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

From the Dean's Office

Faculty reminded about promotion packages for the current academic year
Yesterday, Margaret R. Gyetko, M.D., associate dean for faculty affairs, sent a message to remind faculty that promotion packages for the current academic year are due on Oct. 1, 2009. Promotions that are being reviewed will be effective Sept. 1, 2010. She also encouraged faculty to look at the Faculty Affairs Web site now to start getting
ready for next year's promotion cycle.

Research

Call for proposals for Medical Innovation
Application Deadline: Wednesday, Oct. 14
The Medical Innovation Center is pleased to announce its second grant program made possible by the Bud Williamson Innovation Fund and Michigan Institute for Clinical Health Research.

The Medical Innovation Center's innovation awards help inventors move a medical technology idea to the next step on the path to commercialization. We recommend attending one of our question and answer sessions in Ford Auditorium because the application questions may cover topics that might not be familiar to all PIs :

• 5 - 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21
• 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23

For the application and guidelines, visit the Web site .

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, up to 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

University of Michigan Teaching and Technology Collaborative upcoming workshops
University of Michigan Teaching and Technology Collaborative offers technology training to faculty and staff. Upcoming workshops include:

UM.Sitemaker: Web sites made simple workshop
10 a.m. - noon Monday, Oct. 5, Taubman Medical Library
UM.SiteMaker is a system that helps University of Michigan faculty, students and staff quickly create Web sites and web databases without having to know a lot of technical details. In this session, we will explore basic UM.Sitemaker functionality for creating pages and assigning access to various online material.

Creating Database Tables in Sitemaker
10 a.m. - noon Monday, Oct. 12, Taubman Medical Library
Sitemaker's database tables are a simple and powerful tool to use. This class will show you how to create a database for a variety of functions, ranging from record keeping, list management, scheduling and more. Planning your database, creating and configuring how the database displays depend on the user and getting info out of database for use in other programs. We'll spend time using basic CSS to control the look of your data table. Some experience with Sitemaker and HTML helpful.

For more information or to register, visit the Web site.

Sept. 22: Learn how to use Confluence, a wiki for the Health System
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Medical School Information Services will be hosting several training sessions about its wiki, Confluence, at the Cardiovascular Center Danto Auditorium.  Confluence is a wiki, an enterprise-wide web-based tool available for online collaboration.  

Both first time and advanced Confluence users are encouraged to attend.  There will be a basic training session at 1:30 p.m. and an advanced training session at 2:45 p.m., followed by an open Q&A style session at 3:30 p.m.  Even if you aren't using Confluence currently, throughout the training we will be showing highlights of how the UMHS is already taking advantage of this powerful web 2.0 tool. 

For details check out the information page within Confluence at: www.umms.med.umich.edu/confluence/x/QQMzBQ.

Administrative

Sept. 22 and 23: Town Hall meeting about Mott Children's and Women's replacement hospital project
Attend one of two town hall meetings and be eligible to win a tour of the hospital construction site. The town hall meeting is designed to inform faculty and staff of the status of the C.S. Mott Children's and Women's Hospital replacement project. Join us from 4 - 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22 or from 8 - 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, in the MCHC Auditorium to get a construction update, find out what a kitten scanner is and learn about the CT ambient experience.

Internet Explorer to be upgraded on Core Image computers
Beginning next week, MCIT will be upgrading the the standard Internet Explorer Web browser on the Core Image computers. This upgrade will help users deal with the growing number of Web sites that require Internet Explorer version 7 or higher. To get ready for this upgrade, MCIT has conducted several weeks of testing of over 100 clinical and business applications that rely on the browser.

When this upgrade is distributed, users will see the following on their computers:

• It will present a notification to inform you that it will execute the Internet Explorer upgrade
• It will take 5-10 minutes to install
• Any open browser sessions - including CareWeb - will close
• It will require an immediate reboot to complete the installation

Due to the requirements of our patient context management environment, certain features will be disabled, such as tabbed browsing. MCIT is actively working to address these issues. More information can be found at the MCIT Web site.

