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News

Integration with IRB Review and CTO Activities – Oversight Approval Required PRIOR to IRB Review and CTO Action

Integration with IRB Review and CTO Activities – Oversight Approval Required PRIOR to IRB Review and CTO Action

Download Intake Form Here

March 30, 2020
Given the volume of COVID-19 research being initiated, leadership at each of our hospitals has established respective COVID-19 MGH and BWH Oversight Committees’ to manage and prioritize all COVID-related clinical studies (e.g., surveys, observational studies, sample collections, trials, etc.). Partners IRB and CTO will now prioritize COVID-related clinical studies including clinical trials when determined by these committees to be appropriate.
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Their formal assessments will need to be completed prior to submission to the IRB or CTO (other than confidentiality agreements). Studies will need to attach written confirmation of approval from the Chair of the MGH or BWH Committee that reviewed the clinical study at the time of submission. If the study is being implemented at both MGH and BWH (one Lead PI and one Site PI), the Lead PI will need to submit approval from each of the Committees.
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Of note, studies performed across our system will take priority. Approval for the hospital with the designated Site PI may continue to be added along with their Oversight Committee’s approval after approval of the Lead PI’s protocol.
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Both IRB and CTO are committed to supporting investigators to rapidly implement their clinical research and are willing to provide guidance to strengthen proposals but will not formally act on the proposals until the oversight committees have approved.
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To submit a project for review by the BWH COVID Scientific Review Committee, please complete a project intake form. Please send the completed intake form and all associated documents to BWHCOVIDreview@partners.org.
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Download the intake form here
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News

Stat Madness Voting Now Open!

STAT Madness: Vote for the Brigham

The Brigham is among the contenders competing in STAT Madness 2020 — a bracketed competition from STAT News to find the most innovative research in the country. The first of six rounds of popular voting in the single-elimination ends March 8 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Vote now: https://www.statnews.com/feature/stat-madness/bracket/

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Brigham Research Institute Events News

Research Roundtables: Call for Participants

 

RESEARCH ROUNDTABLES | DIALOGUES AND DISCUSSIONS

Calling all members of the research community!

The Brigham Research Institute (BRI) would like to hear what topics are of interest to the research community for our next series of Research Roundtables. Based in the results of the survey below, we will schedule meetings on topics with broad interest.

All members of the research community are encouraged to participate. Please click here to quickly indicate the research topics in which you have interest.

As a grassroots organization, the BRI wants to hear from you as we set goals, create resources and prioritize efforts to best support the community. Please join us to share ideas, discuss needs, identify emerging trends and brainstorm ways to respond to them.

Click here to learn more about these roundtables and how you can benefit from them!

Take the Survey Now!

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BRIght Futures Prize News

Natalie Artzi, PhD is the Winner of the $100,000 BRIght Futures Prize

20191107, Thursday, November 7, 2019, Boston, MA, USA, Brigham Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Brigham Research Institute held their annual Discover Brigham campus-wide research day on Thursday, November 7, 2019. Discover Brigham 2019 sessions: 9:00 a.m. - Registration: Schlager Atrium, Schuster Lobby, Zinner Conference Center, Hale Café Atrium 10:00 a.m. - Keynote Speaker - Bornstein Amphitheater - Health Equity Keynote featuring Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, VP & Chief Health Officer, IBM 11:15 a.m. - poster session and lunch - Schlager Atrium 11:25 a.m. - Poster session and demos - Mezzanine area - Spine Virtual Laboratory (interactive web-based virtual lab, online game and real-time results), BeSpoke Bodies (the design and craft of prosthetics multi-media exhibition) 11:35 a.m. - Poster session - Schuster Lobby 11:45 a.m. - chair yoga demo - Shapiro Lounge - chair yoga will run from 11:40 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m. - Poster Session and Demos - Miller Atrium - All of Us Campaign, From Discovery to Development: Finding the Cure 12:30 p.m. - Poster sessions - Hale Café Atrium - Research in Excellence Award Winning posters in this location. 12:40 p.m. - How to Handle a Medical Emergency on a Deep Space Mission - Neville House - STRATUS and NASA are developing tools to prepare astronauts to deal with medical events in space. 1:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - Clinical Translation of Discoveries Generated in Engineering in Medicine 1:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - CAR T-Cells: Engineering Immune Cells to Treat Cancer 2:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - How Intelligent Failure Leads to Innovation 2:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - Transforming Medicine Through Preventative Genomics 3:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - Home Hospital and the Brigham Experience 3:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - Blood from Plants 4:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - Turning Dark Matter of the genome into RNA drugs 4:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - Opioid & Pain Innovations at Brigham Healt
Natalie Artzi, PhD stands, in focus, in front of her blurred laboratory.

