SPARC Plug Spring 2024
Originally published 2024/05/23
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SPARC News
The global SPARC FAIR CODEATHON kicks off a fourth year of friendly competition for open science
The SPARC Data and Resource Center, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, will host a 3-day in-the-cloud Codeathon. It is free to enter and has a total prize pool of US$50,000, including both cash awards and manuscript publication fee vouchers. Join the fourth global SPARC FAIR Codeathon, a three-day virtual event this August 10th-12th!
Recruitment of project ideas and team leaders is open. You can choose to lead a project team and submit ideas for consideration until June 17. See a list of possible project topics on the event page.
SPARC Codeathon 2024
The SPARC Portal now hosts 300 datasets & models
We're dedicated to promoting open FAIR data and are excited to see continued growth. Visit the SPARC Portal today to explore the available data.
SPARC is an open repository. We are accepting contributions of data, models and tools. If you are interested in publishing your scientific data or models on SPARC to ensure that your dataset will have significant impact, please reach out to us.
For a limited time, NIH is covering the cost for dataset submission. Consider writing SPARC into your data sharing plans and/or grant proposals.
SPARC Phase 2 meeting
This year, the SPARC Phase 2 meeting was held at the University of Minnesota from April 9–10, 2024. The meeting was a great success and provided ample opportunity for an in-person exchange between DRC members and Phase 2 awardees – including presentations, round table discussions and poster sessions.
DRC members and SPARC research members who attended the SPARC Phase 2 meeting
SPARC Research at the MN Neuromodulation
Richard Christie, PhD of @AucklandUni (left) and Naveen Jayaprakash, PhD of @FeinsteinIMR (right) presenting SPARC research at the MN Neuromodulation Symposium. The spatial scaffold of the vagus nerve that Dr. Christie is developing will incorporate the anatomical imaging data generated by REVA teams.
Several teams presented SPARC research at the MN Neuromodulation Symposium, April 10 - 12, 2024.
The SPARC SCKAN multi-species knowledge base of ANS connectivity, Maryann Martone, Tom Gillespie, Fahim Imam, Ilias Ziogas, Monique Surles-Zeigler, Bernard De Bono, Burak Ozyurt, Jyl Boline, Susan Tappan, Jeffrey Grethe
The collaborative SPARC Portal for peripheral neuromodulation data, modeling and device design, Susan Tappan, Esra. Neufled, Joost Wagenaar, David Nickerson, Peter Hunter, Bernard De Bono, Anita Bandrowski, Nils Kuster, Maryann Martone
Mapping the Vagus Nerve with Anatomical Scaffolds, Richard Christie, Mabelle Lin, Valerie Chopovda, David Nickerson, Peter Hunter, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland
Interactive maps of nerve-organ anatomy and function on the SPARC Portal, Man Chung (Alan) Wu, David Brooks, David Yu, Keeran Balachandran, Jesse Khorasanee, Hugh Sorby, Alan Garny, Yuda Munako, Peter Hunter, David Nickerson, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland
Open Online Platform for Collaborative Computational Neurosciences, Elisabetta Iavarone, Esra Neufeld, IT’IS Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland
Biophysical modeling for personalized spinal cord stimulation planning and optimization, Elisabetta Iavarone, Esra Neufeld, IT’IS Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland
Funding Opportunities
Pilot Projects Enhancing Utility and Usage of Common Fund Data Sets (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
The NIH Common Fund (CF) is requesting research applications (RFA-RM-24-006) encouraging the use of Common Fund data. To be eligible, the proposed research must substantially leverage data from at least two Common Fund programs.
2 new ARPA-H funding opportunities!
Exciting news! ARPA-H has unveiled 2 new funding opportunities: the LIGHT program and Mission Office-specific ISOs. Learn more on our Funding Announcements page. Apply today!
NIH News
The second phase winners of the Neuromod Prize competition announced by the SPARC program
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced four Phase 2 winners of the Neuromod Prize; each receives $1 million and an exclusive invitation to join Phase 3 of the competition to accelerate the development of targeted neuromodulation therapies.
Conferences
IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society 2024
July 15-19, 2024, Orlando, FL. The IEEE EMBS conference program will consist of plenary lectures, symposia, workshops and invited sessions of the latest significant findings and developments in all the major fields of biomedical engineering. Submitted full papers will be peer reviewed. Accepted high quality papers will be presented in oral and poster sessions, will appear in the Conference Proceedings and will be indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE.
