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

E-News has changed! Our new look begins with items "From the Dean's Office" and then lists the news items in categories that reflect the primary missions of the U-M Medical School: academic, clinical and research. The other categories, "Administrative" and "Other," will handle items that don't fall into the primary categories. Each week we'll send you an e-mail with headlines in these categories; you'll need to click the header to go directly to that category in our new Web-based E-News. Let us know what you think about this new look at e-news@med.umich.edu." Thank you.

From the Dean's Office

Aug. 21: 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. Faculty, staff and students are invited to stop by with their creative ideas and innovative solutions from 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 21, in Argus I room 4226.

Research

Sept. 1: MICHR presents a webinar, 'Good Clinical Practice Violations and Creating Action Plans'
"Top Five Good Clinical Practice Violations and Creating Action Plans to Assure FDA Compliance" webinar will take place from 1:30 - 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, in the MCHC Auditorium. Hosted by the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research, this webinar, will cover the top five good clinical practice violations and how to create action plans to assure compliance. The speaker will provide at least five solutions to each "top five" violation in this 90-minute presentation. All faculty and staff involved in clinical research at the University of Michigan are invited to attend. Visit the MICHR Web site, for additional information.

A New Era in Medicine Symposium -- Call for abstracts
Abstract Submission Deadline: Tuesday, Sept. 1
The A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research are calling for abstracts for A New Era in Medicine Symposium by Sept. 1.

The Friday, Oct.16 symposium will include a poster session from 8 - 10 a.m., followed by poster awards and then presentations from distinguished speakers. The keynote address will be from Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the NIH. For details on the symposium and abstract submission requirements, visit the Web site .

Tranche data repository now hosting Personal Genome Project data sets
The innovative scientific file sharing network and data repository, Tranche, now hosts the first publicly released raw data sets from the Personal Genome Project . The U-M Tranche development group has worked closely with the PGP to host this important data set for public download, and the first release is now ready. Visit its Web site for information on downloading these and other data sets.

The Tranche Project is an innovative, free and open source file-sharing tool that enables collections of computers to securely and easily share scientific data sets. Designed and built to meet the specific need of scientific researchers, it provides a proper citation for the data sets, accommodates all licensing schemes, allows public or secure data sharing, provides for data persistence and assures that the data pedigree is known. For more information, visit its Web site or contact Mark Gjukich, markgj@umich.edu.

Funds available for subsidized use of U-M research resource cores for problems in aging research
The Nathan Shock Center for the Biology of Aging announces the availability of subsidy funds to help U-M faculty members purchase services from the University's family of research resource cores. The funds can be used to help pay a portion (40 percent) of costs at any U-M core that has published user fees or recharge rates. Examples of these cores include:

• Center for Integrative Genomics
• Metabolomics and Obesity Center
• Protein Structure Facility
• DNA Sequencing Core
• Center for Molecular Imaging
• Center for Chemical Genomics
• Affymetrix and DNA Microarray Core
• shRNA Library Core

The research project must address questions related to the physiology, cell biology, genetics, or molecular biology of aging. For detailed information, visit : "Funding Info. For Use of UM Research Cores".

Education

Health Sciences Libraries Workshops
The Health Sciences Libraries will be offering the following workshops:
Learn how to search EMBASE
1 - 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26
EMBASE.com is a biomedical and pharmacological bibliographic database that provides access to the most up-to-date citations and abstracts from biomedical and drug literature via EMBASE and Medline. It contains over 19 million indexed records from 7,000+ peer reviewed journals, covering 1947 to date, with more than 600,000 additions annually. Learn how to search this database effectively in this workshop presented by the EMBASE product trainer.

Learn to use SCOPUS, an abstract and citation database
3 - 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26
Scopus is a large abstract and citation database, covering nearly 18,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers and 435 million quality web sources, including 23 million patents. Learn how to effectively search this site in this workshop presented by the Scopus product trainer.

