Grant's Farm’s Post

𝐀 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 🔍🧠 Micah M. Murray Murray, Scientific and Academic Director of The Sense Innovation and Research Center (CHUV / Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois–Université de Lausanne and HES-SO Valais-Wallis), joins an international consortium to understand multisensory development in children both in the lab and in real-world contexts.🌍👶 The international #consortium unites the expertise in #multisensory #processes and child development from leading academic institutions. It is coordinated by Professor Mark Wallace (Vanderbilt University, USA) and includes Professors David Lewkowicz and Nick Turk-Browne of Yale University (USA), Professor Monica Gori of Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy), and Professor Micah Murray of The Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (Switzerland). Professor Murray serves as the founding Scientific and Academic Director of The Sense Innovation and Research Center, which is a joint venture of the Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL) as well as The University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland Valais/Wallis (HES-SO Valais/Wallis). Professor Wallace also serves as the president of The Sense’s Scientific Advisory Board. 🔬🎓 Prof. Murray had no hesitation when approached to join this consortium with its ambitious goal of filling the knowledge gap on how children develop their ability to appropriately combine (and segregate when necessary) information coming from the different senses. The consortium initiative is of fundamental importance as it represents the first true characterization of multisensory development. It also holds promises of significant impacts in applied, clinical, and educational fields. This longitudinal study will include a diverse group of children, including those representing the neurodivergent spectrum and coming from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in research. A further ambition will be to render the data from this consortium accessible for continued use by the scientific community. 👨🔬🔍 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒆 ℹ ➡ https://lnkd.in/eHuic7HB

There is only one week left to apply to the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research 2024 Education Fund award! With the application deadline fast approaching on April 1, 2024, we encourage all eligible Doctoral (PhD) and Post-Doctoral Researchers (PDR) not to miss this chance to secure funding for your innovative research projects in heart failure. This award aims to foster groundbreaking research by supporting collaborations that span basic, translational, and clinical research, with a strong focus on research translation or commercialization. The award offers: $20,000 for Doctoral (PhD) Researchers $40,000 for Post-Doctoral Researchers (PDR) for the funding period of September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2025. Eligibility extends to full-time doctoral or post-doctoral researchers residing in Canada who are affiliated with The Hospital for Sick Children, University Health Network, or the University of Toronto. Your project must also involve collaboration with TRCHR partner organizations and emphasize heart failure. For more information and to apply, please visit the link below. We look forward to seeing your proposals! https://lnkd.in/e2-Rggrp

Today was a landmark day: the first day of assessments at Macosquin Primary School in Northern Ireland as a part of an international research project.  This is the type of research that could have significant implications for the future of education worldwide. The hope is that as we see more and more research looking into the understanding of how underlying physical factors can affect academic performance, there will be more and more interest in helping children to overcome these underlying physical factors through neurodevelopmental therapy, school programmes, and early intervention from educators and clinicians worldwide to see children reach their potential.   I can’t help but cheer for these educators at Macosquin Primary School.  Wow what a school… I was so impressed being there with them today and seeing their heart and commitment to the students.   Leading the research at Macosquin Primary School: Principal Louanne McElwee Senior Teacher Cathy Allen Michelle Teacy Classroom Assistant     INFORMATION ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT:   “An international investigation into the prevalence of persistent primitive reflexes in relation to academic achievement in children aged seven to ten years.”   What is the purpose of this research? The aim of this project is to assess the extent to which children aged seven to ten years still have traces of primitive reflexes and whether there is a relationship between persistent primitive reflexes and school performance when compared to PAT tests. Primitive reflexes are used by an infant to progress down the birth canal, and then to aid survival after birth. It has been shown that if this process is interrupted, the reflexes may remain in place and can interfere with maturity, both behavioural and academic. We are interested in the Asymmetric Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR), Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR) and the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR) as they have been linked to learning challenges. More information about primitive reflexes can be found here: www.inpp.org.uk. The same data is being gathered from children in the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia and Spain. We want to compare the prevalence of persistent primitive reflexes and the academic progress of children from different countries. The researchers in this project are: Dr Tessa Grigg (lead researcher, University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Ewa Gieysztor (Wroclaw Medical University, Poland), Marta Not Monegal (University of Catalonia, Spain), Sally Goddard Blythe (Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, United Kingdom) and Laura Pellico

💰Postdocs in Canada and US get a notable pay boost so hooray #science! 🪜Although I agree the recommended $70,000 (USD) a year threshold would have been ideal, several academics in this article provide solid points regarding lack of federal budget increases for the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the fact that NIH would need to cut grant funding to further elevate postdoc pay. 📈This is about a 20% increase in pay since I completed my postdoc in 2020. 💥 Postdoctoral fellowships are incredibly critical for training advanced, dynamic scientists for both industry and academic settings and are foundational for #economicgrowth, #cybersecurity, #digitalhealth, #climatescience, advances in #oncology, #socialdeterminantsofhealth, and much more. By investing in their careers to further develop scientific capacity, we all benefit! https://lnkd.in/eUDm5gqG

