It’s All About Networks this Spring in the CTSI Seminar Series

This spring, the CTSI Seminar Series (formerly called CTSI Grand Rounds) will explore the benefits and challenges of research networks, as well as how to develop and leverage them for your studies. The importance of networking is emphasized across professions – and for good reason. Networks allow for regular and broad exchange of ideas and information. 

Reid Hoffman, an American internet entrepreneur, founded LinkedIn on the principle of “network intelligence” – that people are the greatest source of problem solving information. Companies usually attack new problems by gathering the brightest minds within the company, but you can expand that potential exponentially by taking advantage of networks beyond the company.  

The same is true for scientific and medical research. Sharing ideas within a laboratory or department is excellent, but leveraging the knowledge and expertise of more far flung colleagues gives you a leg up.

The CTSI seminar series will give several examples of networks within and outside the University that researcher can access to help them work better and faster. Presenters will describe the structure, size, and types of interactions between members of a different network, highlighting any research advances that have been facilitated by the network.  

Networks to be discussed include the UNYTE Translational Research Network, the Greater Rochester Practice Based Research Network (GR-PBRN), and the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) network as well as its new Trial Innovation Centers (TICs) and Recruitment Innovation Centers (RICs) designed to foster multi-center clinical trials. Representatives from the Center for Community Health will also discuss their efforts to engage the Rochester community.

Researchers will also present on specific networks devoted to fostering a particular area of research, like the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT). Other researchers will discuss particular studies, like Jeff Wyatt, D.V.M., M.P.H., who has reintroduced lake sturgeon into the lower Genesee River and uses them as a sort of “canary in the coal mine”. He and his team regularly collect blood samples from the sturgeon to test for toxins that once earned that stretch of water an “Area of Concern” designation from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The seminar series will be held Thursdays at noon in the Helen Wood Hall Auditorium and will kick off on January 5, 2017.  

Michael Hazard | 12/15/2016

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