ISAN 2024
July 24-27, 2024, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
SPARC and CARSS will present symposia at ISAN 2024 at the University of Birmingham, and we encourage others to join us!
SPARC will present a symposium titled Utilising NIH SPARC resources for ANS research, chaired by Peter Hunter and David Nickerson, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
Topics will include
- Jack Cheng & Ariege Bizanti – Spatial mapping of neural data with 3D scaffolds
- Nicole Pelot & Joost Wagenaar – Vagus anatomy dashboard
- Igor Effimov and Alan Garny University of Oxford – Data visualisation and modelling to support cardiovascular control studies
- John Osborn & Maryann Martone – Functional studies of vagal stimulation
CARRS will present a symposium on Bioelectronic Medicine, chaired by Ellis Meng, University of Southern California and Victor Pikov, Medipace Inc.
Topics will include
- Stavros Stavrakis, University of Oklahoma –The present and future of vagus nerve stimulation for cardiac arrhythmia
- Jeff Ardell, University of California – Axonal modulation therapy for bioelectronic treatment of cardiovascular diseases
- Chris Wilson Loma Linda University – Saving premature infants from sudden death using vagus nerve stimulation
- Jon Waataja ReShape Lifesciences – Bioelectronics for treating diabetes
Attending? SPARC will be hosting a booth at ISAN - come along
2024 NYC Neuromodulation Conference
August 1-3, 2024, New York, New NY.
Pre-conference workshops on July 31 and post-conference sessions August 4. It's set to be the largest event for neuromodulation science & tech in 2024! Preview this year’s theme.
NYC Neuromodulation Conference
Find SPARC at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
October 5-9 2024, Chicago IL
Annually, scientists worldwide meet to explore new ideas, exchange research findings, and immerse themselves in their field. Attend to present research, network, participate in sessions, and join the global neuroscience community at the SFN annual meeting.
Attending? Find SPARC at Booth #1764.
Presenting? If your peripheral nervous system abstract is accepted by SfN, let us know! We would love to see it. Send to [email protected]!
New Webinars/Tutorials
Empowering Access to SPARC Infrastructure: Introducing a Cutting-Edge Python Library within an Open Development Framework.
On May 2nd, Elisabetta Iavarone, PhD, and Joost Wagenaar, PhD gave a dynamic presentation: Empowering Access to SPARC Infrastructure: Introducing a Cutting-Edge Python Library within an Open Development Framework. In this webinar, Elisabetta and Joost introduced us to the sparc.client Python library which serves as a versatile tool for interacting with various functionalities within the SPARC ecosystem.
If you missed out on this informative presentation or just want to take another look, you can access the webinar and the accompanying slides here.
CARSS The Center for Autonomic Recording and Stimulation Systems
On May 7, this virtual series reviewed updates in the OpenNerve Platform, an open-source implantable device that stimulates and records the peripheral nervous system, focusing on the vagus and sacral nerves.
If you missed out on this informative presentation or just want to take another look, you can view the webinar here.
Sharing Data in HEAL-compliant Repositories
On May 16, Dr. Nora Volkow of NIDA, HEAL Steward Allie Gartland-Gray, and HEAL Platform's Dr. Brienna Larrick presented insights on sharing data in HEAL-compliant repositories.
If you missed out on this informative presentation or just want to take another look, you can access the webinar and the accompanying slides here.
dkNET Webinar: Single Cell Multi-Omics Analysis of Beta Cell Heterogeneity and Differentiation
On May 17, Yan Li, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Genetics and Genomics, Case Western Reserve University presented a dkNET Webinar: Single Cell Multi-Omics Analysis of Beta Cell Heterogeneity and Differentiation. Learn more about this useful resource, “Beta Cell Hub”.
If you missed out on this informative presentation or just want to take another look, you can access the webinar and the accompanying slides here.
How you can help
Survey Participants Needed
We are encouraging all SPARC-funded (past and present) to complete a short survey about their collaboration activities. This data will be used in an upcoming manuscript about the SPARC Program.
Questions can be directed to [email protected] and [email protected].
Help Shape the SPARC Portal
We want you to influence the continuous improvement of the SPARC portal.
Your participation in our UX research and design activities will make the portal easier to use.
We encourage everyone to get involved. Join our UX Panel at [email protected]
SPARC DRC Open Office Hours
Join one of our weekly office hours to ask questions and learn more from the SPARC Data Resource Center Team.
Updated 3 months ago
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