Maybe this will be a controversial post, but I applaud this new competition which excludes elite, well resourced institutions from a grant funding cycle. It is the type of move we need from higher education funders and foundations. Non-R1s quite literally need grants now to save programs, to support students, to endow more faculty lines, and to meet basic necessities like staffing requirements. One quote from the article: “Led by Stanford University’s tally of 22 HHMI investigators, just 39 institutions employ 254—a staggering 93%—of the 274 currently funded slots. Six schools are home to nearly half of the total pool.” Redistribute the funding. Consider that one program or funding platform might work for Stanford or Michigan or Harvard, but for a Marquette, or any other school beyond R1s, we are in a fight for basic needs. Fund those necessities.

While it is great to see some momentum behind increasing pre- and post-doc salaries, a 4% and 8% increase, respectively, is still nowhere near enough. These folks are the lifeblood of the lab, and the sole reason any academic PI can remain successful. Let us not forget - these are the people making some of the most important basic science discoveries, any one of which may lead to the next big life-changing therapeutic or technology. Pre-doc students are still going to barely scrape by on a $28k salary, especially in this economy. Post-doc trainees have PhDs and are still making less than someone with a bachelor’s degree can make in any given field. Do better and pay your talented, hard-working people what they are truly worth.

this is a really interesting way to approach diversity, the undermining of confirmation bias, and the diversity of research outcomes.

Earlier this week, the NIH announced the 2024 pay levels for the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA). The pay levels are informed by recommendations from the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director. 🔵NIH and its grantee institutions must invest in postdoctoral scholars to ensure the future of the biomedical research workforce and enterprise remains strong and globally competitive. 🔵Toward this end, NIH is increasing annual pay levels and childcare subsidies for predoctoral and postdoctoral recipients of NIH’s fellowship award called the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards. ➕The new pay levels will begin at $61,008 for postdoctoral fellows and are upwardly adjusted based on years of experience. ➕Additionally, eligible award recipients will receive a $500 increase in subsidies for childcare and an additional $200 for training-related expenses. 🔵The increase reflects current NIH funding levels, which remained flat in the present, constrained budget environment. 🔵NIH plans to further increase pay levels over the next three to five years to $70,000 annually as a starting stipend, pending the availability of funds through future appropriations. 📰NIH press release🔗https://ow.ly/CYyR50RnlrO 📰Science🔗https://ow.ly/PZfN50RnlrP // #postdocs #postdoctoralscholars #postdocoffices #postdocassociations #NRSA #NIHNRSA #stipends #NIH #researchworkforce #NIHfunding

NIH ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE DIRECTOR WORKING GROUP ON RE-ENVISIONING NIH-SUPPORTED POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING Report: December 15, 2023  Progress in 2024: As of April 23, 2024, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) minimum salary for postdoctoral scholars is $61,008, with adjustments based on years of experience. Now concern: Are all NIH-supported postdocs receiving a minimum of $61,008? https://lnkd.in/eGTcz73v #posdoc #nih #nihposdoc #nihfunding

Today marked the successful completion of my NIH LRP Awards from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), meaning that after 24 years I paid my school loans off to Zero :) A first-gen college student and the oldest of 7, I paid cash for my college costs through the backbreaking labor of landscaping during early mornings, janitorial work by day, and late nights as a bar back & nightclub security while a walk on Div. III athlete at The College of New Jersey- receiving no money from schools, mom or dad, and never moving back home again after HS. But that covered only half of the bills, and loans hammered the rest. It took *24 years* of work to pay them off, through two forbearances, living in college dorms as a faculty, and cleaning dumpsters as a student - and still driving the same truck the entire time. After several rejections, the NIH LRP Awards provided incredible support for which I am very grateful to the NIH and Congress for establishing the LRP program. Mentors, letter writers, colleagues, and administrators provided amazing support to secure 3 competitive renewals from the NIH (and some did not-> you know who you are; and I'm still standing but now debt-free). As faculty, I work hard to pay forward the fantastic efforts of these great supporters to the students I train. NIH Awards are meant to support Science for Society: and thanks to the program we have published a ton of innovative scientific discoveries that have changed how memory & amnesia is understood in the brain, included under-represented student co-authors along for each one, while sending countless students to NASA for jobs and missions of their own. I am truly humbled and grateful to the NIH, NINDS, LRP, and for all those who have helped along the way with my most sincere thanks. If you're a student or faculty scientist with educational debt: Apply for the LRP Awards (https://www.lrp.nih.gov/)- its a great program and makes a life-changing impact. #NIH #NINDS #LRP #Science #STEM #Stemscience #Neuroscience #Psychology