Cost-Share and Matching Fund Request Submission Deadline
2023-05-26 17:00, 2023-01-13 17:00, 2022-11-23 17:00, 2022-09-16 17:00 (America/New_York)
If you are asking CFAC for cost-sharing towards an instrument purchase or matching fund requests for grant submissions, you MUST submit your request using our online form: https://www.med.unc.edu/corefacilities/cfac-cost-sharing-and-matching-fund-request-submission-form/

Funding decisions and awards will be discussed and finalized at the CFAC meeting following each submission deadline.

For assistance or advice in filling out this form please contact your CFAC representative or ORT at corefacilities@med.unc.edu.

Core Facility Staff Workshops: Bench to Bedside: Translating Academic Research Into Commercial Products (Intellectual Property and Reports of Invention for Core Facilities)
2023-05-23 15:00 - 16:00 | Genetic Medicine Building (GMB), Room 5007
These events are intended for the directors, staff, and other core facility stakeholders at UNC Chapel Hill.

Bench to Bedside: Translating Academic Research Into Commercial Products (Intellectual Property and Reports of Invention for Core Facilities)

Presenter: Dr. Kelly Parsons, Innovate Carolina
Join Dr. Kelly Parsons from Innovate Carolina’s Department of Technology Commercialization to discuss the importance of filing reports of invention and intellectual property matters.
This is an in person event in MBRB 8201

Introduction to Protocols.io Workshop
2023-05-23 11:00 - 12:00 | Mary Ellen Jones Room 3116
Introduction to protocols.io
Tuesday, May 23 at 11:00 am in Room 3116 MEJ
Presented by Gabriel Gasque, PhD

Research papers and protocol organization in labs often lack detailed instructions for repeating experiments. protocols.io is an open-access platform for researchers to collaboratively create step-by-step, interactive and dynamic protocols that can be run on mobile or web. Researchers can share protocols with colleagues, collaborators, the scientific community or make them public, with ease and efficiency. Real-time communication and interaction keep protocols up to date with versioning, forking/copying, Q&A, and troubleshooting. Public protocols receive a DOI and allow open communication with authors and researchers to encourage efficient experimentation and reproducibility. Join this seminar in person or via Zoom to learn more about protocols.io.

This one-hour seminar will include:

1. Introduction to protocol.io’s mission and key functionality

2. How to create your own protocols, share methods with others, and how to publish protocols

3. Q&A

Calendar invite, Zoom link, and sign-up details to follow.

CFAC Meeting
2023-05-10 09:00 - 11:00, 2023-04-12 09:00 - 11:00, 2023-03-08 09:00 - 11:00, 2023-02-08 09:00 - 11:00, 2023-01-11 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-12-14 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-11-09 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-10-12 09:00 - 11:00 and 1 more date
This is the monthly meeting of the Core Facilities Advocacy Committee. If you have a question, topic, or specific issue to bring to CFAC’s attention prior to this meeting please contact your CFAC representative or ORT (corefacilities@med.unc.edu) by the Monday prior to the meeting date!

Core Director Workshop: *In Person* External Sales Reserve/F&A
2023-04-18 13:00 - 15:00 | MacNider 322
Jackie Schwamberger, who presented in our June Core Director’s meeting, is back to talk about External Sales Reserve and F&A! Alongside her will be Ben Wright, from OSP and together they are here to work with core staff or business managers/departmental accountants on developing tracking mechanisms for ESR/F&A, discussing what are allowable vs non-allowable expenses, and what documentation is needed to justify purchases with F&A funds. Jackie and Ben are happy to answer questions specific to your core and customers as well as more general questions! Register here for an IN-PERSON event on April 18th in MacNider 322. Spots are limited so register soon. This event will be held in person

Date: April 18th
Time: 1 pm to 3 pm
Location: IN PERSON at MacNider 322

High-Throughput Sequencing Facility Lunch & Learn/Open House
2023-03-28 12:30 - 16:30 | BioInformatics Building Room 1131
Interested in meeting the High-Throughput Sequencing Facility (HTSF) staff, visiting the facility, and, spending an afternoon learning about genomics?

