RESEARCH & COMMERCIALIZATION NEWS

University News

• COS Funding Opportunities Database Platform Upgrade
  The COS funding opportunities database is undergoing a substantial upgrade to offer more functionality and resources to UMSL researchers searching for external funding and collaborators. Now called Pivot, the database provides tools to bring together the right research opportunities, funding, and people quickly and easily.
  
  The COS Platform upgrade to "Pivot" will begin this month and be complete near the end of the first quarter of 2012. The ability to create new accounts on "COS.com" will cease operation on January 18, 2012. New users should create accounts at http://pivot.cos.com.
  
  New Functionality Highlights (PIVOT):
  
  
  • Within each funding opportunity record, Pivot provides "matches" -- a list of researchers within UMSL and at other institutions that may have interest in the opportunity (potential collaborators).
    
    
  • Each faculty member with a Pivot account will see funding opportunities on their home page that are identified by Pivot as possibly "of interest." All UMSL faculty, staff and students can register for an account at http://pivot.cos.com. If you registered on "COS.com," your login information will work on Pivot.
    
    
  • The expertise database is now tied into funding opportunities. Pivot offers Scholar Universe, an expertise database with 3 million profiles and growing that is compiled by a proprietary logarithm that searches a variety of information sources (journals, web sites, etc.) to build researcher profiles. All profiles established by researchers at "COS.com" have been transferred to Scholar Universe. The new expertise database is maintained and updated by the COS logarithm; however, faculty can still create, update and expand their profiles (note: a robust profile will make the funding and collaboration opportunities more relevant to your work).

  Pivot Training:
  Registration for January webinars for all COS users is now open. Make sure to take advantage of these free, live sessions to learn how Pivot can benefit you.
  
  Contact Tamara Wilgers (x6884) if you have questions.
  

Other News of Interest

• 2012 Deadlines: Camile and Henry Dreyfus Foundation
  
  
  • Camile Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award Program: Feb. 6
  • Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences, preliminary inquiries: June 4
  • Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: Aug. 20
  • Senior Scientist Mentor Program: Sept. 12

  Additional information and application procedures are available on the Foundation web site: www.dreyfus.org.

• IBM Contributes Data to the NIH to Speed Drug Discovery and Cancer Research Innovation
  
  IBM announced Dec. 8, 2011, that it is contributing a massive database of chemical data extracted from millions of patents and scientific literature to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This contribution will allow researchers to more easily visualize important relationships among chemical compounds to aid in drug discovery and support advanced cancer research.
  
  In collaboration with AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, DuPont and Pfizer, IBM is providing a database of more than 2.4 million chemical compounds extracted from about 4.7 million patents and 11 million biomedical journal abstracts from 1976 to 2000. The announcement was made at an IBM forum on U.S. economic competitiveness in the 21st century, exploring how private sector innovations and investment can be more easily shared in the public domain. READ MORE
  
  The National Institutes of Health will make the content available on PubChem at http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

ORA POLICIES & PROCEDURES

• Compliance Policies & Procedures -- Conflict of Interest, Export Controls, IACUC, IRB
• Fiscal Post-Award Roles and Responsibilities (PDF)
• Internal Controls -- effort verification, transaction approvals by PI, payroll, non-owned equipment (PDF)
• ORA Policies & Procedures: Grant Submission Deadlines -- budgets, electronic submissions, signature page (PDF)
• ORA Organizational Chart
• ORA Policies & Procedures (all)
• Technology Transfer FAQs (PDF)

The Office of Research Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis publishes the Spirit of Innovation Newsletter once each month. The online and e-mail publication is designed to inform the campus community of grants received; highlight the research and commercialization accomplishments of UMSL faculty, graduate students and staff; and provide information on important deadlines and events. Also included is recent news about research and commercialization at the University and elsewhere. Recipients are UMSL faculty, students and staff. E-mail wilgerst@umsl.edu if you have questions, comments or suggestions on content.

The Office of Research Administration provides leadership and support in the development, execution and operation of programs in sponsored research, technology transfer and economic development throughout the University of Missouri-St. Louis. (ORA Mission)

© 2012 University of Missouri-St. Louis