Tips for Writing Your Research Proposal

1. Know yourself: Know your area of expertise, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses. Play to your strengths, not to your weaknesses. If you want to get into a new area of research, learn something about the area before you write a proposal. Research previous work. Be a scholar.
2. Know the program from which you seek support: You are responsible for finding the appropriate program for support of your research. 
3. Read the program announcement: Programs and special activities have specific goals and specific requirements. If you don’t meet those goals and requirements, you have thrown out your chance of success. Read the announcement for what it says, not for what you want it to say. If your research does not fit easily within the scope of the topic areas outlined, your chance of success is nil.
4. Formulate an appropriate research objective: A research proposal is a proposal to conduct research, not to conduct development or design or some other activity. Research is a methodical process of building upon previous knowledge to derive or discover new knowledge, that is, something that isn’t known before the research is conducted. 
5. Develop a viable research plan: A viable research plan is a plan to accomplish your research objective that has a non-zero probability of success. The focus of the plan must be to accomplish the research objective.
6. State your research objective clearly in your proposal: A good research proposal includes a clear statement of the research objective. Early in the proposal is better than later in the proposal. The first sentence of the proposal is a good place. A good first sentence might be, “The research objective of this proposal is...” Do not use the word “develop” in the statement of your research objective. 
7. Frame your project around the work of others: Remember that research builds on the extant knowledge base, that is, upon the work of others. Be sure to frame your project appropriately, acknowledging the current limits of knowledge and making clear your contribution to the extension of these limits. Be sure that you include references to the extant work of others. 
8. Grammar and spelling count: Proposals are not graded on grammar. But if the grammar is not perfect, the result is ambiguities left to the reviewer to resolve. Ambiguities make the proposal difficult to read and often impossible to understand, and often result in low ratings. Be sure your grammar is perfect. 
9. Format and brevity are important: Do not feel that your proposal is rated based on its weight. Use 12-point fonts, use easily legible fonts, and use generous margins. Take pity on the reviewers. Make your proposal a pleasant reading experience that puts important concepts up front and makes them clear. Use figures appropriately to make and clarify points, but not as filler. 
10. Know the review process: Know how your proposal will be reviewed before you write it. Proposals that are reviewed by panels must be written to a broader audience than proposals that will be reviewed by mail. Mail review can seek out reviewers with very specific expertise in very narrow disciplines. 
11. Proof read your proposal before it is sent: Many proposals are sent out with idiotic mistakes, omissions, and errors of all sorts. Proposals have been submitted with the list of references omitted and with the references not referred to. Proposals have been submitted to the wrong program. Proposals have been submitted with misspellings in the title. These proposals were not successful. Stupid things like this kill a proposal. It is easy to catch them with a simple, but careful, proof reading. Don’t spend six or eight weeks writing a proposal just to kill it with stupid mistakes that are easily prevented.
12. Submit your proposal on time: Duh? Why work for two months on a proposal just to have it disqualified for being late? Remember, fairness dictates that proposal submission rules must apply to everyone. It is not up to the discretion of the program officer to grant you dispensation on deadlines. Get your proposal in two or three days before the deadline.

By: John Micheal

Bioluminescent Bacteria Could Light Up The Streets Of Paris

Paris has been known as "The City of Light" since the 19th century. Glowee

A French company is harnessing the power of bioluminescent bacteria to light up public areas.

Glowee, a Parisian start-up, plans to use bacteria found in squid to illuminate shop fronts, public spaces, and installations, with the hope of lighting up whole streets with these microbial lamps.

As the New Scientist reports, the lights consist of transparent cases filled with a gel containing the bioluminescent bacteria, alongside the sugars and oxygen they need to survive. The bacterium is both non-pathogenic and non-toxic.

There are obvious environmental benefits to using the bio-lights. Although the company has no intention of replacing all electric lighting with bioluminescence, it is a promising idea, with no need for electricity consumption and with considerably less carbon dioxide emissions than conventional means. On their website, the company says that "all the energy generated is used in the light production process. It is also less intense, allowing [Glowee] to limit the effect of light pollution.”

