April 17, 2009

Welcome to the University of Michigan Medical School E-News, your source for quick and current news from the medical school community.

April 17: Attend Dean Woolliscroft's office hours program
Since beginning the "office hours" program, Dean Woolliscroft has met informally with many faculty, staff and students who have provided him with valuable comments and suggestions on how to enhance our efforts and make a great school even better. Below are the days, times and locations for office hours in April and May. Faculty, staff and students are invited to stop by with their creative ideas and innovative solutions:

• 1 - 2 p.m. Friday, April 17, in the Cardiovascular Center room 2738
• 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, in the Biomedical Science Research Building seminar room A

April 21: Dean's Lecture Series
The next Dean's Lecture Series will take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, in the Towsley Center Dow Auditorium, featuring Gilbert R. Upchurch, M.D., Leland Ira Doan Research Professor of Vascular Surgery. Upchurch will speak on "Gender Differences in Aortic Aneurysms: Clinical and Experimental Lessons Learned."

Security reminders for lab animal protest week
The World Week for Animals in Laboratories is next week, April 20-25. During this week, animal research facilities across the country often experience increased protest activity. Therefore, it is a good time to review some basic prevention steps.

The U-M Department of Public Safety recommends that members of the U-M research community take the following precautions:

• Keep laboratories and offices locked at all times
• Monitor laboratories and offices for unauthorized persons
• Wear identification badges at all times
• Report suspicious persons, activities, or objects to DPS immediately. (Call 763-1131 from your cell phone or 911 from a landline)
• Report inquiries regarding building hours, locations of laboratories and offices, type of research being conducted, and location of animals to DPS. (Contact Deputy Chief Joe Piersante, Officer Garry Veld or the on-duty Command Officer at 763-1131)

Please direct any media inquires regarding animal use or care to UMHS Public Relations, 764-2220. Members of the media team are available by pager for urgent issues, including the unexpected arrival of members of the media at laboratories or offices.

Security concerns regarding the animals or animal facilities should be addressed to Officer Garry Veld at 734-763-1131. Immediate concerns should be reported to the DPS dispatcher at 763-1131.

Additional safety information, including the 2008-2009 Campus Safety Handbook and the ability to report NON-EMERGENCY situations online, can be found on the DPS website at www.police.umich.edu.

If you or your staff would like wallet-size emergency cards with U-M emergency telephone numbers, please contact Officer Veld at 734-763-1131, or at gveld@umich.edu.

IRBs are increasing their responsiveness to researchers
The U-M Medical School Institutional Review Board (IRBMED) and the other IRBs at U-M have been listening to feedback from researchers and using it to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in reviewing, approving and overseeing research projects. This improvement is reflected in the 2008 Report to the Faculty and Staff on Institutional Review Boards, which was recently released by the U-M Office of the Vice President for Research. The report shows there has been a significant reduction in turnaround times on new project submissions and a general reduction in the turnaround times from submission to approval for selected ancillary and core committees.The report also shows that the volume of projects being approved is increasing, especially in medical sciences. IRBMED monitors about 3400 projects at any given time. Each year about 8000 submissions are received. About 1200 of them are new studies and the others are renewals, reports and terminations.

Institutional Review Boards make sure that the rights and welfare of participants are protected in all clinical trials and other human subjects research conducted at the University of Michigan. Researchers must obtain the approval from the appropriate U-M IRB before a research project involving human subjects can begin. For more information about IRBMED, go to www.med.umich.edu/irbmed/ . The IRB report is available at www.research.umich.edu/hrpp/Documents/2008Report.pdf.

IRBMED makes asking IRB questions easier
IRBMED now offers a service to make it easier to ask IRB questions. The service is called “STARS,” short for Speak to a Regulatory Specialist. It provides scheduled times during the week when a senior regulatory analyst will be available to speak right away with researchers who call about new or ongoing IRBMED business. Call 734-763-4768 during the designated times and ask for “STARS.”  Current times for these calls are: 

• 10 a.m. - noon Tuesdays
• 1 - 3 p.m. Wednesdays

This new program guarantees that researchers can talk with an appropriate professional during designated times. It is an additional way for researchers to contact the IRBMED staff, who welcome questions at any time, offer consults on new and on-going research and provide scheduled educational sessions to address specific needs of researchers.

