Research Support

The Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology has both strong basic and clinical research components. It has consistently been among the top medical school pathology departments in the United States in NIH Grant funding in recent years.  The major areas of research emphasis and support in the department include cancer biology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and genomics.

LMP Vice Chair of Research Kristin Hogquist and LMP Vice Chair for Translational Research Bharat Thyagarajan can assist faculty on a number of fronts:  Equipment or other research resources needs; research services: bioinformatics, statistics, commercial services, or local cores; local collaborations; funding opportunities and feedback on grants; trainees and trainee funding opportunities; and new faculty hires and set up.  Feel free to contact Kris (hogqu001@umn.edu) or Bharat (thya0003@umn.edu). 

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Investigational Histopathology Support

LMP has made arrangement with BioNet to support faculty archival tissue-based research studies including cutting H&E stained sections, performing immunohistochemistry, tissue microarray construction, etc. The department will cover expenses for LMP faculty who are lead or senior investigators except for PIs who have grant support, startup funding or Innovation Initiative (for this work). 

Faculty can send requests on an ongoing basis for histopathology studies to Anatomic Pathology Research Coordinator Kira Krug -- krugx046@umn.edu. A faculty committee (Paari Murugan and Pawel Mroz) will review and approve these requests, work with BioNet staff, discuss details with faculty, and prioritize projects pending availability of department support in the fiscal year cycle.

The request should be in the form of a brief single page project document that includes:

  1. Principal and co-investigators
  2. Specific aims or hypothesis
  3. Study design
  4. Services required from BioNet (including number of cases, IHC, TMA etc.)
  5. Time frame for completion of project
  6. Expected deliverable (manuscript, conference presentation, grant application etc.)

Research Bioinformatics Support

LMP provides limited bioinformatics support for research through a collaboration with data analysts in the Research Informatics (RI) - Bioinformatics division of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI). The goal for this support is to grow the portfolio of genomics-related grants and publications. For those research projects (funded or unfunded, in planning stages or completed) that have a bioinformatics requirement, guidelines for requesting support are outlined below.
 
A one-page request should be prepared that outlines:
 
  1. the scientific problem and its relevance to human health,
     
  2. datasets that have been (or will be) generated,
     
  3. specific bioinformatics support needs,
     
  4. optimal time frame for support to be available (e.g. immediately, within a month, in 6 months, etc.)
     
  5. a publication plan for the finalized datasets and/or
     
  6. a plan for leveraging finalized datasets to procure external funding.

 

Requests will be accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis pending availability of department support.

Send requests via email to Gina Caprella (mccab095@umn.edu).
 
Consultations can be scheduled by contacting the RI - Bioinformatics (LMP) manager, Dr. Todd Knutson by email (knut0297@umn.edu).
 
A committee composed of Drs. Betsy Hirsch, Scott Dehm, Bharat Thyagarajan, and Michael Farrar will review requests for bioinformatics support, work with supervisors at MSI to direct bioinformatics support effort to the most meritorious projects, and/or discuss with applicants strategies for adjusting project goals in cases where the full level of support requested may not be available. Work on a project may stop after one month even if it is not completed, which will give the PI/lab time to consider the results and complete additional follow up experiments before additional support may become available.

 

Research Biostatistics Support

LMP has engaged the Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC) to provide limited biostatistics support for research. For those research projects (funded or unfunded, in planning stages or completed) that have a biostatistics requirement, guidelines for requesting support are outlined below.

A one-page request should be prepared that briefly outlines:  

1.  Research team – including Principal Investigator

2.  The scientific problem and its relevance to human health; hypothesis or question being asked 

3.  Datasets that have been (or will be) generated 

4.  Specific biostatistics support needs 

5.  Optimal time frame for support to be available (e.g. immediately, within a month, in 6 months, etc.)  

6.   An estimated duration of support for the project if known

7.   A publication plan for the finalized datasets and/or a plan for leveraging finalized datasets to procure external funding

Send requests via email to Gina Caprella (mccab095@umn.edu).

Requests will be accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis pending availability of department support.

A committee composed of Drs. Hogquist, Killeen, Pankratz and Thyagarajan will review these requests for biostatistics support and approve effort to the most meritorious projects and/or discuss with applicants strategies for adjusting project goals in cases where the biostatistics needs fall outside the expertise provided by the BDAC.

Once approved by the committee, projects should be requested thru the CTSI CTR portal.

1.  Go to the CTR Portal, http://z.umn.edu/ctsirequest. You will be asked to log in with your x500 username and password.

2.  Select "New Request" in the upper right.

3.  Search for your project, or if it is a new project, you can select "No the project doesn't yet exist" and you will be prompted to enter the project title and the PI information. Then select "Proceed to the next step".

4. Choose "Yes I would" from the pop-up and then select the first button on the next page. It reads, 'Biostatistical and Data Management Support'. Proceed to the next step.

5.  Answer the remaining questions as completely as you can and submit the form upon completion.

**There’s a question on the form that asks you to identify funding. You’ll want to select “Non Federal”, “Department Contract”, “Lab Medicine and Pathology”** 

Project requests are reviewed and assigned by the BDAC team every Monday afternoon. The assigned statistician will contact you directly to arrange a meeting to proceed with your request.

If you are not certain of your biostatistics support needs, consultations can be scheduled with a statistician by contacting Melissa Hansen (ctsi@umn.edu).

 

Clinical Research Resource Review (CR3)

The Research Resource Review is a Medical School (MS) mandate requiring all Departments within the Medical School to assess and sign-off on all projects requiring IRB review, to ensure that studies have appropriate resources to ensure study success.  This is a new requirement that became effective July 1, 2022.

PIs are required to submit their study plans to their department for review prior to submitting their study for IRB approval. Departments will review: staffing effort, protocol funding, participant recruitment plans, and research priorities.

CR3 Request

For more information, please visit the MS website and FAQ page.

Intent to Submit

Submitting a research proposal?

Complete the Intent to Submit Form at least 8 weeks before the proposal deadline.  Upon submission, ALRT pre-award staff will contact you to discuss the proposal preparation process.

Intent to Submit Form

 

Questions?  Email ALRTResearch@umn.edu.