Presently, there are a few drawbacks to the lights. Their current design can only produce light for three days. Although the team hope to improve this lifespan, there is also the question of whether the cost and means of production could ever rival the efficiency of other light technology.

Although the cost and efficiency of Glowee remain unclear, there are some practical advantages. The lights are made of clear shells that can easily be trimmed and tailored to any shape and size. Additionally, the lights and casings appear transparent during the day.

Their inspiration came after a law was passed in July 2013 that forbids offices and retailers from keeping their shop fronts lit during the early hours of the morning in order to curb light pollution and energy consumption. Since Glowee emits a non-invasive soft light and won't eat into France's electricity network, it manages to bypass these laws.

After a crowdfunding campaign in May 2015, Glowee is now working on projects with event companies, urban furniture companies, and even Ben & Jerry’s (the ice cream guys).

But who knows, next time you’re taking a stroll through the “City of Light,” your path could be lit by some bioluminescent bacteria.

by Tom Hale

'Groundbreaking' cancer discovery holds promise for personalized therapy

Written by Honor Whiteman
Published: Friday 4 March, 2016

WE could be one step closer to personalized cancer vaccines; in what has been hailed a "groundbreaking" discovery, researchers suggest it could be possible to encourage the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells by identifying specific antigens on their surface.

In the journal Science, an international research team reveals how T cells - white blood cells that help the body fight infection - can recognize antigens that represent genetic faults, or mutations, in cancer cells.

Study coauthor Prof. Charles Swanton, of the University College London (UCL) Cancer Institute in the UK, and colleagues say the findings open the door to immunotherapies that could prime these T cells to identify the unique mutations and kill cancer cells.

Immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer - using a patient's own immune cells to fight the disease - has been increasingly investigated in recent years. Last year, for example, Medical News Today reported on two studies that hailed immunotherapy as highly effective against skin and lung cancers.

But there is one major barrier that is preventing the treatment from moving forward: the inability to guide immune cells toward the exact cancer cells they need to kill, while avoiding the destruction of healthy cells.

Identifying cancer targets for immune cells

This latest study may have uncovered much-needed targets on cancer cells, bringing researchers closer to a more precise, effective form of immunotherapy.

"For many years we have studied how the immune response to cancer is regulated without a clear understanding of what it is that immune cells recognize on cancerous cells," says study coauthor Dr. 

Sergio Quezada, head of the Immune Regulation and Cancer Immunotherapy Laboratory at the UCL Cancer Institute.

"Based on these new findings, we will be able to tell the immune system how to specifically recognize and attack tumors."

The researchers explain that as a tumor grows, a number of unique mutations arise in various parts of it. These mutations produce antigens on the surface of cancer cells within a tumor, which act as "flags" for T cells, prompting them to launch an attack.

While the T cells have the ability to eradicate all cancer cells within a tumor, they are not always able to reach their goal. The tumor can either launch a defense mechanism that deactivates the immune cells, or there are often simply too many mutations for the T cells to recognize and attack.

"Genetically diverse tumors are like a gang of hoodlums involved in different crimes - from robbery to smuggling. And the immune system struggles to keep on top of the cancer - just as it's difficult for police when there's so much going on," explains Dr. Quezada.

Uncovering the 'Achilles heel' of highly complex cancers

For their study, the researchers set out to pinpoint shared and unique antigens that may arise on the surface of cancer cells. To do so, they used The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to analyze the genetic data of more than 200 patients with one of two different forms of lung cancer - adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

From this data, the team identified certain antigens that represent early genetic mutations that were common across tumor cells.

Moving to the lab, the team isolated T cells from the tumors of two lung cancer patients. They found that their T cells were able to recognize these common antigens, suggesting that tumors contain immune cells that have the ability to identify cancer cells as harmful.

While the T cells were unable to kill the cancer cells due to the defenses the tumors put up, the researchers believe it may be possible to activate the T cells to target all the tumor cells in one go.

