Administrative Core

The Stem Cells and Aging administrative core functions to:

  • Manage financial aspects of the COBRE research
  • Assist investigators in their preparation of extramural grants and manuscripts
  • Schedule and organize COBRE meetings (bi-weekly meetings, executive committee, external advisory committee, mentors, sub-committees)
  • Organize COBRE department seminars, symposia, and conferences
  • Invite and coordinate outside speakers, research retreats and in-house study sections
  • Advertise pilot positions internally and help develop collaborative grants with individuals inside and outside the institution, and prepare noncompetitive and competitive renewal grant applications for the COBRE
  • Advise on statistical matters, working with Jason Machan, PhD, director of the Brown University Health Biostatistics Core
  • Provide bioinformatics support and analysis with Alexander Brodsky, PhD, Bioinformatics Specialist, COBRE Center for Cancer Research Development at Rhode Island Hospital, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University

The Core includes ten funded mentors (Peter Quesenberry, MD, and John Sedivy, MD, are ad hoc mentors on all projects), Executive Committee, External Advisory Committee, the Mentoring and Flow Core Oversight Committees, Academic Advancement and Promotions Committee, and Collaborative Grants Committee.

Specific Aims of the Administrative Core

The administrative core of the COBRE Center for Stem Cells and Aging aims to:

  • Establish the organizational structure for this COBRE, oversee the finances of the COBRE, and to meet milestones outlined for the projects and the development of an outstanding research center at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University.
  • Work with the principal investigator, mentors and investigators on symposia, speakers from the institution, outside speakers and workshops. To organize specific retreats around critical areas of investigation, EAC visits and phone conferences, participation at national and regional IDeA meetings, grant education workshops and in-house mock study sections. To organize and support other educational efforts such as MS degrees through Brown University.
  • Work with the principal investigator and other investigators on preparing non-competing and competing COBRE grant renewals. To work with the investigators on national and international collaborative research and granting efforts and potential program project grants.
  • Work with the Executive Committee on evaluations of the overall functioning of the COBRE and decisions on adding or deleting projects and pilots.
  • Release public relations bulletins, inform our National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) program officer and grants specialist of our progress, and organize interactions with state and local legislators.
  • Evaluate and assist project leaders in meeting promotion milestones through the Academic Advancement and Promotions Committee.
  • Actively recruit new investigators to the institution and to the COBRE from outside the Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital system as well as internally from our training grant programs. To recruit and select junior scientists for the pilot programs. 

Community Outreach Plans

In addition to attending and presenting at local journal clubs and scientific meetings, we plan to foster community outreach by communicating with Rhode Island college undergraduates and graduates, and to interact directly with the Leadership Alliance at Brown University.

Key Personnel

Peter J. Quesenberry, MD Headshot

Peter J. Quesenberry, MD

Principal Investigator, SCA COBRE Phase II Director, Rhode Island Hospital Hematology/Oncology Division of Research Professor of Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University

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John Sedivy, PhD Headshot

John Sedivy, PhD

Co-Investigator, Stem Cell and Aging COBRE Phase II

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Executive Advisory Committee

Charles Emerson Jr., PhD

Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Neurology, Director of the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Program,

Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Marius Ratajczak, MD, PhD, DSci, dhc

Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine

Director of Stem Cell Program, James Graham Brown Cancer Center

James Sherley MD, PhD

Founder and Director, Asymmetrex, LLC

Boston

Peter Adams, PhD

Professor, Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program, NCI-Designated Cancer Center

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

COBRE Administrative Coordinator

Lisa R. Frade

401-444-0330

lfrade@brownhealth.org

COBRE Center for Stem Cells and Aging