HTSF is hosting a lunch presentation by Dr. Piotr Mieczkowski, the HTSF Technical Director, followed by an open house of the facility!

Presentation/Lunch to begin at 12:30 in Bioinformatics 1131 with the open house to follow in the Genome Sciences Building 1153. Come with your research needs and sequencing questions!

Lunch is provided but you must RSVP by e-mailing htsf@med.unc.edu

Cost-Share and Matching Fund Request Submission Deadline
2023-03-24 17:00
If you are asking CFAC for cost-sharing/matching fund requests for grant submissions, you MUST submit your request using our online form: https://www.med.unc.edu/corefacilities/cfac-cost-sharing-and-matching-fund-request-submission-form/

Funding decisions and awards will be discussed and finalized at the CFAC meeting following each submission deadline.

For assistance or advice in filling out this form please contact your CFAC representative or ORT at corefacilities@med.unc.edu.

ABRF Town Hall: Instilling a Culture of Collaboration and Mindfulness Around Core Instrumentation (with UNC's Michelle Itano!)
2023-02-22 12:00 - 13:00
Many shared resource facilities support instrumentation that is provided to end instrument operators in either a semi- or completely unsupervised manner. To effectively manage these resources, it’s important to build operational structures that instill trust between core members and instrument operators. Core directors and staff need to be able to tune messaging and training to connect with the different strata of their user base – day-to-day users, occasional customers that need updated training, primary investigators, and research administration. Core staff must also be able to put safety, policy, and engineering controls in place to ensure proper material and data handling, that troubleshooting is robust and instrument issues are dealt with quickly and fairly, and that the systems managed by the Core will generate validated and trustworthy results. In this town hall, we’ll discuss success stories and implementation strategies used by two shared resource facilities and share how they grow a culture of respectful communication between staff and instrument operators.

Pre-registration is requited: https://www.abrf.org/virtual-town-halls

ORT Core Facility Workshop- Quality Audits of Cores: Awareness and Preparedness
2023-02-09 13:00 - 14:00 | Genetic Medicine Building (GMB), Room 5007
Core labs that work with biotech/pharma companies or federal agencies may be subject to mandatory quality audits, based on company policy and GLP standards. In this workshop, we will discuss what a quality audit entails, how to prepare standard operating procedures (SOPs), and the resources available to ensure a successful audit. Dr. Chris Gregory, Director of ORT, will present this with the experience of having guided multiple UNC cores through the audit process and of undergoing quality audits at pharmaceutical companies—come with any questions about the process and how you can prepare ahead of time! Register here for an IN-PERSON session (held in Genetics Medicine Building) on February 9th– spots are limited.

ORT Core Facility Workshop- External F&A
2023-01-17 09:00 - 11:00
Jackie Schwamberger, who presented in our June Core Director’s meeting, is back to talk about F&A! Alongside her will be Ben Wright, from OSP and together they are here to work with core staff or business managers/departmental accountants on developing tracking mechanisms for F&A, discussing what are allowable vs non-allowable expenses, and demonwhat documentation is needed to justify purchases with F&A funds. Jackie and Ben are happy to answer questions specific to your core and customers as well as more general questions! Register here for a zoom session on January 17th. Spots are limited so register soon—and keep your eye out for a repeat session in late spring! This event will be held via Zoom.

CFAC Winter/Spring RFA Opens for Submissiond
2022-12-14 08:00 - 17:00
More information will be available Wednesday morning

OSP-Sponsored Core Director's Meeting
2022-12-13 10:00 - 11:00
Ben Wright, Director of Research Core Development in OSP, will be presenting on:

Financial Reporting
Rate reviews
iLab
New Research Core Development webpage
External research core agreements portal
Upcoming workshops
and more!

