Symposium
Honors NIAMS's Kempner
A symposium in honor of Dr. Ellis S. Kempner, NIAMS, will be held
Friday, Apr. 21 from 1:30 to 5 p.m. in the Bldg. 50 main auditorium.
The program will recognize Kempner's scientific contributions,
notably his pioneering of the technique of radiation inactivation
and its diverse applications in biology. Invited speakers include:
Shelagh Ferguson-Miller (Michigan State), Catharine Ross (Penn
State), Sidney Fleischer (Vanderbilt), Werner Schlegel (Univ. Geneva),
Marshall Nirenberg (NHLBI), Henry Metzger (NIAMS). Register for
free at http://niams.cit.nih.gov/rtbc/meetings_events.htm.
NIH To Observe Earth Day, Apr. 27
NIH
will celebrate Earth Day on Thursday, Apr. 27. In advance of the
event, the Office of Research Facilities' Division of Environmental
Protection (DEP) invites you to win a prize by guessing what IT
(see photo above) is and why IT makes an important statement about
protecting our environment and relates to the NIH mission. Some
hints: There are not many left in the world. ITs native habitat
in the Klein Karas mountains of Namibia is being increasingly destroyed,
and ITs survival is further threatened by poachers. In this photo,
IT is looking for a mate and for some hungry flesh flies to help
consummate ITs romance with a distant partner. The San tribesmen
of the Kalahari desert have been using related species for medicinal
purposes for many years. Think you know what IT is and why IT's
important? DEP will award a small prize to the first five people
who can correctly answer these questions. Submit your answers to
Michelle Coley at coleym@mail.nih.gov by
noon on Friday, Apr. 21. The NIH Record will publish the
answers and the names of any winners.
Symposium Will Honor Ferretti
"Forty Years of NMR in Biological Systems — A Symposium To Honor
James A. Ferretti, Ph.D." will be held Apr. 21 at the Natcher Conference
Center, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The symposium will celebrate Ferretti's
scientific achievements. He has pioneered the application of pulsed
Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to the
study of a wide range of chemical and biological systems. Featured
speakers include Ad Bax, Marshall Nirenberg and Dennis Torchia
from NIH, and a host of others. There is no cost, but registration
is requested via email to tjandran@nhlbi.nih.gov. For more information
visit www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/ferretti.
NIH Library Offers Hands-On 'Scopus' Class
Scopus is the newest resource available to NIH'ers via the NIH
Library's online databases collection. Register now for the May
18 hands-on training on how to search, set up alerts and capture
results from more than 15,000 journals and 13 million patents.
Four additional free classes are offered this season. For details
on all classes, visit http://nihlibrary.nih.gov/ResourceTraining/.
National Day of Prayer, May 4
In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Truman,
declared an annual national day of prayer. In 1988, the law was
amended and signed by President Reagan, permanently setting the
day as the first Thursday of every May. This year's National Day
of Prayer will be observed May 4 at 11:30 a.m. on the lawn in front
of Bldg. 1, near the flagpole. The observance invites all people
of any faith to pray for the good of the country and its leaders.
Learn to Communicate Effectively
The Work and Family Life Center will hold a seminar titled "Communicating
Effectively," on Wednesday, Apr. 19 from noon to 2 p.m. in Bldg.
50, Rm. 1227/1233L. Communicating is one of the most basic things
we do as humans. It's also one area many of us often don't actively
develop. Find out what the most common barriers to communication
are and how strategies such as "active listening" can help improve
your relationships with coworkers.
Yoga Meditation Held Weekly
Sahaja yoga meditation class is held every Thursday at 7 p.m.
on the third floor of the CRC, Rm. 1608 North. Sahaja yoga seeks
to awaken inner energy called kundalini, and is offered for free
and without obligation. The class is sponsored by the recreation
therapy section of the rehabilitation medicine department. For
more information contact Jasmin Salloum, (301) 402-5630.
Felcom Holds On-Site Career Seminar
The
NIH fellows committee (Felcom) recently had its first on-site career
development seminar at the Bayview-Baltimore campus. Dr.
Garth Fowler of ScienceCareers.org (c)
provided attendees with tips on interviewing for a variety of job
opportunities. The Johns Hopkins Postdoctoral Association (JHPDA)
provided refreshments for the reception following the program.
JHPDA President Simon Williams and Felcom representative for NIA Poloko
Leotlela (r) were
among attendees at the seminar.
FARE Abstract Competition for Fellows
The 13th annual Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) 2007
competition will again provide recognition for outstanding scientific
research performed by intramural postdoctoral fellows. Winners
of FARE will each receive a $1,000 travel award to use for attending
and presenting their work at a scientific meeting. One-quarter
of the fellows who apply will win an award.
