TRANS-NIH HAPPENINGS: LECTURES, MEETINGS, COURSES, FESTIVALS . . .

NIH Research Festival
To Span Bench to Bedside

The opening plenary session on Tuesday, October 17, at 9 a.m. will feature two examples of this year’s "Bench to Bedside" theme. Bill Gahl (NHGRI) and Juan Bonifacino (NICHD) will discuss disorders of lysosome-related organelles and Alan Heldman (JHMI) and Steven Sollott (NIA) will describe development of the taxol-coated stent for treatment of coronary artery disease.

Other events during this four-day annual showcase of the NIH Intramural Program will include boundary-stretching symposia; special exhibits on resources for intramural research; the Job Fair for NIH postdoctoral, research, and clinical fellows, with an opening address by NIH Director Elias Zerhouni; the festival food tent and music fair; and the Technical Sales Association scientific equipment tent show.

For a preliminary schedule of events, meeting venues, and online poster registration, go to the Research Festival website.

Special Request: Anyone interested in covering selected symposia and posters at the NIH Research Festival (October 17 and/or 18), for publication in The NIH Catalyst, please e-mail <catalyst@nih.gov> or call 301-402-1449 or 301-402-7248. (And anyone interested in being a volunteer reporter in general can also contact the Catalyst.)

Demystifying Medicine

Demystifying Medicine—a course to bridge the gap between PhDs trained in basic science and the medical problems to which their skills and insights could be applied—will be offered again in 2007.

Starting January 9 and ending May 8, the course will be held each Tuesday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the ground-floor auditorium of Building 50 (rooms 1227 and 1233). All presentations will be videocast and archived. There were more then 900 registrants last year, and Science and Nature carried articles about the course.

The course is geared toward graduate and medical students, clinical and PhD fellows, and staff. Those seeking academic credit can register with FAES.

Others may register at the Listserv:

The course schedule will appear in the November-December issue of The NIH Catalyst.

Principles and Practice
Of Clinical Research

There is no charge for the course; however, the textbook Principles and Practice of Clinical Research is suggested as supplemental information for the course. A certificate will be awarded upon successful completion of the course, including a final exam.

Close to 800 students registered for the 2005–2006 program, which was also broadcast to several domestic and international locations.

For additional information or to register, visit the website or call the NIH Clinical Center, Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education, at 301-496-9425. An e-mail confirmation will be sent to those accepted into the program.

For reasonable accommodations, call 301-496-9425 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at least seven business days before the event.

The course is designed for physicians and others training for a career in clinical research.

*Interested persons are strongly encouraged to take a course in biostatistics such as STAT 200 or STAT 500, currently offered by the NIH/Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide CME for physicians.

The Office of AIDS Malignancy Program in conjunction with the Office of International Affairs, NCI, is hosting the 10th International Conference on Malignancies in AIDS and Other Acquired Immunodeficiencies, October 16–17, 2006.

Basic, epidemiologic, and clinical aspects of research on malignancies in HIV-infected and other immunosuppressed individuals will be covered.

The objective is to enable information exchange between laboratory- and clinically based investigators to decrease the interval between basic discovery and clinical application.

The meeting will be held at the Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center (5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda, MD 20852).

Online information, including registration and preliminary agenda, are available at this website.

Registrations will be accepted until October 9, 2006, or until the meeting capacity has been reached.

Antiviral Drugs and Resistance

The "7th Annual Symposium on Antiviral Drug Resistance: Targets and Mechanisms," sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and co-sponsored by the HIV Drug Resistance Program, NCI, will be held November 12–15, 2006, at the Westfields Conference Center in Chantilly, Va.

For detailed information, to register, and to submit an abstract, go to the website.

Registration will be accepted until November 6, or until the capacity of the venue is reached.

The deadline for submission of abstracts for oral presentation is September 18; abstracts submitted after this date will be considered for poster presentation until October 13, or until capacity is reached. 

Questions may be addressed to Anne Arthur.

Chemistry History: Talk

Chemist Alfred Bader, founder of Sigma-Aldrich, the world's largest supplier of research chemicals, will speak on the history of that company, "with advice to young scientists," on Thursday, October 5, 2006, in the Lipsett Auditorium, Building 10.

NCCAM Lecture: Natural Products

The next lecture in the NCCAM Distinguished Lectures series is set for October 25, 2006, 11:00 a.m.–noon in Masur Auditorium, Building 10. Ram Sasisekharan, professor of biological engineering and health sciences and technology, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, will speak on "Natural Products: Challenges and Opportunities."

The lecture will be videocast and sign language interpretation will be provided.

For more information or for reasonable accommodations, call 301-594-5595 or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339. Additional information about the series can be found here.

Hispanic Scientists Research Showcase

As part of the 2006 Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations, the NIH-Hispanic Employee Organization is sponsoring the Seventh NIH-Hispanic Scientist Day, October 12, 2006, in the Lipsett Auditorium, Building 10.

This event seeks to showcase the contributions of Hispanic and Hispanic-American postdocs, scientists, and clinical investigators at NIH, FDA-CBER, and USUHS.

The day's activities will start at 10:00 a.m. with a keynote address, "Judging Performance: The Hispanic Perspective," by Richard Tapia of Rice University, Houston, Texas.

A poster session and reception will follow from 12:00 to 2:00 pm. All members of the research staff are invited to present their unpublished or published data. Posters to be presented at the NIH Research Festival are welcome. Please send your abstract (not to exceed 1 page) by September 22, 2006, to Norma Street or Migdalia Rivera-Goba.

Surviving Stress: Symposium

The "Fourth Symposium on the Functional Genomics of Critical Illness and Injury" will be held November 13–14, 2006, at the Natcher Conference Center.

The preliminary agenda for the NIGMS-Clinical Center–sponsored meeting on "Surviving Stress: Organ Systems to Molecules" can be seen at this website.

Registration is online through Thursday, October 19, 2006. There will be no on-site registration.

Clinical Bioethics Course

The NIH Department of Clinical Bioethics is again offering its course on "The Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research," from October 4, 2006, through November 15, 2006. The course will be held Wednesday mornings, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., in Building 10, Lipsett Amphitheatre.

For agenda details, faculty information, educational objectives, and target audience—and to register—go to the Clinical Bioethics website.

Sign language interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate should contact Mertis Stallings.

This event will also be videocast live via the Internet. To participate off-site as a group, contact Becky Chen no later than one week before the start date to make arrangements. Federal TTY Relay number is 1-800-877-8339. Closed captioning will be available.

The required textbook, "The Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research: Readings and Commentaries" (JHU Press), is available at the FAES Bookstore, Building 10, B1 level, or check with a local retail bookstore in your area.

The National Institutes of Health/Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

This is a required course for the Clinical Center Core Curriculum Certificate.

Late Notice (not in print edition of September-October 2006 Catalyst)

Women's Health Special Interest Group

Three more lectures have been scheduled by the Women’s Health Special Interest Group:

Friday, September 22, 2006, 11:30 a.m–12:30 p.m., Wilson Hall, Building 1, 3rd floor: Alicia Armstrong, NICHD, "Fertility Preservation in Women Undergoing Chemotherapy"

Friday, October 20, 2006, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Wilson Hall, Building 1, 3rd floor: Meena Vythilingam, NIMH, "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Women"

Monday, November 6, 2006, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Wilson Hall, Building 1, 3rd floor: Barbara Migeon, Johns Hopkins