Zoom link: https://unc.zoom.us/j/97515014164

Fall Core Staff Awards- Nominations CLOSE
2022-11-30 08:00 - 17:00
The UNC Research Core Facilities Staff Recognition Program is designed to recognize extraordinary achievements by SHRA and EHRA NF permanent, full- and part-time employees of biomedical research cores (including full-service recharge, collaborative and limited access core labs) at UNC Chapel Hill.
There will be two award cycles per year, and within each award cycle up to three nominated staff members may be chosen for recognition, one for each of three categories of staff excellence. Each selected staff member will receive $1,000 (taxable income).
Awards will be decided by a selection committee.

Submissions for this cycle open November 1, 2022 and close November 30, 2022.

Fall Core Staff Recognition Program Opens for Nominations!
2022-11-01 08:00 - 17:00

Imaris User Group Meeting hosted by Microscopy Services Laboratory
2022-10-18 - 2022-10-20
The Microscopy Services Laboratory will host an Imaris User Group Meeting from October 18 to 20. This will be a 3-day, intensive course for users of Imaris, a powerful 3D analysis and visualization software available at MSL, the Hooker Imaging Core and the Neuroscience Microscopy Core. The course will be taught by company representatives and go over all the functionality in the software, in detail. I took a prior version of this course myself several years ago and it was immensely helpful in learning how to use Imaris for different research questions.

The course will take place in the Carolina Gaming Arena, where each of 33 attendees will have access to identical, top-of-the-line computers that can run the full version of Imaris. I expect intense interest in this opportunity, so please spread the word and sign up here:
https://forms.office.com/r/r7s3mcWVDb
Sign-up closes on Friday, September 16th
Questions should be directed to Pablo Ariel (pablo_ariel@med.unc.edu)

NCBC Innovation Impact Grant Deadline
2022-10-12 12:00 - 12:01
https://www.ncbiotech.org/funding/grants/innovation-impact-grant

The Innovation Impact Grant (IIG) program supports the purchase of research equipment for core facilities at academic or nonprofit institutions fostering innovation within North Carolina’s life sciences ecosystem.
Priority will be given to proposals demonstrating a high impact on the applicant institution and broader life sciences research community.

Funding Deadline: October 12, 2022 at 12:00 NOON.

Core Facilities Showcase Fair
2022-10-11 11:00 - 13:30 | Koury Oral Health Sciences Building, 385 S Columbia St, Chapel Hill, NC
Where: Koury Oral Health Sciences Building (385 S. Columbia St) 1st and Ground Floor lobbies
When: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM
What: Participating core facilities will each have a manned table and will be giving short, TED-style talks in Kirkland Auditorium. Come talk to our core directors about your research and listen to research highlights in our core facilities. Lunch will be provided for attendees who have their registration card signed by the requisite number of core directors!
Special thanks to the SOM Office of Research, VCR Core Development Team, and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center for their support for this event!
List of Participating Cores (TBA)
Schedule of Presentations (TBA)
Are you interested in attending but you are not based at UNC? Parking (paid) is available just down the road at the Dogwood Parking Deck or the Koury Oral Health Sciences Building is right off the Health Sciences Library bus stop on Columbia St!
For more information reach out to the UNC SOM Office of Research Technologies at corefacilities@med.unc.edu

Neuroscience Microscopy Core and Leica Microsystems: Partner in Microscopy Celebration
2022-09-20 10:00 - 12:00 | Mary Ellen Jones Room 3116

Core Annual Planning Surveys Due!
2022-09-02 17:00
Annual planning surveys, which were e-mailed to you in July, are due!

Timely receipt and completion of these surveys are not only helpful for ORT data and metrics, they are required if your core intends to apply for CFAC funding for this fiscal year.

We appreciate your assistance! If you have any questions please contact ORT at corefacilities@med.unc.eduCore
