UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) is part of a national Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program (CTSA) consortium, led by the
National Institutes of HealthNational Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Established in 2010, ACTRI provides infrastructure and support for basic, translational and clinical research throughout the San Diego region to bring discoveries from the laboratory to the bedside, and facilitates training and education of the next generation of researchers. ACTRI carries out its activities in collaboration with institutional and corporate partners and currently has more than 1,400 members. The ACTRI News and Funding Opportunities is a monthly newsletter.
ACTRI Special Announcements
LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!
ACTRI Translational Science Symposium: Emerging Issues and Solutions in Infectious Disease is Thursday, April 5, 2018 It’s not too late to register for the ACTRI Translational Science Symposium: Emerging Issues and Solutions in Infectious Disease on Thursday, April 5, 2018. The event will take place from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the ACTRI Building in the first-floor Auditorium. Former FDA commissioner Robert Califf, MD, will present the keynote talk, “The Role of ‘Real World Evidence’ and Big Data in Development and Assessment of Therapies,” from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Prior to Dr. Califf’s talk, research highlights will be presented from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. by the following ACTRI-supported researchers: Aaron Carlin, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, “Deconvolution of Anti-host and Anti-viral Genomic Responses in Zika Virus-infected and Bystander Human Macrophages”;
Jeannie Huang, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, “Improving Pediatric Hepatitis B Screening in High-Risk San Diego Communities”;
Frank Talke, PhD, Jacobs School of Engineering, and Thomas Savides, MD, Chief Experience Officer, UC San Diego Health, Division of Gastroenterology, “Disposable, 3-D Printable Endoscope: Development of a Safer Endoscope to Prevent Infection Transmission Between Patients”; and
Gabriel Wagner, MD, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, “HIV-1 Dual Infection and Neurocognitive Impairment.” In addition, the Daniel T. O’Connor Memorial Award will be presented to 2018 ACTRI pilot project recipient Kevin King, MD, PhD, Division of Cardiology and Department of Bioengineering.
Registration and more details.
New “TrialFinder” Website Powered by ACTRI Helps Researchers and Volunteers Find UC-wide Clinical Trials UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) is pleased to announce the launch of a new UC-wide Clinical Trials website, TrialFinder. This site enables investigators and volunteers to find all active clinical trials across the University of California’s five medical sites (UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UCLA, and UCSF). Enter the
TrialFinder site and then type in a study area such as Depression, Lung Cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease to explore more than 3,000 trials at UC Health. TrialFinder helps investigators and volunteers find both local and other UC campus trials, and is supported by a Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program supplement grant. Check it out!
 Are You Interested in Launching a Multi-site Clinical Trial? ACTRI Can Help! The NIH CTSA
Trial Innovation Network (TIN), launched last year to facilitate multi-site clinical studies, seeks TIN proposals. The TIN focuses on operational innovation, operational excellence, and collaboration while leveraging the expertise and resources of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program. Features include a single institutional review board system, master contracting agreements, quality-by-design approaches, and a focus on evidence-based strategies to recruitment and patient engagement. Key TIN elements for increasing efficiency and flexibility of multi-site studies are the single IRB reliance using the SMART IRB Exchange and the utilization of master/standard agreements.
Please note: Prior to submitting a proposal to the NIH, UC San Diego investigators are required to contact UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI), which is a TIN Hub Liaison Team, to discuss TIN proposals and submit them for pre-reviews. ACTRI provides basic consultation or services, or comprehensive consultation on TIN project proposals FREE of Charge.
Please submit your proposals by April 6, 2018. Please contact ACTRI team medical director Mark S. Wallace at
mswallace@ucsd.edu or team project manager Archana Bhatt at
abhatt@ucsd.edu to begin the consultation and pre-review process. These initial consultations provide guidance in developing your Network project proposal to the NIH.
Read more about the Trial Innovation Network and the ACTRI Hub Liaison Team.