Congratulations to the winner of the 8th Annual BRIght Futures Prize of $100,000, Biomedical Engineer, Natalie Artzi, PhD. This project focuses on engineering therapies for better outcomes with brain cancer in children. With more than 35,000 votes from more than 110 countries and all 50 states, this year we set a record for BRIght Futures voting.

Brain tumors are the most lethal childhood cancer, with a median survival rate of only 9 to 15 months — a measure that has not changed for 20 years. Despite extensive efforts to develop better therapies, there is currently no treatment that can cure brain cancer, which specializes in escaping immune surveillance mechanisms and thus avoids immune-mediated elimination. Since a highly selective membrane protects the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB), whose role is to prevent most molecules from penetrating into the brain, it makes it even more challenging for drugs to reach a brain tumor. This means that even higher — and more toxic — doses of a drug may not be very effective for patients with brain cancer.

“Our solution is to deliver an adhesive patch that can reveal and kill cancer cells by (1) activating the immune system by using molecules that act as “danger” signals, and (2) delivering these molecules efficiently to the brain by using a material called an adhesive hydrogel, which can be sprayed onto and stick to the brain after surgery. This material allows us to locally release a cocktail of molecules that will activate the immune system while circumventing the BBB.”

“We plan to harness nanotechnology to form particles at a size of 1,000th the diameter of a single human hair. These nanoparticles specialize in penetrating cancer cells and may be programmed to deliver drugs at a predetermined rate. This technology will ensure that the immune system remains active and that the tumor will not come back.”

The BRIght Futures Prize will allow Dr. Artzi to take the first steps in making this therapy a reality, making the hydrogels and testing their safety and effectiveness in a preclinical model of brain cancer.

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Event Recap News

Congratulations Shark Tank Winners!

Athena Petrides, PhD and Joji Suzuki, MD were named the two winners of the McGraw Family Opioid Innovator Award. Out of the five projects pitched, Petrides and Suzuki were voted the winners, each receiving $50,000 to advance their work.

Since 2012, Brigham & Women’s Hospital has been hosting shark tanks to fund innovative and high-risk/high impact projects in the basic, clinical, digital and translational realms through its Health & Technology Innovation Awards. Sponsored by the Brigham Research Institute (BRI) and the BWH Health & Technology Subcommittee, these awards aim to advance projects that have the potential to make an impact in one or more of the following domains – biomedical research, healthcare delivery, the generation of new companies/products/services, cost savings, care quality and provider burnout. Since 2012, more than $1 million has been distributed to BWH investigators through these awards.

This year, with the generous support of the McGraw Family, this cycle’s Request for Applications includes a special track focused on advancing innovations related to solving the opioid crisis which has resulted in the loss of over 2000 lives in the past year in Massachusetts alone. Novel ideas that seek to address questions and challenges related to the opioid epidemic including, but not limited to, research on addiction, adverse effects, alternate pain management strategies, genetic susceptibility to opioid abuse, new tools for opioid research, diagnosis/treatment, management of infectious diseases related to opioid abuse, withdrawal, personalized medicine will be awarded.

Shark Tank Winner

Athena Petrides, PhD, Assistant Professor, Pathology, BWH

DigiToxRX: Treating Pain is No Longer Painful

Interpreting urine toxicology results is a time-consuming and complex task for clinicians prescribing opioids. Approximately 500 toxicology results are misinterpreted annually at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, potentially leading to inappropriate opioid refills and discontinuation of appropriate opioid treatment. DigiToxRx offers a complete solution, which encompasses a novel testing methodology paired with software that automates personalized toxicology interpretations. Our recent study demonstrated that personalized interpretations improved clinician confidence in result review by 34% and increased the speed of review by 46%. Financial support of DigiToxRx will allow us to automate personalized interpretations and to scale this service across Partners and potentially other healthcare systems.

