University of Minnesota researchers have developed a number of tools and resources to aid in life sciences research, all of which are available for licensing via the Office for Technology Commercialization’s marketing website.

Want a printable, easy-to-scan listing of these resources? Download the OTC’s new Research Tools Catalog (pdf). The new catalog includes descriptions and scientific literature citation for antibodies, transgenic mice, cell lines, biomarkers and more.

The executive director of the Human Research Protection Program, Moira Keane began her University of Minnesota career in 1980 in the College of Continuing Education. But her maroon and gold roots run even deeper: she enrolled as a freshman at the university in 1973.

Before retiring on June 15, 2012, she looks back on a career that spans three decades — and looks forward to what lies ahead.

Witness to positive change

Since accepting a position in 1987 with the Institutional Review Board’s Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research, Keane has seen many dramatic changes. When she started, there were two full-time employees (and one half-time). The group was housed in the Sponsored Projects Administration offices. There was no vice president for research.

Today, the Human Research Protection Program counts 21 employees and includes the Institutional Biosafety Committee, as well as the IRB.

“There are certain products and research areas that were considered highly experimental when I first started that now are standard of care, or very routine and commonplace. For instance, the nicotine patch was experimental when I first started doing this work, and now you can buy them over the counter.

“Statins were just being studied in clinical trials, but now are very commonplace items in any formulary. MRI was considered an experiment at the time, and now we have very sophisticated, high-Tesla magnets.

“In the AIDS clinical trials I’ve seen tremendous change, and in the entire infectious disease arena. Cancer clinical trials as well, particularly in pediatrics: I’m very pleased to say that we now have long-term survival studies, and that’s due to the progress in that clinical area.”

Creating a culture of protection

Keane has played a key role in the evolution of the university’s approach to studies involving human subjects. Due to mounting concerns in the late 1990s, including the suspension of federally funded human subjects research at some large institutions, a number of organizations recognized the need to create a self-regulating accrediting body that was peer-driven and educational in nature.

The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP) was created to address those needs.

Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), the principal policy and membership organization for IRB-related activity, also has been a significant force in Keane’s career.

Keane has been active in both, most recently serving as chair of the council on accreditation and conducting site visits for AAHRPP. She is currently serving on the board of directors of PRIM&R, and chairing the certification committee.

“There has been a considerable evolution at the U in understanding of the need not just for compliance, but an aspiration to excellence in the way research is conducted. There is a culture around protection and adherence to the requirements that is much more sophisticated now than when I first started.”

Advice for her successor

While her shoes will be hard to fill, Keane is gracious in sharing wisdom. First and foremost, she says her successor must take the work very seriously, because it’s serious work.

“It’s important, it’s valuable to the institution, and it’s valuable to people who don’t even know we’re doing it. The people who are in the studies are usually unaware of the function that we serve.

“By the same token, it’s important to not take ourselves too seriously. It’s very easy to criticize this function and to be critical of it — it’s too much, it’s not enough, it’s too slow — and it would be easy to take those kinds of criticism personally. It’s important not to. Having some balance in life so that the work is not all-consuming is very important.

“This role will continue to grow into more of a multifunctional kind of position that looks more at the whole of the human research protection program. The scope is expanding in that there is more contact with more entities at the university, and more contact with partner institutions.

“When I first started, most of the research was single institution-based, federally funded research. Now, much of the research is multicenter clinical trials, multicenter studies in general, and much more dispersed in terms of the players who are involved.

“The coordination of that presents some challenges, as when we’re partnering with institutions that have different norms or cultures. Even some of the mechanics are sometimes awkward. I think there will be ongoing challenges going forward in those areas.”

Final thoughts and future plans

“I have most enjoyed working with really smart, dedicated people. That includes the leadership, the IRB and IBC members, the researchers and the staff. People who really care about protecting the people in the research projects and in the research labs.

“They put up with a lot of inconvenience and put forth a lot of effort to make sure that the projects we have here are good. That’s impressive, and something I’ll miss.”

To help keep in touch with that energy and commitment, Keane plans to continue her involvement with AAHRPP and PRIM&R after retirement.

But she’s also looking forward to a different pace in retirement. Her husband retired in early May, so they plan to spend more time at their cabin and do some traveling. She has two grown daughters, both married.

And, thanks to some extremely fortuitous timing, Keane and her husband recently learned that they will welcome their first grandchild in October.