The Sept./Oct. Inside View is now online
The latest issue of Inside View is now online. Beginning with this issue, it will only appear online since the print version has been discontinued. Inside View continues to provide stories about what's going on at the Health System and stories about the people who work for UMHS. Inside View now offers even more photos, videos and articles. We will continue to respond to your ideas and suggestions to keep making it even better.

Just click on the link to read stories, comment on articles, watch videos and more. And, there's a PDF version for printing if you want to read it when you're away from your computer screen. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, insideview@med.umich.edu.

Other

Call for Nominations -- Candace J. Johnson Award to honor exemplary staff
The University of Michigan Office of the Provost wishes to recognize an exemplary staff member from the Ann Arbor campus or Health System with the Candace J. Johnson Staff Award for Excellence.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to nominate those staff members who truly make a difference in the workplace by combining enthusiasm and excellence.

Established in 2004, the award is a memorial to a dedicated staff member, Candy Johnson, whose special blend of professionalism and personality was a positive influence throughout the University. A $500 cash award and certificate will be presented in December by the Office of the Provost.

The final day nominations will be accepted will be Thursday, Oct. 8. For more information and nomination forms, visit the Candace J. Johnson Staff Award for Excellence Web site.

Sept. 25: Health Sciences Libraries book discussion
The Health Sciences Libraries invite you to a book discussion of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver. It will take place at noon Friday, Sept. 25, in the Taubman Medical Library Reference Office. Everyone is welcome, even if you haven't read the book. For more information, e-mail schnitzr@umich.edu.

Sept. 23 - 26: Support the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Clothing Drive
Neighbor- to-Neighbor Clothing Drive will take place Sept. 23 - 26. The Health Sciences Libraries is one of the many local places hosting volunteer action to collect and distribute clean clothes and/or warm blankets before winter arrives. To donate, please deposit clean clothes in bags, preferably sorted as to size, girls, boys, men's, and women's, and leave them in receptacle in front area of Taubman Medical Library Reference Room. On Saturday, Sept. 26, from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., you or your family can get clothes and or blankets free at the Washtenaw Community College Morris J. Lawrence Building, 4800 East Huron Drive.

You can volunteer at neighborsdaysofservice@gmail.com. For more information, e-mail schnitzr@umich.edu.

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

Monday, Sept. 21, 2009
Noon. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Science Seminar Series. Eugene Chen, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Center, University of Michigan, will present, "PPAR and Nitro-fatty Acids in the Cardiovascular System," in the Cardiovascular Center Danto Auditorium.

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009
Noon. The Department of Biological Chemistry Seminar Series. John Lipscomb, Ph.D., professor, University of Minnesota, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, will present "The Many Facets of O2 Activation by Non-Heme Iron-Containing Enzymes," in Med. Sci. I room 6311.

Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009
Noon. Vision Research Seminar. Steven Abcouwer, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and Department of Surgery, Pennsylvania State University, will present "Microglia as therapeutic targets in neurodegenerative retinal diseases," in the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center Oliphant-Marshall Auditorium.

12:10 p.m. Gifts of Art. Gypsy jazz by Two Guitars, UH Main Lobby, floor 1.

4 p.m. Pathology Research Seminar Series. Jason Gestwicki, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, will present "Heat Shock Protein 70 and Neurodegenerative Disease," in Med. Sci. I room 4234.

Friday, Sept. 25, 2009
Noon. Internal Medicine Grand Rounds. Noah A. Rosenberg, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Human Genetics, Biostatistics and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, research associate professor, Life Sciences Institute, Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at U-M, will present "Human Genetic Variation and the Search for Disease Genes," in University Hospital Ford Auditorium. Real time link: connect.umms.med.

4 p.m. Anita Payne Lectureship. Marco Conti, Ph.D., professor and director, Center for Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, will present "Molecular Mechanisms of Oocyte Maturation: the Somatic Cell Connection." Palmer Commons Forum Hall.