Shark Tank Winner

Joji Suzuki, MD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, BWH

Pilot Study of cannabidiol (CBD) for the treatment of opioid use disorder

Research has shown that buprenorphine (suboxone) reduces the risk of overdose among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) by up to 70%. However, 50% of patients will leave treatment in the first 6 months, partly due to the emergence of strong cravings in response to cues. Recent animal and human studies demonstrate that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-addictive constituent of marijuana, helps to blunt the cravings that emerge after exposure to cues. Our team propose to conduct a pilot study to determine if CBD will reduce cue-induced cravings among OUD patients currently taking buprenorphine. If successful, this study will lay the groundwork for a NIH-funded study to conduct a series of human trials with CBD for OUD patients as an adjunct to buprenorphine treatment.

Other Finalists

Peter Chai, MD, MMS, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, BWH

Enabling smart sewers to measure community level opioid and naloxone consumption

Christopher W. Connor, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, BWH

Imaging opioid effects, tolerance and addiction in C. elegans

R. Jason Yong, MD, MBA, Instructor, Anesthesiology, BWH

Smart Pill Dispenser to Enhance Opioid Compliance and Patient Outcomes

Categories
Events News

2020 – 2021 Guest ROC Slots Available

The BRI Executive Committee is opening three guest slots at each monthly Research Oversight Committee (ROC) meeting. If you wish to attend a ROC meeting, please sign up here (note that you may only attend one ROC meeting per calendar year as a guest). Feel free to email bwhbri@partners.org with questions.

The BRI’s overarching mission is to accelerate discoveries that improve human health; supporting strategies include fostering groundbreaking, interdepartmental, and interdisciplinary research, ranging from basic fundamental studies to clinical innovations. We strive to provide a clear voice (internally and externally) for the entire BWH research community, raise the profile of research at BWH, develop mission-centric collaborations with external entities and engage the scientific community in fundraising. Research Oversight Committee (ROC) members help bring forward the needs and concerns of their colleagues; accordingly, the composition of the ROC is intended to collectively reflect the diversity of the BWH research community.

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Events News

Help us Celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week!

Join the PostDoctoral Association from September 16 to September 20 to recognize all that our postdocs do for the research community at BWH and across the nation.

TACO PARTY

Monday, September 16 | 5 – 7 pm | Marshall A. Wolf Conference Room | Registration

 

PLC MEET AND GREET

Tuesday, September 17 | 11:30 am – 1 pm | Miller Atrium on the Pike

 

JOINT SOCIAL WITH HMS

Wednesday, September 18 | 5 – 7 pm | NRB 10th floor | Registration to come

 

ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Friday, September 20 | 1 – 3 pm | Marshall A. Wolf Conference Room | Registration
Categories
News

Sex and Gender Differences Research Design for Basic, Clinical, and Population Studies: Essentials for Investigators

A sex- and gender-informed perspective increases rigor, promotes discovery, and expands the relevance of biomedical research. In the current era of accountability to present data for males and females, thoughtful and deliberate methodology can improve study design and inference in sex and gender differences research. We address issues of motivation, subject selection, sample size, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, considering implications for basic, clinical, and population research. In particular, we focus on methods to test sex/gender differences as effect modification or interaction, and discuss why some inferences from sex-stratified data should be viewed with caution. Without careful methodology, the pursuit of sex difference research, despite a mandate from funding agencies, will result in a literature of contradiction. However, given the historic lack of attention to sex differences, the absence of evidence for sex differences is not necessarily evidence of the absence of sex differences. Thoughtfully conceived and conducted sex and gender differences research is needed to drive scientific and therapeutic discovery for all sexes and genders.

Rich-Edwards JW, Kaiser UB, Chen GL, Manson JE, Goldstein JM. Sex and Gender Differences Research Design for Basic, Clinical, and Population Studies: Essentials for Investigators. Endocr Rev. 2018 Aug 1;39(4):424-439. Review. PubMed PMID: 29668873.

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Event Recap Events News

Networking for Academics: Conquering the Fear Factor

An event co-sponsored by the BRI and MassBio

Why is networking important in an academic setting? Is it necessary? Can a self-proclaimed introvert successfully network and build relationships?