Keane’s career, by the numbers

32 years at the U
6 presidents
5 vice presidents for research
142% increase in number of studies reviewed annually
5 changes in office location
640 lunches at the Campus Club

Photo by Eric Vegoe

The search committee has begun to meet and recruiting efforts will continue throughout the summer and into the fall. The committee hopes to bring candidates for public interviews as faculty and students return to campus.

U of M President Eric Kaler has appointed the committee, selecting individuals to ensure broad representation from across the university and externally. Aaron Friedman, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Medical School, and Steve Crouch, dean of the College of Science and Engineering, are co-chairing the search.

Learn more

The Academic Health Center provided additional budget to support the office. Along with reducing expenses in some areas and postponing some FY13 expenditures into FY14, the funding has allowed RAR to decrease many of its original projections for FY13 per diem rates.

Please use the revised FY13 rates when planning research budgets and grant applications.

Join the CPD for a workshop focused on grant awards and other resources for moving pharmaceutical products to commercialization. Get valuable feedback on your project or program from a committee that includes faculty and industry experts with proven track records in drug development.

All U of M researchers are invited to attend. The workshop is free but tickets are limited. Please RSVP online by June 12.

Workshop details

Monday, June 18
2 – 4 p.m.
Campus Club, Dale Shepard Room

Agenda
2 – 2:30: CPD overview
2:30 – 3: Q&A
3 – 4: Networking on the terrace (appetizers and cocktails will be served)

University of Minnesota researchers are working to cure disease, protect the environment, and develop breakthrough technologies. They’re also working to craft the next great beer. In addition to being avid home brewers, many are experts in growing the best barley and hops, and educating the public on the art and science of beer.

Hops happy

Minnesota had 39 active brewer permits in 2010, according to the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild, and the future of the state’s craft beer industry looks bright.

While most commercial hops are currently grown in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, a research team at the U of M and a quarter-acre of hops may someday change that. Horticultural science professor Vince Fritz and research associate Charlie Rohwer are identifying which varieties of hops will grow best in Midwest climates and what kind of trellis system they will thrive on.

“We’re interested in helping growers cultivate a high-quality crop and grow enough of it so they can turn a profit,” says Rohwer.

Now in its third year, this small project has gained notoriety among Midwest microbrewers, who are increasingly interested in sourcing ingredients locally. Earlier this spring, the project team received a grant to purchase a small mechanical harvester for the hop yards.

Yielding barley

It’s not beer without barley — and Gary Muehlbauer, a professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, is part of a nationwide project to overcome disease and increase the efficiency of barley breeding by sharing genomic data across several breeding programs.

“The idea here is to try and make barley into a more efficient crop and more flexible, or more plastic in terms of its ability to change during the changing of the climate,” he says.

The project is grooming a group of doctoral students to become experts in breeding and genetics in wheat and barley, so they can take positions in industry and academia in those focus areas.

Read a recent profile on Muehlbauer and his barley research.

Quality on tap

Certified Cicerone Michael Agnew, an adjunct U of M professor, teaches courses through the College of Continuing Education on the basics of beer appreciation, serving samples from major local brewers like Summit and Surly.

Agnew says that Minnesotans ages 30 and younger have never had a difficult time finding their choice of quality artisan beer.

“They’ve embraced good beer as a matter of fact.”

Comment to win tickets to The U & Brew

Has all this beer talk whetted your appetite for more? Comment below and you could score tickets to The U & Brew, an exclusive beer tasting taking place June 28 at The Campus Club. Simply answer the following question for a chance to win two tickets (worth $40) to this special event…

What’s your favorite summer beverage (beer or otherwise)?

We’ll pick someone from the hat and email the winner on Friday, June 8. Don’t want to wait? Call today and make your reservations. See the flyer for details.

Perhaps there’s a fear that reporting an incident will invite unnecessary scrutiny or discipline — but this just isn’t the case. Consistent reporting of lab incidents is not only required as part of the NIH guidelines and U of M policies. It’s also a critical part of the overall research process.

Incident reports help to protect the health and safety of researchers, lab staff, university employees and the general public, and are key to assessing the essential training and resource needs of the university.

The Institutional Biosafety Committee just launched a new website with a more intuitive navigation and user-focused content, including an Incident Reporting page.

There, you’ll find details on who should report (e.g. PIs and lab staff), what to report (e.g. spills of hazardous materials and personal injuries), as well as how and when to report any incidents.

