SPARC Plug Summer 2023

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SPARC News

SPARC Portal Now Features Funding Opps

The SPARC Portal now features funding announcements, available at this link. Current funding opportunities published on the page include:

With the International Network of Excellence (INE) in Cardiovascular Research program, the Leducq Foundation looks to support original and outstanding research in cardiovascular and neurovascular disease. Applicants are encouraged to propose bold new ideas. Visit this link to apply with a letter of intent by Sept. 6.
The RFA-RM-23-015: Pilot Projects Enhancing Utility and Usage of Common Fund Data Sets (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) grant opens Oct. 17. It involves the use of Common Fund data for pilot projects.

Codeathon Winners Announced

On Aug. 10, the SPARC FAIR Codeathon announced its winners following a three-day virtual competition for cash prizes and manuscript support. Codeathon teams envisioned integrating ChatGPT and large language model algorithms as well as new visualization features for exposing the wealth of knowledge contained within SCKAN. Check out the winning projects at this YouTube link!

Share your SPARC Dataset Structure Feedback with INCF

The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) promotes the adoption of FAIR data management practices in neuroscience through the development of standards and best practices supporting open, FAIR, and citable neuroscience. The INCF is currently reviewing SPARC’s Dataset Structure as a community standard and seeks community feedback by Sept. 15. If endorsed by INCF, the SPARC Dataset Structure will be the second standard enhanced for use by the SPARC community. The INCF endorsed the MBF Bioscience Neuromorphological File Format in 2022. Learn more and comment about the standard at this link.

SPARC Phase 2 PI Meeting Culminates with Awards

SPARC held a Phase 2 PI meeting in Bethesda in mid-June. There, DRC members came together to share perspectives and plan contributions for shaping the successful development of SPARC research. At the meeting, three Emerging Scientist winners gave excellent presentations of their research and received their awards.

Shown left to right, Dr. Andrew Weitz, Program Director at NIH/NIBIB and SPARC Program Officer, and Emerging Scientist winners Shane Bender, Jichu (Michael) Zhang, and Dr. Naveen Jayaprakash. Photo by Sue Tappan

The SPARC Phase 2 PI meeting also recognized five Diversity and Inclusion travel support award winners. Each recipient presented posters at the meeting and also had the opportunity to attend and present at the NIH Common Fund Brain Initiative annual meeting.

Shown left to right, Dr. Andrew Weitz presented Diversity and Inclusion certificates to Noa Nuzov, Sara Bokhari, and Drs. Nafiseh Parisa Saleknezhad, Edgar Peña, and Mona Mohammed. Photo by Sue Tappan

The Phase 2 PI meeting’s community dinner gave attendees a chance to get to know each other and continue great science conversations. Shown left to right: Drs. Hubert Lim, Stavros Zanos, and Theo Zanos socialized at the event. Photo by Sue Tappan

Community Spotlight: Upcoming SPARC-Funded Publications

Three exciting SPARC research projects have recently been published. They will be featured on our Community Spotlight page, located at this link.

University of Central Florida’s Dr. Jack Cheng and his lab are publishing new SPARC-funded research in the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The topic is calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactive (CGRP-IR) innervation of mouse stomach. Keep an eye out for this exciting research!

Drs. Pu-Qing Yuan, Yvette Taché, and their colleagues established novel approaches to visualize the central and peripheral cholinergic innervation simultaneously within the enteric nerve system (ENS) of the pig colon in their soon-to-be published paper. See DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1204233.

An international collaboration between the Furness, Liu, and Cheng labs results in a novel functional mapping establishes a strategy for noninvasive and accurate modeling of gastric motility. See DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2023.3234509.

Do you have a SPARC Story to spotlight? Follow this link to submit an idea for a SPARC Story or to illuminate your research journey on our Community Spotlight page.

NIH News

Common Fund Data Ecosystem Funding Opportunities

The Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) has announced a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (RFA-RM-23-013), which seeks proposals for projects that involve collaboration with multiple Common Fund Data Coordinating Centers (DCCs) to combine discovery and/or translational approaches with work that will enhance reusability of Common Fund data and contribute knowledge to the Common Fund Data Ecosystem.

Interested applicants can learn more about the opportunity and ask questions directly to the CFDE team at an informational webinar on Aug. 28 from 2-3 p.m. EDT.

Conferences

INCF Neuroinformatics 2023

SPARC researchers will attend the Neuroinformatics Assembly Sept. 18-20, a virtual conference centered on sharing advances in FAIR data practices for neuroscience, as well as data infrastructure and tools. Dr. Maryann Martone, a DRC PI, will co-chair the session “Streamlining Cross-Platform Data Integration." DRC PI Dr. Joost Wagenaar will participate in that session.

The INCF seeks submissions for two investigator-led sessions for the Assembly. For more information and to submit abstracts for consideration, follow this link.

Society for Neuroscience 2023

Did you receive your presentation notification from the Society for Neuroscience? Let us know! It’s as easy as forwarding your Neuroscience 2023 Acceptance email to [email protected]. And if you are attending but not presenting at the SfN conference in Washington, DC, plan to visit the SPARC Booth 3516, right by the NIH booth, anytime between Nov. 11-15.

American Autonomic Society 2023

The 34th International Symposium on the Autonomic Nervous System will take place in Puerto Rico Nov. 15-18, bringing together researchers and clinicians who are interested in the ANS. As always, let us know if you are presenting at this or another upcoming conference. Just email [email protected] or let us know on the SPARC Portal at this link.

Conference Survey Request

The SPARC DRC Communications Committee seeks your thoughts about conference attendance. Please take this quick survey when you get a chance. Thank you!

Abstracts Due

ISAN’s International Programme Committee seeks symposia submissions for the 2024 meeting which takes place between Oxford and Birmingham July 23-27. Symposia submissions are due Aug. 31. Visit this link for information. SPARC member Dr. Kalyanam Shivkumar is also inviting papers on cardiac physiology, the focus of the Oxford ISAN meeting.

New Webinars

“Make your Models and Simulations FAIR” Now Online

Last month, SIM-Core held a webinar with o²S²PARC engineer Dr. Elisabetta Iavarone, demonstrating how easy it is to build FAIR models on the SPARC DRC’s computational platform. The webinar shows how o²S²PARC, in combination with the SPARC standardized metadata, allows us to sustainably preserve models, along with the runtime environment and relationships between inputs and outputs. Watch the webinar at this link on the SPARC YouTube channel.

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. Find out more at this link on the SPARC Portal.