This panel discussion, moderated by Frank S. David, MD, PhD, illustrated why networking is a great way to create and maintain relationships that will provide professional and educational opportunities for months and even years to come. The panelists focused on the “how” and the “why” behind networking while imparting words of wisdom to the group, each adding their own unique perspective to the conversation.

Sandro Santagata, MD, PhD pointed out that while he does not consider himself a “networker,” he understands that it is crucial to be open and collaborative. Even introverts like himself can organically create strong relationships simply through working with others and maintaining an open mind.

Elena Aikawa, MD, PhD advised the crowd to join small societies because it offers people the chance to interact and make themselves visible among a tight-knit and potentially less intimidating group. Career development, promotion, and job changes will undoubtedly call for more than one letter of support and recommendation; it is critical to have a strong band of people to connect with and be able to rely on.

Erin McKenna, MBA emphasized the beauty of networking, in that you can never predict what may come from countless random, or planned, interactions. One simple conversation over the most trivial common interest has the potential to lead to a promotion, new career path, or partnership.

Natalie Artzi, PhD stated the importance of branching out and gaining exposure in every way possible. The more you do that, the more opportunity there will be. At the same time, remember to expand your network to those outside of your specific interests, fields, and studies. Find people that can compliment your skills and help you to grow.

The panelists made it clear that everyone needs mentors and sponsors; everyone needs someone to help them get places they never thought they could. Networking is essential in creating these types of opportunities. Any conversation, any connection no matter how small, can aid in career development and help to carry you through the next steps in life. Equally as important, these relationships must be maintained, groomed, and properly cared for over an extended period. Keep in touch, invite them to your lab space, send them an email or a letter. No matter how you do it, networking cannot live on its own. Without tending to it, the bonds will weaken, and the connections, and opportunities that go along with them, will be lost as quickly as they were gained.

Social media is one way to maintain these meaningful relationships. Br. David brought Twitter and LinkedIn into the conversation. These platforms offer a way to exemplify best qualities, demonstrate hobbies outside of the office or lab, and disseminate information to a relevant audience.

Before the Q&A and networking commenced, Dr. David ended the discussion by encouraging the audience to “be the change that they want to be.” Whether you are introverted, extroverted, struggle to connect to others, or shy away from social media, make the changes that will allow you to create opportunity, build lasting relationships, and develop your ever-growing career paths.

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News

Broadcast Announcement to All Faculty!

The BWPO is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the 2019 Faculty Pillar Awards. Faculty members in academic medical centers serve in multiple capacities as mentors, innovators, collaborators, and community leaders. This award program was established in 2013 to recognize Brigham faculty for achievement in one, or more, of the five pillars of academic medicine:

  • Mentorship
  • Education
  • Research
  • Community Service
  • Diversity & Inclusion

The 2019 Faculty Pillar Award recipients will be announced in August, and we will recognize all awardees at the annual New Faculty Welcome Lunch and Awards Celebration on Friday, September 13th, 2019, as well as with a publicly displayed plaque outside the BWH gift shop.

Please consider nominating a colleague, mentor, and/or leader whose accomplishments merit recognition. Note, there are two awards for non-faculty members, including a Postdoctoral Leadership Award for research fellows at HMS as well as a Contribution to Faculty Development and Diversity Award, for any BWH/BWPO employee who had made significant achievement in supporting this pillar.

Award nominations can be submitted by all faculty or other Brigham employees and will be accepted Wednesday, June 6th through Friday, July 12th. 

Full 2019 award descriptions and the nomination form are available online: http://bwhcfdd.partners.org/Listing.aspx?courseId=435

If you have any questions, please contact BWPOFDW@bwh.harvard.edu

Categories for recognition

Mentorship Awards
Senior Faculty Mentor Award
Junior Faculty Mentor Award
Clinical Teacher Award

Education Awards
Educational Program Leadership Award
Educational Research Award

Research Awards
Research Collaboration Award
Research Innovation Award
Research Leadership Award
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Leadership Award

Community Service Awards
Community Service Award
Research Community Service Award

Diversity and Inclusion Awards
Diversity and Inclusion Service Award
Contribution to Faculty Development and Diversity Award