Aug. 27: Learn to use the clinical reference tool DynaMed
2 - 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27
DynaMed is a clinical reference tool created by physicians for physicians and other healthcare professionals for use primarily at the "point-of-care." With clinically-organized summaries for more than 3,000 topics, DynaMed is the only evidence-based reference shown to answer most clinical questions. Learn to use this tool effectively in this workshop presented by the DynaMed product trainer.

For more information or to register for any of these workshops, visit the Web site.

Biomedical engineering course needs M.D. volunteers -- minimal time commitment required
We're looking for physicians to act as clients for our freshman introduction to biomedical engineering course. The total time commitment is only 10 - 15 hours. To give students a real-world experience, teams of five-six students are assigned to a U-M physician client to identify a disease which could benefit from a novel, pre-symptomatic diagnostic test. It can be multi-stage, use both genotypic and/or phenotypic technologies, apply current methods like Western blots and PCR or emerging technologies like nanosystems or camera pills. Physicians would be required to meet with their student team three times during Sept. - Oct. to answer questions and provide guidance via e-mail. If interested, please e-mail Mary Beth Donovan at mbdon@umich.edu.

Clinical

Feds say UMHS improved care while saving Medicare $$
Medicare patients with heart conditions and diabetes, or who require cancer screenings, are getting better treatment than ever at UMHS, and that care is costing less, according to a new report. These results come from the third year of a five-year national project undertaken by ten large physician groups, including the U-M Faculty Group Practice.

UMHS achieved both of the project's aims: to provide the highest-quality care and reduce healthcare spending growth for all traditional Medicare patients, including those with costly chronic illnesses. U-M's performance was better than the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services targets for 29 of the 32 quality measures focused on diabetes, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and breast and colorectal cancer screenings. In addition, U-M provided care for these patients at a lower cost than the CMS target, saving Medicare $2.9 million.

For more information, please read our news release.

Other

U-M Computer Showcase has fall deals
All U-M regular staff and faculty can take advantage of educational prices and payroll deduction on select computers, software and accessories. We also offer repair service for Dell and Apple computers at our Michigan Union location. Fall specials include Apple's popular "free iPod" promotion through Tuesday, Sept. 8, plus other great deals. Shop now before students return. Visit the Union or our North Campus store in Pierpont Commons. For more information, visit the Web site.

New Canton Express bus service begins on Monday, Aug. 24
On Monday, Aug. 24, a new transportation option will begin for UMHS employees and others who commute from Canton and its surrounding areas. The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will provide two morning trips from Canton and two afternoon return trips. The Canton Express will originate from Independence Park at 6:05 a.m. and 7:17 a.m. and will stop a few minutes later at Cherry Hill Village. Health System stops include the Cancer Center, UH main entrance, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and the Cardiovascular Center. There are also stops on main campus and downtown Ann Arbor. Passengers can ride free through Sept. 4, and there are several rate options for riders after the free trial period.

For details, visit the Canton Express Web site.

Aug. 27: Life Sciences Orchestra season kickoff meeting/auditions
The U-M Life Sciences Orchestra invites faculty, staff, graduate/professional students and alumni from the University's health and biomedical community to attend the kickoff meeting for the LSO's 10th season of blending science and music. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27 in the Rehearsal Hall of the U-M School of Music (Moore Building) on North Campus.

It will feature information about the LSO and the opportunity to sign up for an audition on the evenings of Aug. 31 or Sept. 1, 2, or 3. Audition requirements and a webform that all prospective members must fill out are on the LSO's Web site . All prospective members must audition, even if they have played with the LSO before.

Robert Boardman, a doctoral candidate in the U-M's famed orchestral conducting program, is the LSO's new music director.

The LSO's next concert will be on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 4 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

See who's in 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!

News Releases
To see the latest news about Medical School research and other important Health System developments, visit the Newsroom at www.med.umich.edu/news.

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 useful U-M resources.

Seminars, lectures, colloquia and events for next week

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009
Noon. Bioethics Grand Rounds. Kathyrn Moseley, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases, will present "Religious Exemptions from Declaring Death by Brain Death Criteria," in Ford Auditorium.