UNASSIGNED: Federal grant funding to support infrastructure development of translational biomedical research centers is a form of public health intervention. Establishing rigorous methods for measuring center success and outcomes is essential to justify continued funding.
UNASSIGNED: Bibliometric data compiled from a 5-year funding cycle of neurodegeneration and translational neuroscience research center were analyzed using the package bibliometrix for open-source software R and the NIH-developed research tool iCite.
UNASSIGNED: The research team and their collaborators (n = 485) produced 157 grant-citing publications from 2015-2020. The science was produced by small research teams clustered around three main communities of topics: Alzheimer\'s Disease, brain imaging, and neuropsychological testing in the elderly. Using the relative citation ratio, the publications produced by the research team were found to be influential when compared to other R01-funded publications.
UNASSIGNED: Recent developments in bibliometric analysis expand beyond traditional measurement capabilities to better understand the characteristics, outcomes, and influences of research teams. These findings can be used to inform researchers and institutions about research team composition, productivity, and success. Measures of research influence may be used to justify return on investment to funders.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) mandates that its Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and Institutional Development Award Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) institute formal mentoring programs to promote the core program objective of junior investigator development. Despite this NIGMS requirement, and the many career-related benefits associated with mentoring, few tools exist for purposes of rigorously evaluating COBRE and INBRE mentoring programs. The purpose of this project was to develop a mentoring assessment tool to aid in the evaluation of COBRE and INBRE mentoring programs. In study 1, a list of items comprising the tool was created via a multiphase item generation process based on input received from subject matter experts within the Cognitive and Neurobiological Approaches to Plasticity Center. In study 2, feedback about this tool was solicited from 78 grant directors, mentees, and mentors representing 21 unique COBRE programs and 8 unique INBRE programs from across the United States. The results provide initial evidence that this tool possesses suitable psychometric properties, is a flexible instrument with many potential uses, and represents a valuable resource for helping evaluate COBRE and INBRE mentoring programs. Having a tool for evaluating mentoring can help promote the grant success and career development of junior investigators in COBRE and INBRE programs and help program directors develop more sustainable research centers.

The universities, hospitals, government agencies, and community organizations in Rhode Island (RI) are well-positioned to bridge gaps between basic and clinical science. RI\'s manageable size, population demographics, and organizational structure present opportunities to test and implement impactful, transformative clinical and translational research. However, the state\'s resources had not been optimally coordinated to develop a multi-institutional, clinical and translational research infrastructure to improve clinical practice effectiveness and impact health care in RI. The objective of Advance Clinical and Translational Research (Advance-CTR) is to bridge these gaps by creating a statewide hub to coordinate and leverage existing research resources and provide new career development support and funding for academic researchers, particularly junior investigators. Research support offerings are responsive to a wide variety of needs and readily available via a service request form on AdvanceCTR.org, the first of its kind on a statewide level.

BACKGROUND: Advancing research and treatment for Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) and the search for effective treatments depend on a complex financial ecosystem involving federal, state, industry, advocacy, venture capital, and philanthropy funding approaches.
METHODS: We conducted an expert review of the literature pertaining to funding and financing of translational research and drug development for AD.
RESULTS: The federal government is the largest public funder of research in AD. The National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and National Center for Advancing Translational Science all fund aspects of research in AD drug development. Non-National Institutes of Health federal funding comes from the National Science Foundation, Veterans Administration, Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Academic Medical Centers host much of the federally funded basic science research and are increasingly involved in drug development. Funding of the \"Valley of Death\" involves philanthropy and federal funding through small business programs and private equity from seed capital, angel investors, and venture capital companies. Advocacy groups fund both basic science and clinical trials. The Alzheimer Association is the advocacy organization with the largest research support portfolio relevant to AD drug development. Pharmaceutical companies are the largest supporters of biomedical research worldwide; companies are most interested in late stage de-risked drugs. Drugs progressing into phase II and III are candidates for pharmaceutical industry support through licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and co-development collaborations.
CONCLUSIONS: Together, the funding and financing entities involved in supporting AD drug development comprise a complex, interactive, dynamic financial ecosystem. Funding source interaction is largely unstructured and available funding is insufficient to meet all demands for new therapies. Novel approaches to funding such as mega-funds have been proposed and more integration of component parts would assist in accelerating drug development.

Tn916-like conjugative transposons carrying antibiotic resistance genes are found in a diverse range of bacteria. Orf14 within the conjugation module encodes a bifunctional cell wall hydrolase CwlT that consists of an N-terminal bacterial lysozyme domain (N-acetylmuramidase, bLysG) and a C-terminal NlpC/P60 domain (γ-d-glutamyl-l-diamino acid endopeptidase) and is expected to play an important role in the spread of the transposons. We determined the crystal structures of CwlT from two pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus Mu50 (SaCwlT) and Clostridium difficile 630 (CdCwlT). These structures reveal that NlpC/P60 and LysG domains are compact and conserved modules, connected by a short flexible linker. The LysG domain represents a novel family of widely distributed bacterial lysozymes. The overall structure and the active site of bLysG bear significant similarity to other members of the glycoside hydrolase family 23 (GH23), such as the g-type lysozyme (LysG) and Escherichia coli lytic transglycosylase MltE. The active site of bLysG contains a unique structural and sequence signature (DxxQSSES+S) that is important for coordinating a catalytic water. Molecular modeling suggests that the bLysG domain may recognize glycan in a similar manner to MltE. The C-terminal NlpC/P60 domain contains a conserved active site (Cys-His-His-Tyr) that appears to be specific to murein tetrapeptide. Access to the active site is likely regulated by isomerism of a side chain atop the catalytic cysteine, allowing substrate entry or product release (open state), or catalysis (closed state).