Funding Opportunities
REMINDERACTRI and IEM Invite Engineering Applications for 2018 Galvanizing Engineering in Medicine (GEM) Awards
Deadline: April 16, 2018, 5 p.m. PST
ACTRI Seeks Proposals for Administrative Supplements
ACTRI Vouchers for ACTRI Research Services (In-kind)
NCATS Open Funding Opportunities
ACTRI News and Features
 ACTRI Voucher Enabled Researcher Sears to Conduct Sitting Study Get up! Prolonged sitting has been tied to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but brief interruptions of standing could have health benefits. And the type of interruption may make a difference, especially for your heart. A newly published pilot study of sedentary older women suggests that short standing breaks improve cardio-metabolic health. Lead researcher Dorothy Sears, PhD, with support from UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) through the
Voucher Program, tested three sitting interruptions in nine at-risk, overweight or obese postmenopausal women. A tenth volunteer participated in part of the study. “We found that our study participants didn’t get worse when they sat, but when they got up they got better,” said Sears, an associate professor of medicine at UC San Diego with a joint appointment in family medicine and public health. The results were published in PLoS ONE and landed Sears and her research colleagues a $1.5 million NIH grant to conduct a larger study.
Read more
 ACTRI Seminar on Twins in Space Omics Study Draws Crowd
ACTRI seminar attendees packed the Leichtag Auditorium on March 20, 2018 to hear the “Twins in Space: Omics Studies from NASA’s One-Year Mission” talk by UC San Diego associate professor Brinda K. Rana, PhD.
Read more about the series and the upcoming seminars. –Photo by Paul Mills, PhD |
   
In This Issue
Upcoming Seminars ACTRI Seminar Series
SAVE THE DATE!
Development and Application of Computational Methods for Analysis of Flow and Mass Cytometry Data: A Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Illustration
Thursday, June 7, 2018
2 p.m.
ACTRI Building, First-floor Auditorium Presented by:
Richard H. Scheuermann, PhD
Director, La Jolla Campus, J. Craig Venter Institute; Adjunct Professor, Department of Pathology, UC San Diego
Read more
ACTRI Communications Seminar for Early Career “K” and Equivalent Awardees UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) is hosting a year-long career development seminar series,
“Communicating: Your Academic Life Depends on It,” for early career “K” and equivalent Career Development awardees from UC San Diego, San Diego State University, and ACTRI partner institutions. The eighth session in the series,
“Communicating with the Public,” by Osher Institute members is scheduled for
Tuesday, April 3. The session will take place at the ACTRI building. RSVP is required to
ctri-education@ucsd.edu.
Read more
ACTRI Co-Hosts 2018 SoCal Dissemination, Implementation & Improvement Science Symposium
Creating Learning Health and Population Health Systems
Thursday, June 28, 2018
8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The California Endowment, downtown Los Angeles
Read more, register and learn about submitting poster abstracts
ACTRI-Supported Ethics Forum
Social Media Research: Public Health vs. Privacy
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Fleet Science Center
Balboa Park, San Diego Presented by:
Tim K. Mackey, MAS, PhD
Director, Global Health Policy Institute; Associate Director, Joint Master’s Program in Health Policy and Law; Associate Professor, School of Medicine, UC San Diego
Read more
Need a Tool to Find High-Prevalence Communities in Your Research Area?
HealthDAT San Diego is a web-based portal to health data in San Diego County. HealthDAT also includes graphical and numerical information about the impact of disease in local neighborhoods to make it easy to use. The site helps you to: set priorities and goals; identify local communities with the highest needs in your field of research; and connect to lead community agencies who can partner with you. The Institute for Public Health at San Diego State University partnered with UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) to establish the HealthDAT infrastructure. Check out the beta version of the portal and provide feedback about how the website functions and what additional features you would like to see.
Cite the Grant
Don’t forget to cite the grant! To help ensure resources are available for future research,
please cite the UCSD ACTRI CTSA grant. Projects and Publications using UCSD ACTRI resources must cite the UCSD ACTRI grant and follow the NIH Public Access Policy.
ACTRI News and Funding Opportunities
Gary S. Firestein, MD
Director of ACTRI
Eric Mah
Chief Administrative Officer
Patricia Wieser
Communications Director
Tracy Dezenzo
Graphic Designer |