Free lab posters!

Want a fun and friendly reminder on incident reporting? Download our new posters (pictured) to print and hang in your lab or office.

Visit bit.ly/IBCreport to learn more and download the posters (11 x 17).

Post by Cynthia McGill, assistant director, Human Research Protection Program

Since the 1960s, the U.S. government has relied heavily on academic health centers to solve society’s health care woes: from training the next generation of doctors and nurses, to leading the research that cures disease and providing equitable health care to the community.

McKnight Land-Grant professor Dominique Tobbell studies the social, political and economic history of the American health care industry. Her current project examines the relationship of academic health centers in the United States with the communities they serve, and their impact on health care policy.

“I’m interested in the tensions that characterize academic health centers, as they not only juggle the needs of their faculty and their students against those of the state, but also federal pressures,” says Tobbell.

Telling lost stories

The untold stories of the University of Minnesota could occupy volumes, and Tobbell is working to capture many of those stories. In addition to her other research, she serves as oral historian for the Academic Health Center History Project. As part of the project, she’s compiling a history as told by the people who make the center great.

To get a varied perspective on the AHC, Tobbell has interviewed former and current faculty, staff and students. One of the interviewees earned her degree from the School of Nursing in 1929, and others trained at the U of M in the ’40s and ’50s.

“We don’t always get to hear about the faculty who are going about their jobs very well, who work with patients and do important research. I get to talk with the people who don’t have such a prominent voice.”

A scientist, a writer and a fighter

Growing up in England, Tobbell was curious about science and showed great potential as a writer. At 16 years old, a story she wrote about synthetic hemoglobin earned her the runner-up prize in a national science writing competition sponsored by the Daily Telegraph.

After beginning her career doing bench science for AstraZeneca, she veered away from the typically drawn-out practice of experiments, and rediscovered her appreciation for the overarching concepts and their historical context.

“I love to shed light on contemporary problems by using history.”

Students and colleagues are often surprised to learn Tobbell’s field of research even exists. Nonetheless, she hopes her work will ultimately improve the quality and availability of health care in the U.S.

“I want to get a better sense of how academic health centers tend to dominate the health care landscape. They have benefited but also constrained the development of affordable and accessible care to citizens.”

When she’s not grappling with complex health care issues, Tobbell is grappling at the gym. She trains, coaches and competes in judo and holds the rank of second-degree black belt. Watch out, world.

What’s next?

When asked about the future of academic health centers, Tobbell points to the following trends:

Rural reach: The U of M will continue to play an important role in providing health care to rural Minnesotans.

Economic impact: AHCs will play a huge role in economic development by generating startups, collaborating with industry, and developing tomorrow’s health care technology.

Changing workforce: If the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, there will be greater demand for primary care professionals — and it will be more important that AHCs design their education programs to meet the biggest needs of society.

Portrait by Richard Anderson; slideshow by Andria Peters

Maybe you’ve seen the comic about the science news cycle? It’s funny because, all too often, it’s true.

As a representative of the University of Minnesota, it’s important to communicate research findings and advancements with integrity and accuracy. It’s also important to tell a good story — one that resonates with your audience and reaches beyond the office or laboratory.

Here, communications experts from a variety of U of M colleges, units and campuses share their advice on communicating research. All of their tips are worth reading and heeding.

Start with your communications staff

“Contact your unit communicator ASAP to discuss research that you think requires some communication planning. The sooner we know about your work, the sooner we can begin to plan the best strategies, which always involve collaboration with a variety of people and resources, and consideration of different goals and tactics.”

Steve Baker
Communications Director
College of Education and Human Development

“Utilize the News Service/University Relations or the communicators in your college/unit: we can help you think through a story, determine the most effective opportunities for telling it and tap communications resources across the university.”

Chuck Tombarge
Director of Public Relations
University Relations

“Plan ahead and enlist the help of communicators early. They’re available to help with strategy, media coverage and planning. Including communication experts helps maximize impact and reach.”

Elizabeth Tollefson
Assistant Director, Communications
University of Minnesota, Crookston

Spell out a strategy

“Toward the beginning of a research project, plan how the outcomes might be disseminated. Presenting updates at local, national and international conferences is a good way to keep the project in the minds of those interested.”