For example, a vaccine could be developed that switches on these T cells in a cancer patient, or it may be possible to harvest, grow or administer T cells back into a patient that can identify the common antigens present in each cancer cell.

"Our research shows that instead of aimlessly chasing crimes in different neighborhoods, we can give the police the information they need to get to the kingpin at the root of all organized crime - the weak spot in the patient's tumor - to wipe out the problem for good," says Dr. Quezada.

Prof. Swanton describes the teams findings as "exciting," adding:

While it may be a long time before such treatment is available in a clinical setting, the researchers say they hope to move to human trials within 2 years.

Meanwhile, another study reported by MNT sheds light on how tumors grow; researchers found that cancer cells influence nearby cells to increase production of a protein that triggers growth of blood vessels, which tumors need to survive.

Written by Honor Whiteman

Zika virus: Your questions answered

By Gretchen Vogel, Jon Cohen, Martin Enserink Jan. 29, 2016 , 3:30 PM

Where did the Zika virus come from?

First isolated in 1947 and first described in a paper in 1952, Zika has long been known to occur in Africa and Southeast Asia—but until a decade ago, fewer than 15 cases had been described in the scientific literature. In 2007, the virus caused a big outbreak on Yap, an island group in the Western Pacific that is part of the Federated States of Micronesia; since then, it went on a major tour of other Pacific Islands before it landed in Brazil, from where it started spreading rapidly to other parts of South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Why has it exploded so suddenly?

There may have been big outbreaks in Africa and Asia in the past that went undetected; scientists weren't paying much attention. But the current massive epidemic was an event waiting to happen. Latin America has huge numbers of A. aegypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, an important vector for Zika. (The Asian tiger mosquito, A. albopictus, which is on the rise around the world, is believed to be a vector as well.) In addition, nobody in the Americas had immunity to the virus. Travel makes it worse. Aedes mosquitoes don't fly more than a few hundred meters during their lives; Zika travels from city to city and country to country when infected people get on cars, buses, trains, and planes.

These combined factors meant that the virus had the ability to spread far and fast once it had arrived.

Will Zika spread to the United States and Europe?

Both the United States and Europe have already seen "imported cases"—people who arrived from a Zika-affected country carrying the virus. This was widely expected given the size of the epidemic in Latin America. The key question is whether there will be local outbreaks—that is, mosquitoes spreading the virus from person to person. There's definitely a chance; A. albopictus occurs in several countries in southern Europe (and it may move north), while the southern and eastern United States have populations of both A. aegypti and A. albopictus.

If so, scientists expect outbreaks to be much smaller than elsewhere, based on past experience with mosquito-borne diseases. Recent dengue outbreaks in Florida, Texas, and Hawaii haven't sickened more than a few hundred people, for instance; an outbreak of a mosquito-borne disease called chikungunya in northern Italy in 2007—which started when a man infected with the virus arrived from India—ended after 197 cases. One reason that outbreaks in these countries tend to be smaller may be that people spend less time outside and live in houses that are more difficult for mosquitoes to enter; mosquito population sizes may play a role as well.

Do we know for sure that Zika is causing a rise in birth defects?

No. There is strong circumstantial evidence that areas in Brazil hit hard by Zika have experienced a sharp increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a condition in which the head is much smaller than normal because the brain fails to develop properly. But it will take at least several months before the results from the first case-control studies of pregnant women infected with Zika are available. Doctors in Brazil first noticed an increase in cases of microcephaly during ultrasounds of pregnant women in June and July, a few months after the sudden rise in Zika infections. Fetal medicine expert Manoel Sarno, who works at the Federal University of Bahia, says the pattern of brain damage he is seeing now looks distinct from microcephaly caused by other infections, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) or rubella. He and his colleagues started a study in August that is following women infected with Zika during their pregnancy; the results could come out late summer. Similar studies are underway elsewhere in Brazil and in Columbia.

Are there other urgent questions that scientists are asking?