Fellows who apply to FARE submit an abstract of their research,
which will be evaluated anonymously on scientific merit, originality,
experimental design and overall quality/presentation. The travel
award must be used between Oct. 1, 2006, and Sept. 30, 2007.
The FARE 2007 competition is open to postdoctoral IRTAs, visiting
fellows and other fellows with fewer than 5 years total postdoctoral
experience in the NIH intramural research program. In addition,
pre-IRTAs performing their doctoral dissertation research at NIH
are also eligible to compete. Visiting fellows/scientists must
not have been tenured at their home institute. Questions about
eligibility should be addressed to your institute's scientific
director. Fellows are asked to submit their application, including
abstract, electronically by Apr. 30 via http://felcom.nih.gov/FARE.
Winners will be announced by the end of September 2006. More information
is available on the web site above. Questions may be addressed
to your institute's fellows committee (Felcom) representative.
Plain Language Awards Ceremony, Apr.
19 in Lipsett
NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni will host the sixth annual NIH
Plain Language Awards ceremony on Wednesday, Apr. 19 at 2 p.m.
in Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10. Along with special guest speaker,
the "Food Label Wizard" and designer/artist Burkey Belser, Zerhouni
will honor a group of NIH writers who have developed communication
products that are exceptional for their clarity and focus. All
are welcome to attend.
NIH began its plain language program in 2000 and held its first
award ceremony in March 2001. That year, the plain language coordinating
committee received over 100 entries; each succeeding year the number
of entries has increased. For 2005, the committee received more
than 175 nominations including web sites, news releases, fact sheets,
newsletters, manuals and other written products. Members of the
committee, which includes representatives from every institute,
center and the director's office, evaluated submissions.
Belser is the talent behind the Nutrition Facts label on packaged
foods. The Nutrition Facts box identifies at a glance how much
fat, sodium and sugar lurks in every portion. The design, so simple
that the label works for virtually anyone, won Belser a Presidential
Design Award in 1997. The Washington-based artist also devised
the Drug Facts label, which began appearing on over-the-counter
medicines in 2002.
The Plain Language Awards ceremony will conclude with light refreshments.
Sign language interpretation will be provided. For other reasonable
accommodation, call (301) 496-1461. For more information about
the plain language initiative, visit http://execsec.od.nih.gov/plainlang/index.html.
GAIN Solicits Genotyping Applications
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health is soliciting
study proposals for inclusion in the Genetic Association Information
Network (GAIN). The FNIH, which manages GAIN, invites investigators
to submit applications to have existing disease-specific samples
from case-control (or similar) studies genotyped at no cost. Applications
will be peer-reviewed by scientific experts from academia, government
and industry.
Applications from investigators must include information such
as: the nature of study case and control populations; the phenotype
and exposure information that the applicant is willing to place
in a central database; the willingness of applicants to update
phenotype data in the future; and plans for analysis and replication
studies for the GAIN-supported genotype data, etc. Institutional
support for a study to participate in GAIN will be required.
Once genotyping is complete, the genotype information and other
related data, including phenotype and any exposure information,
will be placed in a central database available to scientists in
academia, government and the private sector, free of charge. The
database will be designed and managed by the National Center for
Biotechnology Information at the National Library of Medicine.
Applications are invited from government, non-profit and for-profit
institutions. To apply, visit www.fnih.org/GAIN/GAIN_home.shtml.
Applications are due May 9.
Take Your Child to Work Day, Apr. 27
NIH celebrates its 12th annual Take Your Child to Work Day, on
Thursday, Apr. 27. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., a variety of institutes
and centers will host educational and fun activities designed to
let your child (ages 8-15) experience the world of biomedical research.
More than 1,500 children are expected to participate in NIH's
Take Your Child to Work Day. The planning committee is seeking
volunteers to help make the day a success. Visit the Take Your
Child to Work Day web site for more information: http://takeyourchildtowork.nih.gov.
Registration for the event begins in mid-April. Contact Gary Morin,
(301) 496-4628 voice, (301) 480-3122 TTY, MorinG@od.nih.gov.
Individuals who need sign language interpreters and/or reasonable
accommodation to participate should contact Carlton Coleman at
(301) 496-2906 voice or (301) 451-2290 (TTY), (800) 877-8339 Federal
Relay or by email, ColemanC@od.nih.gov.
Stratton To Discuss Endometriosis, Apr.
17
Dr. Pamela Stratton, chief of the Gynecology Consult Service in
NICHD's Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch, will discuss "Endometriosis:
New Insights into Killer Cramps," on Monday, Apr. 17 from 11:30
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Wilson Hall, Bldg. 1. The lecture is sponsored
by the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health.