Tomorrow is the last day to register as a virtual reviewer for Discover UofSC 2021
This Friday, March 26, is the last day to sign up to serve as a virtual reviewer for Discover UofSC 2021. With nearly 900 presentations registered for Discover UofSC 2021, event organizers are seeking faculty, staff, postdocs and graduate students to serve as virtual reviewers on Friday, April 23. Discover UofSC 2021 reviewers will virtually assess iPoster and/or three-minute thesis presentations, interact with presenters using text or video chat and submit scores seamlessly online, using the iPosterSessions platform. Register by this Friday, March 26 to serve as a reviewer.
Register for the SCTR Scientific Retreat, “COVID-19: State of the Science”
The South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute (SCTR) will host COVID-19: State of the Science, a free, virtual scientific retreat for researchers on Friday, April 23, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The goal of this retreat is to advance COVID-19 research in South Carolina by creating a platform for researchers to share their current findings, research problems, solutions and opportunities to stimulate new cross-disciplinary research collaborations to improve human health. Register for the retreat by Friday, April 9. Interested researchers may submit an abstract by Wednesday, March 31.
Office of Research honors faculty for supporting the UofSC research community
The Office of the Vice President for Research offers a robust slate of internal programs for researchers at every level throughout the UofSC System, but we cannot do that alone. To keep our programs vital and successful, we rely on the participation of faculty members to serve on review committees and mentor student researchers, and UofSC’s wonderful faculty always comes through. These faculty members generously give of their time and expertise to ensure programs offered by the Office of the Vice President for Research remain strong and effective year after year. To honor these dedicated scholars, we are proud to announce the 2021 recipients of the Distinguished Research Service Award and the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.
Science magazine article highlights the need to expand diversity in biomedical research
The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on certain populations, such as Black, Latinx and Indigenous populations in the United States, has focused attention on inequalities in health and on the need to increase enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities and other underrepresented groups in biomedical research. Yet too often, in the United States and globally, participant enrollment in research has not reflected the demographic composition of the general population, those affected by the health conditions being studied, or those for whom the investigational product is intended, with racial and ethnic minorities and the young and the elderly, among others, being consistently underrepresented. Read more about this issue in Science magazine.
FBI warns colleges, universities and other educational institutions about threat of cyberextortion
A spate of recent cyberattacks on colleges, universities, seminaries and K-12 schools prompted a warning from the FBI’s Cyber Division earlier this month. The advisory notice, published recently, warned that criminals using malicious software called PYSA ransomware are increasingly targeting education institutions and attempting to extort them. The University of California, San Francisco, admitted in July that it paid $1.14 million to hackers who encrypted and threatened to publish sensitive information stolen from the institution’s School of Medicine. Read more about this spike in cyberextortion in Inside Higher Ed.
View NIH OLAW webinar on reducing administrative burden while maintaining animal welfare and scientific integrity
The NIH’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), along with their colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration, recently presented a webinar discussing progress towards implementing the 21st Century Cures Act. Check out the webinar and read more about the 21st Century Cures Act on the NIH website.
25 March 2021