Lori Graven
Department Director, Conference Services and Program Planning
College of Continuing Education

“For some research stories, instead of widely distributing a news release, target specific audiences of stakeholders. For example, consider giving MINNESOTA magazine exclusive access and ample lead time to develop an in-depth story with photography and video.”

Shelly Fling
Editor, MINNESOTA magazine
University of Minnesota Alumni Association

Consider the audience

“Keep the audience in mind and accept the fact that most aren’t interested in fine-grained nuances. Instead, focus on one or two key messages or results that you’d like them to retain.”

John Merritt
Director, Communications and Business Relations
Office of the Vice President for Research 

“Clearly and concisely state your research objective and methodology. This will help to provide context for the media or general public as they review the findings.”

Laura Johnson
Director, Creative Services
University Relations

“Practice talking about your research with someone who knows nothing about it, and ask them to tell you what your jargon is; odds are you don’t even know what common words you use that are meaningless (or worse, alienating) to the general public. And don’t over-describe, don’t try to give a lesson. If you give the reporter more information than what they really need, you provide an opportunity for them to get it wrong.”

Kelly O’Brien
Communications Manager
College of Liberal Arts

“First, you need to explain why the media’s audience should care about your work. Second, recognize that while you are an expert in the DNA of the African flea found on the tails of brown bulldogs, the reporter will be satisfied knowing why some dogs have fleas. Finally, express the fun and excitement you feel in making discoveries so the audience learns that scientists are cool.”

Martin Moen
Associate Director, Communications and Operations
Bell Museum of Natural History

Focus on the impact

“Always be able to articulate why readers/viewers/users should care about your news. Even the most fascinating breakthrough needs the ‘what does this mean in a larger context’ sentence. As a corollary to that advice, remember that most people — especially journalists — are not scientists and may only understand the importance of your work if you explain it in simple, everyday terms.”

Becky Beyers
Communications Director
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

“Don’t simply describe how your research advances your field, but talk about the impact it could or does have on the public. What problem are you trying to solve or how might the results of your research improve our lives? Also, remember what makes you excited about your research, and let that enthusiasm show.”

Marlo Welshons
Communications Director
University of Minnesota Libraries

“Why should people care? Be prepared to answer this question with a one or two sentence response that a 10th-grader could understand. If you can do that, you’re all set.”

Todd Reubold
Director, Communications and Public Affairs
Institute on the Environment

“What’s next? What might this project make possible for the field going forward? A good communicator will never position research in a way that offers false hope, but we want the audience to understand why the work matters, and why it will continue to matter after the publication date.”

Justin Paquette
Assistant Director, Public Relations
Academic Health Center

“Make sure you answer the question, ‘Why should I care?’ Help the reporter or the public to see the impact of your research on the individual, the state or the world.”

Jennifer Schulz
Communications Director
Global Programs and Strategy Alliance

“Tell a story about how your research solved a problem or improved the life of an individual person or animal. Then explain how others will benefit, too. Don’t just present data; think big, communicate your findings in plain English, and explain why they are important to the world.”

Brian Graves
Communications Manager
College of Veterinary Medicine

What’s your advice for communicating research? Leave a comment below and continue the conversation.

Experts@Minnesota, a tool for capturing expertise and enhancing collaboration at the University of Minnesota, is being upgraded to the SciVal Experts platform. The migration to the new system (a three-year implementation) takes place May 14.

The upgraded system features a number of benefits:

• Profiles are generated automatically without the delays of manual input.
• Funding alerts can be customized, matched and distributed to individual researchers within the system.
• Anyone with an Internet connection can search for a researcher’s expertise based on interests and publication history.

U of M researchers, preview your profile here through May 3. Profiles are created by combining the university’s public directory information with publication information from the SciVerse Scopus citation database.

Simply click the “Help us refine your profile” link in the lower left sidebar to:

• Add a link to your full CV or faculty home page.
• Add a statement of research interests.
• Report citations that are incorrectly attributed to you.
• Request changes to your personal information.
• Opt out of the system.

You can update your profile at any time, or request to opt out or opt back in. Not all changes are instantaneous; the university will send updated directory information to SciVal just four times per year.

The Office of the Vice President for Research and University Libraries are sponsoring and implementing this system, with funding support from 11 colleges at the U of M.

Related links

Learn more about Experts@Minnesota.

See a list of upcoming training sessions.

Email help@experts.umn.edu with questions.

Post by Kate McCready, special projects librarian, University Libraries