FA 5 Progress Report WV-INBRE - Joan C. Edwards School of ...

Program Director/Principal Investigator (Last, First, Middle): Rankin, Gary O 116PROGRAM SUMMARY AND EVALUATION UPDATEAdministrative Core (AC)The AC, led by PI Dr. Gary Rankin, Marshall University (MU), has been involved in many activities during thecurrent grant year (Y11). One of those activities was conducting a competition among partner institution(PUI) faculty for new major PUI research awards. The overall scores and critiques were reviewed by the ACand submitted to External Advisory Committee (EAC) members for their review and recommendation. Basedon EAC recommendations, three applications were selected for funding. These projects were selected to befunded starting in May, 2012 and will be conducted by Dr. Yi Chen, Alderson-Broaddus College (competitiverenewal), Dr. Joseph Horzempa, West Liberty University, and Dr. Qing Wang, Shepherd University. Two ofthe currently funded major PUI investigators (Drs. Aguilar and Kreisberg) were not renewed based onproductivity issues. The AC is also working to replace EAC member, Dr. Kenneth Ramos who resigned. TheAC and EAC are discussing a replacement for Dr. Ramos. In addition, the AC also coordinated the verysuccessful Summer Research Program during the summer of 2011, which culminated with the SummerResearch Symposium held at Marshall University on July 28, 2011.Dr. Sheil published a WV-INBRE newsletter for the fall of 2011. Faculty at the partner institutions competedfor Faculty Research Development Awards (FRDAs) to begin in Y11. Four applications totaling $90,000 wereselected for funding with awards being provided to Alderson-Broaddus College (1), Shepherd University (1),and the University of Charleston (2). Based on the Y10 competition for major PUI research awards, Dr.Tesfaye Belay, Bluefield State College was selected to receive a major PUI research award for Y11 for hisproject entitled “Effect of stress on pathogenesis of Chlamydia trachomatis and immune responses in amouse model”. Dr. Belay is a previous FRDA recipient. In addition, carryover funds were obtained topurchase equipment to upgrade cores at MU and West Virginia University (WVU) and to provide newequipment at eight PUIs.In Y09, WV-INBRE PI Gary Rankin was awarded four ARRA supplements (3P20RR016477-09S1-S4).These supplements supported summer research experiences for PUI students and middle and high schoolscience educators (S1), advanced translation research (S2 and S4) and enhanced the researchopportunities for Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) graduates at the PUIs and HSTA highschool science teachers (S3). During Y10, S1 was completed, while S2 (see SPID 0036) and S4 (seeSPID 0037) are active research projects, and S3 has actively recruited HSTA graduates to work onWV-INBRE funded research projects during the academic year and recruited HSTA high school scienceteachers to work on biomedical research projects during the summer. S3 ended during Y11, while S2 andS4 were awarded no cost extensions for one year.Recently, WV-INBRE was given permission to establish a Center for Natural Products Research as part ofthe PUI research plan. The Center will coordinate natural products research in the area of finding anddeveloping chemotherapeutic agents. An organizational meeting is planned for early April.Steering Committee and External Advisory Committee Meetings: A Steering Committee meeting was heldon July 27, 2011 at MU and attended by three External Advisory Committee (EAC) members (Tew [Chair ofthe EAC], Cutler and Yang). Dr. Fornsaglio, who could not attend, reviewed all meeting materials andcontributed to the report. Their EAC report is attached. A second meeting is being planned for early April,2012.Additional Meetings and AC Presentations: (1) Drs. Rankin, Sheil and Primerano attended the IDeANetworks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) PIs and PCs meeting at NIH on October 4, 2011.(2) Dr. Rankin also met with other Southeast Region PIs on September 21, 2011 in New Orleans, LA todiscuss best practices in each INBRE in our region. (3) Dr. Rankin attended the Southeast Regional IDeAMeeting in New Orleans, LA on September 22-24, 2011. Dr. Rankin also co-chaired an oral session entitledCancer I. (4) Drs. Rankin, Sheil and Primerano helped the WVU COBRE PI, Dr. Laura Gibson, to plan andhost the 2011 West Virginia IDeA Meeting. The meeting was held on October 21-22, 2011 at WaterfrontPlace Hotel in Morgantown, WV. Dr. Rankin presented an update on WV-INBRE, while Dr. PrimeranoPHS 2590 (Rev. 06/09)Continuation Format Page