Plenty. Scientists have difficulty determining who has been infected and who hasn’t because diagnostic tests have limitations. The most accurate tests—which detect viral RNA in a patient’s blood—only work within a week of the first symptoms appearing. After that time, researchers can test for antibodies in blood. But current tests for Zika antibodies cross-react with antibodies to dengue, which is so widespread in Brazil—and much of the rest of Latin America—that almost all adults have antibodies to it. That makes it difficult to tell whether the mother of a baby born with microcephaly was infected with Zika earlier in her pregnancy.

Researchers would also like to know how often Zika is transmitted through sexual contact. One U.S. scientist who caught the virus in Africa passed it to his wife after he got home in 2008, and a second case of suspected sexual transmission happened in French Polynesia in 2013. But researchers have no idea what the risk is. (“If I was a man and I got Zika symptoms, I’d wait a couple of months before having unprotected sex,” virologist Scott Weaver of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston recently told The New York Times.)

What drugs are available against Zika?

None. Until last year, Zika was so rare, and believed to be so mild, that nobody bothered to look for candidate drugs. Even now that the virus is surging, it's not obvious that there's a big market for an antiviral drug, because the vast majority of those infected have very few symptoms or none at all. And it's not clear that a drug could prevent birth defects when women contract Zika during pregnancy; by the time they become infected and develop symptoms, it may be too late to prevent such damage. A vaccine against Zika may offer more hope of preventing microcephaly.

And when can we expect a vaccine?

That will take years. Several groups have begun to make candidate Zika vaccines, a process that will take at least several months. Most of these vaccine approaches are piggybacking on existing vaccines. For example, many vaccines are made by stitching proteins from a pathogen’s surface into a harmless virus or vector; that is now being tried with Zika using those same vectors. Once a candidate vaccine is made, it will have to be tested in animals before humans.Human trials begin with small safety studies, then move on to larger studies that test whether the candidate product works. All of that usually takes 10 to 15 months. Given the urgency, the timeline could be compressed, but even so, Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told STAT that it may be at least 5 to 7 years before a Zika vaccine is commercially available.

Then what can we do to stop the spread of the virus?

Stop mosquitoes from biting people. Countries and communities can try to reduce mosquito populations by removing the small water reservoirs—such as flower pots, empty bottles, and discarded tires—in which Aedes mosquitoes like to breed. People can also reduce their personal exposure—especially important for women who are or might become pregnant—by putting screens on windows, covering their skin, and using insect repellant. However, history has shown that the impact of mosquito control on epidemics is modest at best, and they're difficult to sustain.

There must be better ways to control mosquitoes?

Not yet but they're in the works. A British biotech called Oxitec—which was recently purchased by Intrexon, a U.S. synthetic biology company—has developed A. aegyptimosquitoes containing a gene construct that will kill their offspring before they reach adulthood. When massive numbers of male individuals of this strain are released in the wild, they will mate with local females, producing offspring that are not viable, which has been shown to make a dent in the population.

In another line of research, scientists are infecting A. aegypti with a bacterium namedWolbachia, which reduces mosquitoes' ability to transmit diseases. The researchers developing these approaches were mostly thinking about dengue, but Zika's surge is giving their attempts a new sense of urgency. But again, it will take several years before these strategies are ready for prime time.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aae0291

Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/zika-virus-your-questions-answered?utm_source=sciencemagazine&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=zikaexplainer-2149

Zika virus is raising global alarm

Britain's Oxford University warned that a virus known as Zika, which is carried by mosquitoes and has caused a major outbreak in Brazil, has "the potential of rapid spread to new areas."

Zika was first detected in Africa in the 1940s and was unknown in the Americas until last year, but has now been confirmed in Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, Suriname, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay, according to public health officials. It is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which thrives in tropical climates and can also carry other diseases such as yellow fever, dengue fever and chikungunya.

Thousands of people in Brazil have been infected by Zika. While the virus is not thought to kill, health authorities there last year linked it to a surge in babies born with microcephaly, restricted head growth that seriously limits a child's mental and physical abilities.

Source: Medscape

Source: http://clinical-laboratory.blogspot.fi/2016/01/zika-virus-is-raising-global-alarm.html