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NIH Director's Pioneer Award

Professor Gary Pielak of the UNC Chemistry Department was chosen for the 2006 NIH Director's Pioneer Award.

Now in its third year, the Pioneer Award is a key component of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The program supports exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research.

Learn more about the award.

Learn more about Dr. Pielak's work.

Ryszard Kole Awarded Roadmap Grant

Professor Ryszard Kole of the UNC Department of Pharmacology was awarded a Roadmap grant entitled Modulation of Alternative Splicing by HTS Identified Compounds.

Carolina Roadmap Executive Committee Training Grant

The Roadmap Executive Committee (Rudy Juliano, PI) was recently awarded an NIH Roadmap training grant, "Major Challenges in Clinical Medicine: An Overview for Basic Scientists."

The major thrust of this Short Laboratory Course training program is to attract basic biomedical scientists to the opportunities presented by clinically oriented translational research. The program will focus on young basic scientists who are at key decision points in their career development. This includes: (a) students about to start a Ph.D. program; (b) students about to complete a Ph.D. program; (c) early stage postdoctoral fellows. The primary mentors for this training program will be outstanding physician-scientists. The training program will provide both didactic and laboratory-based training experiences during a month-long course that will be offered twice per year.

The encouragement of ‘bench to bedside’ translational research has been a long-standing priority of the NIH, one that is highlighted by the current Roadmap initiative. However, there are limited opportunities for young basic scientists to obtain training in translational research. The proposed training program will provide a brief but intensive exposure to translational research. It will allow trainees to make informed decisions as to whether translational work should be part of their career paths, and hopefully will succeed in recruiting a significant portion of the trainees to the translational research arena.

The course will include a didactic component involving approximately 48 hrs. of lectures by physician-scientists and other translational researchers on pathophysiology, on mechanisms of disease, and on  challenges and issues in translational research. Another approximately 6 hrs. of lecture/discussion will be devoted to responsible conduct of research and to teamwork and leadership in science. The laboratory component will consist of four weeks of supervised experience in a translational research setting under the supervision of a single mentor. As part of this component the trainee, with the mentor's guidance, will prepare the Abstract and Specific Aims of an NIH-type grant proposal dealing with a translational research topic.   

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