February 2023
Dear UCSF Research Community,
As we continue to reflect on 2022 and move forward into the new year, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all research administrators at UCSF. Since the start of the pandemic, the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) and Office of Clinical Trial Activation (OCTA) staff have faced many challenges and worked to ensure that sponsored research could continue. Despite personal impact like shuttered schools and daycare, caring for friends and family, ever-changing state and institutional COVID regulations and the uncertainty of whether and when we might come out of the pandemic, OSR and OCTA leadership and staff, and research administrators whether central, departmental, on or offsite, all answered the call of duty to support our faculty and researchers. OSR and OCTA teams could not be more grateful to UCSF researchers on the front line in clinics and behind the scenes in laboratories; together, we forged ahead with the submission of 945 proposals requesting approximately $1.4B in funding and resulting in 428 awards with over $420M in funding for COVID research alone.

I am happy to share some additional accomplishments and projects on the horizon for OSR and OCTA, as follows on the Office of Research website:


Thank you all for your many contributions to our important work.

Sincerely,

Winona Ward
Assistant Vice Chancellor – Research
Call for Applications: Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research
The Office of Research is pleased to announce an internal search for UCSF’s next associate vice chancellor for clinical research (AVC-CR). This is an excellent opportunity for an accomplished and dynamic UCSF faculty member to lead our clinical research enterprise.
 
The AVC-CR is responsible for stewarding enterprise-wide clinical research at UCSF, including directing the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). A successful AVC-CR will develop strong partnerships with key UCSF researchers at the forefront of clinical research that ensure communication and identification of community needs. The individual in this role will also develop strong relationships with UCSF’s administrative stakeholders in clinical research at the campus, school, and department-level units, working to optimize enterprise-wide coordination and organizational efficiency of clinical research support. Lastly, a successful AVC-CR will engage actively with the national Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) leadership and network to position UCSF as a leader in clinical research innovation and support.
 
This position will report directly to the vice chancellor for research and is envisioned at 70% effort (part-time faculty administrator role). Applicants must hold a current full-time faculty appointment at UCSF. Direct experience with CTSI or the CTSA mechanism is not required. To learn more read the full job description and additional details.
 
The application period is open through March 1, 2023. To apply send a cover letter explaining your interest in and vision for the position, a contributions to diversity statement (click here for guidelines), and a CV to Clarice Estrada at Clarice.Estrada@ucsf.edu. 
Mapping UCSF Research User Experience
The Academic Research Systems (ARS) team has spent the last several months focused on building out a research IT Roadmap, which highlights the planned services, systems, and infrastructure needs of research at UCSF. In an effort to fully understand these needs, the team has engaged with the financial and oversight support of the IT Governance Steering Committee to document the Research User Journey experienced at UCSF.
This journey mapping will allow the ARS team to develop future applications, services, and processes that will ultimately improve the user experience for researchers across the mission. This project is needed to understand the high-level steps and “jobs to be done” for a researcher at UCSF when they are managing new project initiation compliance requirements, finances, technical infrastructure, and data and analytics needs.

Detailed user and SME sessions will be facilitated by a trained and experienced team, who will document the current steps, take a deeper look, call out the gaps and pain points, then weight and prioritize those needs. Each step will tie back to the overall user journey. The output of this effort will drive the strategy for new service and communication development and implementation for the research community.

We are currently in the process of selecting participants based on area of science and leadership recommendations. In addition, if you are interested in participating or contributing your thoughts to this work, we encourage you to reach out to Mandy Terrill, the associate chief information officer for research at Mandy.Terrill@ucsf.edu. 
Call for Proposals: Living Therapeutics Initiative
The UCSF Living Therapeutics Initiative’s (LTI) mission is to support the vast scientific talent and clinical expertise at UCSF and help accelerate the development of promising cellular therapies from basic research to clinical evaluation for patients underserved by other treatment options. The promise of cellular therapies spans multiple and diverse indications and as a result the LTI is disease agnostic.
 
LTI will consider cellular therapy proposals along the entire development continuum. For this call, there is a particular interest in projects at pre-IND enabling studies and later. To support the GMP manufacturing of cellular therapies, UCSF has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific on a new cGMP facility located on the Mission Bay campus dedicated to producing cellular products for testing in patients.
 
The LTI supports 3 funding mechanisms for cellular therapy projects:
  • PRECLINICAL/PROOF OF CONCEPT STUDIES: Individual proof of concept awards may be up to $500,000 total over 2 years for the Full Award, and up to $75,000 over 1 year for the Pilot award.
  • LATE-STAGE PRECLINICAL STUDIES: Awards for pre-IND enabling studies, manufacturing, or clinical trial start-up activities for cellular therapies and can be up to $1,000,000 total over 1-2 years.
  • CLINICAL STAGE PROJECTS: Awards for clinical trial evaluation, clinical material manufacturing, and/or clinical correlative studies of cellular therapies and can be up to $2,000,000 total over 2 years.
 
