someone to contact right away to assist you with:

• a reimbursement or a position description
• preparing a proposal
• managing an award
• reviewing a contract or agreement
• navigating a research administration system
• a policy or research compliance question
• or if you are interested in research administration training for yourself and your research team

A “Quick Resources” menu has been added on the right-side of the homepage for fast reference to:

• Contact Us – provides general contact information for the central office and for OR staff deployed at your college
• Attend Training & Outreach Events – who to contact for training information and a link to the training calendar
• Find Research Funding – lists your options for funding opportunities
• Subsribe to ND’s Research Community Listserv - to stay up to date on the latest research administration related announcements and upcoming events for Notre Dame faculty, staff and students

Items you might consider as staples you often use for proposals are still available on the website:

• Forms
• Institutional Information, Codes and Rates for Proposals
• Monthly Reports

And if you have time to linger a little longer we also included:

• Announcements: federal regulation or procedure changes, events and so on
• Research and Scholarship News sources around campus
• Publications generated by the colleges

If we have not met your expectations as a visitor to our website, please share your thoughts on how we can make improvements by completing the feedback form below:

The GPG-required sections of a proposal include:

• Project Summary*
• Project Description
• References Cited
• Biographical Sketch(es)
• Budget
• Budget Justification
• Current and Pending Support
• Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
• Data Management Plan*
• Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan (if applicable)*

*These proposal sections are already being auto compliance checked at the time of proposal submission by FastLane.

FastLane will check to ensure whether or not a document is included; it will not check formatting, page length, or content requirements. (The one exception is the Project Summary, for which page length is checked.)

Proposal submission instructions for conferences, symposia or workshops; international travel grants; or program solicitations may deviate from the GPG instructions. If the submission instructions do not require one of the above sections to be provided, proposers ill need to insert text or upload a document in that section of the
proposal that states, “Not Applicable.” Doing so will enable FastLane to accept the proposal.

Additionally, proposers providing Biographical Sketches and/or Current and Pending Support information for Principal Investigators (PIs), co-PI(s) or Senior Personnel in a single PDF file associated with the PI, must
insert text or upload a document in that section of the proposal that states, “Not Applicable,” for any co-PI or Senior Personnel so that FastLane will accept the proposal.

PIs will receive a warning message if any of the GPG-required sections is missing, however, the PI will still be able to forward the proposal to the organization’s Sponsored Project Office (SPO). If the SPO attempts to submit a proposal that is missing any of the required sections, they will receive an error message identifying the missing section(s), and FastLane will prevent submission to NSF. After obtaining all required sections, the SPO may submit the proposal to NSF in accordance with established deadline date policy.

Proposals submitted through Grants.gov must include all GPG-required sections or include a document stating that the section is “Not Applicable.”

We encourage you to share this information with your respective communities so that they are aware of this system enhancement. Additional information is available on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/autocompliance.jsp

Please contact policy@nsf.gov with any further questions.

Originally posted on National Science Foundation website. >>

What can the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA) and the Office of Research (OR) do for you to reduce the administrative burden of conducting research? Come to an Open House and find out. ISLA and OR will be holding an Open House in the College of Arts & Letters to introduce you to the Research Support Initiative (RSI), the staff, and the services provided.

The Open House will be held for the College of Arts & Letters:

DATE: February 28, 2013

TIME: 3:00-5:00 PM

LOCATION: O’Shaughnessy’s  Great Hall

Download a poster (PDF) of the event, to share with your colleagues, or read about RSI in a recent ND Works article.

If you have questions regarding the Open House, please feel free to email Pat Base at pbase@nd.edu or call (574) 631-5730.

• February 1^st, 2013 – NSF Awardees must stop submitting reports in FastLane
• March 15^th, 2013 – Program Officers approve all pending FastLane projects
• March 18^th, 2013 – Turn off FastLane

NSF Letter to Colleagues: Implementing all Project Reporting in Research.gov (PDF)

Some significant changes include:

• Revisions to the NSF Merit Review Criteria which implement the National Science Board’s (NSB) recommendations. Changes will affect the project summary and project description sections of proposals. Annual and final reports also will be affected;
• Revision of the Biographical Sketch(es) instructions to rename the “Publications” section to “Products” and amend terminology and instructions accordingly;

• Clarification on indirect costs specifying that, except as noted in the PAPPG or a program solicitation, organizations must use the applicable negotiated indirect cost rate;
• Modification of Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of proposals to assist proposers in complying with the NSF cost sharing policy;
• Numerous other clarifications also have been made throughout the document.

The current PAPPG will continue to apply until January 14, 2013.

Barry Cushman is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.

His book, Rethinking the New Deal Court: The Structure of a Constitutional Revolution (Oxford University Press), was awarded the American Historical Association’s Littleton-Griswold Prize in American Law and Society in 1998.

When: Tuesday, September 18, at noon

Where:  Oak Room at the South Dining Hall

Additional Information:

• Lunch will be provided – No need to RSVP
• Open to the Public
• Download poster (PDF)