April 22: MCIT launches GreenIT for the U-M Health System 
In keeping with the U-M Health System efforts to be better stewards of our resources, MCIT is modifying the way that it manages computers, called Core Image devices. The GreenIT project will launch the first of four phases on Wednesday, April  22. Part of this project is similar in purpose to the Climate Saver  program conducted by main campus to reduce consumption of resources.  Phase 1 will implement changes to computer monitor settings that will automatically put them into a “standby”or “sleep” mode after 15 minutes of inactivity. What that means to you is that if your computer’s monitor is dark, wiggle the mouse or touch the keyboard and count to 5. If the monitor fails to activate, then your computer is probably shut down. This brief delay in starting up may be a little inconvenient but will significantly reduce consumption of energy, and projected annual savings for UMHS are substantial.

Phase 2 will take place in late spring and will establish a way for automatically shutting down computers during non-business hours. Additional innovations are planned for Phase 3 in September and for Phase 4 at a later date. For details, go to www.med.umich.edu/i/mcit/greenIT. If you have questions, please contact greenIT@med.umich.edu.

April 23: Histotripsy Symposium
Histotripsy is a unique technology for noninvasive, nonthermal, mechanical tissue ablation that has been developed here at the University of Michigan. Research on a number of potential clinical applications of histotripsy will be presented from 3 - 5 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the MCHC Auditorium. This will be followed by a Urology Grand Rounds presentation at 5 p.m., "HIFU in Urology: Lessons Learned," will be presented by distinguished visiting professor, Michael Marberger, M.D., professor and chairman of urology, Medical University of Vienna. Faculty and staff are welcome. The event is sponsored by the Department of Urology. For more information, call William Roberts, M.D., at 734-936-5801.

May 11: Partners for Healthy Communities
The Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research "Partners for Healthy Communities" symposium and walking dinner will take place from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Monday, May 11, in Palmer Commons.

The aim of this event is to enhance collaboration between U-M faculty, staff, students, and community members with similar research interests. Vanessa Northington Gamble, M.D., Ph.D., physician and noted scholar in the field of medical humanities, will speak at 5:45 p.m. For more information or to register, visit the Web site.

May 14: Office for Human Research Protections Research Community Forum
The federal Office for Human Research Protections and the University of Michigan are co-hosting a Research Community Forum, "Reducing Regulatory Burden: Real Strategies for Real Change." The forum will take place at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 14, in the Rackham Graduate School. It will focus on using the flexibility within human research regulations, proposed regulatory changes, novel approaches to Institutional Review Board activities and decreasing burdens for researchers and IRBs. For more information, visit the Web site.

May 16 - 17: 11th Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium
Abstract Deadline: Friday, May 1
Registration Deadline: Friday, May 8
The 11th Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium will take place Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17, in the Biomedical Science Research Building Auditorium, featuring three distinguished speakers:

• Phil Hanawalt, Ph.D., Stanford University
• Junjie Chen, Ph.D., Yale University
• John Tainer, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute

The symposium will offer four scientific sessions, a poster session and dinner. For more information e-mail Path-MWDRS@med.umich.edu or visit the Web site. The event will be chaired and hosted by Mats Ljungman, Ph.D., radiation oncology and Tom Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., pathology.

May 20: Ninth Annual James V. Neel Lecture
Aravinda Chakravarti, Ph.D., an expert in computational biology and renowned geneticist, will present "Genetic Polymorphisms affecting Human Diseases" at the 9th annual James V. Neel Lecture, sponsored by the University's Department of Human Genetics at 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, in the Biomedical Science Research Building Auditorium. A reception for Chakravarti and scientific poster session featuring local genetics research will follow the lecture. For more information, visit the Web site or call 734-763-0682.

May 20: Sixth annual Gilman and Barbour Lecture, Department of Neurology
David M. Holtzman, M.D., Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and chairman, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine will present the sixth annual Department of Neurology Gilman and Barbour Lecture at 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 20, in Towsley Center Dow Auditorium. Holtzman's topic will be "Amyloid-ß Metabolism and Alzheimer's disease: New Ups and Downs in an Ongoing Story." A reception will follow the lecture. For more information, please call 734-615-5632.

44th Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology
Application Deadline: June 1
The University of Michigan School of Public Health will offer one-week and three-week courses for all public health professionals and those interested in health research during their 44th Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology July 12 - 31, 2009. CME credit available. For application and information, visit the Web site . For more information, call Jody Gray at 734-764-5454 or e-mail umichgss@umich.edu.