More information about goals and requirements for these opportunities can be found here. If you have any questions, please reach out to LTI Director Cammie Edwards at Cammie.Edwards@ucsf.edu.
Winston Chiong Appointed Executive Director of UCSF Bioethics
Winston Chiong, MD, PhD, took the helm of UCSF Bioethics as executive director, effective January 2023. In this role, he is responsible for the integration of bioethics as an integral component of UCSF’s research, training, and clinical missions.
 
Trained as a neurologist, philosopher, and cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Chiong is an expert on the neural bases of decision-making and the ethical implications of alterations to brain function, including those experienced by people with brain disorders and by users of new brain-based therapies.
 
Dr. Chiong will continue as associate professor in the UCSF Department of Neurology Memory and Aging Center in the Weill Institute for Neurosciences and as principal investigator of the UCSF Decision Lab. His clinical practice focuses on Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and other cognitive disorders of aging. 
Congratulations and Welcome
Kevan Shokat, PhD, received the 2023 National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery. Judith Auerbach, PhD, Atul Butte, MD, PhD, and Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA, MLS were named 2022 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Effective March 1, Natalie Nardone, PhD, will be director of the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research. Natalie's role includes supporting our current Office of Research initiatives focused on clinical trial activation and operations, biospecimen management and storage, and informatics innovation and integration. Natalie will also help manage research communications, development of strategic partnerships, and science policy advocacy.
Profiles Hotlist
Events
February 27, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. | webcast
This meeting will share key points from nationwide community conversations and feature discussion from ethicists, biomedical researchers, technology engineers and developers, public health experts, and clinician researchers.

2nd REUNITE Week is February 27 - March 3
ImmunoX and other programs are organizing a week of Research & Education UCSF Network In-person Training Events at Parnassus, along with social activities. The first annual Parnassus Institute Trainee Minisymposium (PITRAMI) is February 28 at 3 p.m. and will feature sixteen flash talks in two parallel sessions in N-217/N-225 followed by a social hour.

March 10 | 8:40-11:20 a.m.
The Center for Open Science will provide an Epi-Tools Workshop and include hands-on activities and use cases.
Funding Updates
NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy Now in Effect
For all applicable research, researchers are required to submit a plan for outlining how scientific data and accompanying metadata will be managed and shared. Please review NIH resources, including archived webinars and sample Data Management and Sharing Plans. Additional resources can be found on the UCSF Library's dedicated webpage.

Call for applications: RAP manages the dissemination, submission, review, and award of various intramural funding opportunities. New this year with support from CTSI: Team Science funding may be used to support community-based coinvestigators on the research team. Deadline: February 27, 2 p.m.

The UCSF CTSI CRISP Fellowship is accepting applications from clinician scientists for one- or two-year fellowships starting July 2023. Deadline: March 1.

The Bakar ImmunoX Initiative is now accepting applications for this award of up to $100,000 over one or two years. Young investigators will have the opportunity to collaborate with the Office of Collaborative Research or one of the CoLabs. The award is open to those with an MD or MD/PhD who are not yet established as independent investigators. Deadline: March 18, 6 p.m.

With National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases pilot funding, the DREAMS-CDTR invites proposals for early-stage investigators whose research is focused on health equity in diabetes prevention and control. Deadline: April 24.

Planning to apply? Reach out to Tung Nguyen to learn about resources at UCSF that can form an outstanding application. Deadline: May 12, 9 p.m. An informational NIH webinar will be held on March 1.

The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation is pleased to announce the awardees for innovative collaborative project proposals for the Seeding Bold Ideas, Transformative Integrated Research Initiatives, Ethical-Legal-Social Implications (ELSI) in Precision Medicine, and a new IDEA award focused on equity and anti-racism.
NIH Updates
Policy & Guidance

Flexibilities
  • NIH extends special exception to the NIH/AHRQ/NIOSH Post-Submission Material Policy during the COVID pandemic, to applications submitted for the August/October 2023 council rounds.
  • NIH extends guidance for preparing applications for spring 2023 due dates during the COVID-19 pandemic, for applications submitted for the August/October 2023 Council round.
Infrastructure and Operations
UCSF will be migrating RUAs (Radiation Use Authorizations) from RIO (Research Information Online) to the UC Safety Radiation application, or UC Radiation, later this year. Get a sneak peek on the EH&S Radiation webpage, along with tutorials and links. In the spring, town halls will review the app and radioisotope inventory management and set a “go live” date.

UCTRAC is offering a new consultation service across a broad range of research methods to investigators established in and new to TB research. Consultants from UC Berkeley and UCSF, as well as external experts, provide programmatic knowledge in TB care and research in a variety of disciplines.
Information, Trainings, and Tools
California has special regulations for minors: Healthcare providers and researchers are not permitted to inform parents/guardians about a minor’s pregnancy test results, engagement in sexual activity, or use of birth control without the minor’s explicit permission.

The IRB now requires that biopsies conducted for the purpose of eligibility screening be the final screening procedure conducted, whenever possible. This will avoid unnecessary risks for patients who would otherwise be deemed ineligible based on simpler screening procedures.

Considering a career in clinical research? Learn more at our info session on February 27.
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