PITRAMI Showcase for Parnassus Research

A festive winter Parnassus Institute Trainee Minisymposium (PITRAMI) will convene on December 3 with flash talks and social events designed to build community among postdocs, graduate students, trainees, and principal investigators. Register to attend and sign up as a speaker. The event will be held 2:30-5 p.m. in HSW-300 and 301 and in the lobby area.

“Every Parnassus community member should know about PITRAMI,” says Jeroen Roose, PhD, principal investigator and vice chair of Anatomy. “Biomedical research is becoming more and more cross-disciplinary, a theme that is embraced at Parnassus and can also be recognized in the design of the new Bakar Research and Academic Building." Read the story.

UCSF Joins New Innovation Hub

UCSF is now part of a new Northwest Region Innovation Corps Hub funded by the National Science Foundation to train faculty and student entrepreneurs on how to commercialize their research. The Hub, which will receive up to $15 million over five years, will be led by UC Berkeley and includes UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, Oregon State University, and University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington. Read the story.

UCSF's Multi-Part AI Approach to Advancing Health Research

This month, Ida Sim, PhD, MD, chief research informatics officer and professor of medicine, presented UCSF’s multi-part AI approach to advancing health research. Speaking at the November 2024 UCSF Town Hall, Sim described the strategy as utilizing symbolic AI for leveraging explicit knowledge, neural AI for pattern recognition, and relational AI to augment human intelligence. Watch Sim’s presentation.

Research Gateway Update: Institutional Review Board (IRB) Module Replacement Project Kick-off

The Research Administration Compliance Services (RACS) team is initiating a project to replace the iRIS IRB system with the Huron suite of applications due to iRIS’s instability and inability to upgrade. Huron was selected for its functionality, compliance support, reliability, and reputation among leading institutions.

This transition will affect PIs and their research teams, IRB Committee members, HRPP personnel, and others involved in IRB processes, with noticeable changes in workflow and design. The new system is expected to be deployed in early 2026, with training and enhanced support available to assist with the transition. Please stay tuned for more details about the changes in upcoming communications. Read the full announcement from Brian Smith, JD, MBA, chief ethics and compliance officer and senior associate vice chancellor of Research, Infrastructure & Operations, and Mandy Terrill, associate chief information officer for Research. For questions, contact ResearchGateway@ucsf.edu. 

Act Before Freezer Prices Increase on Jan. 1

UCSF is offering up to $10,000 in rebates toward replacing old but working -80°C freezers with new Energy Star certified models. Energy Star-certified models provide 25% more storage per footprint and use only 30% of the energy consumed by older units, helping reduce costs and align with UCSF’s sustainability goals. This includes a $4,000 instant rebate for purchasing a new Energy Star freezer and $6,000 rebate for disposing of an old, working freezer. You can mix and match rebates or only dispose of a freezer without purchasing a new one.

Important: Secure a quote from a vendor before January to lock in current pricing as prices will increase in the new year. This offer is first-come, first-served until the allocated funding is expended. If you require a space to transfer freezer contents during replacement, let us know and include the building location. Please send the completed MOU to Elizabeth Lin to reserve your rebate.

CTEC Update

We encourage study teams to continue parallel submission to HRPP and OCTA to achieve a 90-day activation goal. Our current median time between submissions is 22 days since the campaign launch in January. Please refer to the Clinical Trial Activation Diagram.

Seeking Innovative Project Ideas for CTSI Grant Renewal

CTSI is seeking ideas for research projects that will test new strategies or tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of clinical and translational research, and/or increase capacity to recruit and retain diverse study populations.

Call for Feedback: NAIRR

The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) is developing a central hub with the goal of connecting researchers, educators, and students with AI resources. As this pilot resource portal is being developed, feedback from the research community is requested. If you would like to engage in providing feedback, complete this survey that will directly shape the design and development of this transformative platform. 

Animal Researchers: Let's Get AAALAC Quizzical - Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card

Get ready for our AAALAC site visit with our bi-weekly quiz campaign! Test your knowledge of AAALAC guidelines and our animal program by taking an 8-10 question quiz that you'll receive by email from LARC this week. Complete the quiz with a 90% or higher score, and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win one of six $50 Amazon gift cards! Take the quiz as many times as you like within one week for your chance to win. Good luck!

Research Spotlight

Muriel Babey, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Holly Ingraham, PhD and colleagues

"A maternal brain hormone that builds bone," Nature

William Krause, PhD

Specialist, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology

Holly Ingraham, PhD and colleagues

"A maternal brain hormone that builds bone," Nature

Paul Wesson, PhD

Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

and colleagues

"Novel methods to construct a representative sample for surveying California's unhoused population: the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness," American Journal of Epidemiology