April 29: Low Literacy - its effect on patient health and what you can do about it
Did you know that over 27,000 men and women --12 percent of Washtenaw County's adult population--have very low literacy skills? This has implications for health care delivery which directly impacts the success of clinical practices of all types. Learn more about these implications, develop strategies for identifying patients with reading difficulties and investigate strategies and resources for improving communication. The workshop will take place at noon Wednesday, April 29, in the Taubman Medical Library classroom. For more information or to register, visit the Web site.

April 26: Life Sciences Orchestra concert features Beethoven's 9th
The U-M Life Sciences Orchestra will perform a free concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 26, in Hill Auditorium. The concert, which closes out the LSO's ninth season of blending art and science, will feature Beethoven's spectacular Ninth Symphony, with its famous "Ode to Joy" finale. Also on the program: a violin solo by University of Michigan physician Michael Hsu, M.D., and a composition for brass by Gabrielli.

The concert is free and open to the public and will begin with remarks by Health System CEO Robert Kelch, M.D. In addition to the LSO, the Beethoven symphony will be feature a special choir that was created specially for this concert. The choir consists of faculty, staff and students from the U-M's health, medical and life sciences.

The LSO is led by music director Mark Latham, a student in U-M's famous orchestral conducting program. For more information on the concert, visit the press release or call 734-936-ARTS.

Ten Thousand Villages' project of collecting recycled jewelry for resale
The Health Sciences Libraries is collecting jewelry for the All-Jewelry Garage Sale to take place from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday, June 13, at Grace Bible Church, located at 1300 South Maple. Jewelry can be donated at a designated box located in the lobby of library or by sending it to Anna Ercoli Schnitzer c/o Reference Office, Taubman Medical Library 2038. The proceeds from the sale of this recycled jewelry will purchase wheelchairs for people in Kenya.

U-M Makes the News!
M-News Now! is a Web page with timely information about members of the UMHS community who are in the news. See who is being interviewed or where their comments are being published at M-News Now!
April 13
--Patient and family coordinator Kelly Parent featured in the Ann Arbor News

April 12
--Free Press writes about Transplant Team crash investigation

April 9
--Mott patient the subject of news coverage

News Releases and Health Minute
For medical press releases and the details behind the headlines, visit www.med.umich.edu/news

Next Week's Health Minute
Alternative therapies can be safe, effective for children

Medical School FAQs
You can find answers to many of your questions pertaining to the U-M Medical School in one place. The FAQ page links to a variety of resources including information and support, educational programs, research and policy information. The site also lists some useful U-M resources.

Seminars, lectures, colloquia and events for next week

Monday, April 20, 2009
Noon. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Science Seminar Series. Justus Anumonwo, Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, assistant professor of molecular and integrative physiology, U-M Center for Arrhythmia Research, Department of Internal Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, U-M, will present "Regulation of Myocardial Potassium Channels in Macromolecular Scaffolds." in the Cardiovascular Center Danto Auditorium.

4 p.m. Faculty candidate in the Department of Human Genetics. Sohini Ramachandran, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. will present "The Spatial Distribution of Human Genetic Variation across Continents and Chromosomes," in 5915 Buhl.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Noon. Department of Biological Chemistry Seminar Series. Elizabeth Anne Pierce, graduate student research assistant, U-M, Department of Biological Chemistry, will present "Oxalate metabolism and acetyl-CoA synthesis by Moorella Thermoacetica," in Med. Sci. I room 6311.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
11 a.m. Neurology Grand Rounds. Henry Paulson, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Department of Neurology, will present "Toward Understanding and Treating Polyglutamine Disease," in University Hospital room 2C108.

Noon. Bioethics Grand Rounds. Sara L. Warber, M.D., co-director, U-M Integrative Medicine, associate professor, Department of Family Medicine, will present "The Greening of Bioethics: Perspectives on the Relationship of Humans and Plants," in Ford Auditorium.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
12:10 p.m. Gifts of Art. Cello recital by Cellochan, UH Main Lobby, floor 1.

4 p.m. Pathology Research Seminar Series. Yanming Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State University, will present "Histone Arg modifications and chromatin structure in transcription and bacterial killing -- the story of a good cop goes bad," in Med. Sci. I room 4234.

4 p.m. Biological Sciences Scholars Program faculty candidate in the Departments of Human Genetics. Hugh Cam, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, will present "Epigenetic Control and Genome Organization by RNAi and Transposon-derivied Protein," in 2736 Furstenburg.