{"540711":{"#nid":"540711","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Retreat","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EResearchers from Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia gathered for the annual Regenerative Engineering and Medicine (REM) Research Center retreat, but this time, something was different.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EIt was a few things, actually. For one, the rotating event returned to the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience on the Georgia Tech campus after touching down at the other two universities the past few years. And this time, participants gathered earlier than ever before with even more focus, thanks to a new format.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cWe decided this year to have a more dynamic, interactive environment by adding breakout sessions, where we can get smaller groups of faculty together to talk about the themes of interest to us in regenerative medicine,\u201d says Johnna Temenoff, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, and one of three co-directors of the REM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe retreat was planned this time to coincide with the 2016-2017 Georgia Partners in Regenerative Medicine seed grant program, announced a day before the retreat, which was held on May 13. The seed grant program is intended to stimulate new, collaborative research among the REM partner institutions.\u0026nbsp; The grants are due July 11, 2016.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThe timing was important, because it gives people an opportunity after the retreat to discuss grant ideas and put things together in a more focused way,\u201d says Steve Stice, UGA professor and an REM co-director.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe preferred research themes are:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u2022 Modulation of Immunity and Host Responses to Improve Regenerative Therapies (local and systemic means to modulate the host environment to create more effective regenerative therapies);\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u2022 Optimizing Regenerative Biomanufacturing (scaling up and\/or predicting the quality\/potency of regenerative therapies during processing, for example, new assays for potency prediction, or new bioreactor or material technologies to promote scale-up of regenerative therapies).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EWhile all proposals for the seed grant are welcome, those responsive to the identified themes will be given funding priority for 2016-2017.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cYou want the seed grants to have a return on investment,\u201d says Ned Waller, Emory professor and REM co-director. \u201cYou want to advance the science that will lead to external funding, and by bringing people together now in a focused way, really getting them to start collaborating today, we hope that by July they\u2019ll have a seed grant, and that a year from now it will lead to an R01.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe RO1, or Research Project Grant, is the NIH\u2019s oldest, most commonly used grant program, generally awarded for three to five years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe retreat began with presentations from two researchers. Art Edison from UGA spoke about his lab\u2019s focus on the use of \u2018omics\u2019 data for a variety of biologic questions. Muna Qayed of Emory spoke about the clinical uses of stem cells, based on her work in developing a treatment against graft versus host disease (GVHD).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThen, participants split up into breakout sessions that focused on the seed grant themes. These were open discussions that took place in morning and then later in the afternoon, with each group reporting back on the main discussion points from each session.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EMeanwhile, as researchers talked about their ideas among themselves, a group of trainees gathered with Andr\u00e9s Garc\u00eda, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and director of the interdisciplinary bioengineering graduate program, to pick up some networking tips.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe theme there was to make connections with peers and P.I.\u2019s (at events like the REM retreat, for example) and learn the communication skills to augment the academics and the research, basically, \u201cto stand out among the 400 applications we typically get for a single faculty position,\u201d Garc\u00eda says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EMost of the retreat attendees were particularly interested in the seed grants, which are intended to stimulate new, collaborative research among the three institutions. Each seed grant team must have at least two investigators and an equal partnership of faculty from two of the participating institutions. And this year, researchers have a better idea of which types of projects could receive funding.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThat was something we really wanted to do, pair the retreat with the call for seed grants,\u201d Temenoff says. \u201cThis is a chance for researchers to come together and actually begin the grant planning process today.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Annual meeting features new format and focus on upcoming seed grants"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnnual meeting features new format and focus on upcoming seed grants\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Annual meeting features new format and focus on upcoming seed grants"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2016-05-26 18:49:20","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:49","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-05-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-05-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"540691":{"id":"540691","type":"image","title":"REM leaders","body":null,"created":"1464710400","gmt_created":"2016-05-31 16:00:00","changed":"1475895329","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:29","alt":"REM leaders","file":{"fid":"89613","name":"big_three.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/big_three.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/big_three.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1572237,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/big_three.jpg?itok=61ITCXPB"}},"540701":{"id":"540701","type":"image","title":"REM speakers","body":null,"created":"1464710400","gmt_created":"2016-05-31 16:00:00","changed":"1475895329","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:29","alt":"REM speakers","file":{"fid":"89614","name":"rem_speakers.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/rem_speakers.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/rem_speakers.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2576114,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/rem_speakers.jpg?itok=3ORxb-gv"}}},"media_ids":["540691","540701"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"172087","name":"go_rem"},{"id":"1489","name":"Regenerative Medicine"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}