Science/Life: NCI online conference for cancer chemoprevention; Black Panther dies

 On Thursday and Friday (8/27-28) there was online conference for cancer chemoprevention, organized by NCI (National Cancer Institute).

As COVID19 shows little sign of dying down in the US as a whole, at least in the near future online conference will be mainstream method for scientific meeting. Apparently, format for online conference has not been finalized and the meeting organizers are still experimenting how to do it. 

For example, we saw different screen configurations in Thursday and Friday. There were about 20 panel/presenters plus 4-5 organizers, and uncertain numbers of attendees. Most people's mike and video were off. Questions by attendees are sent by chat to session chair/organizer, and handled. What we saw was presentation screen and attendees' name-only small screens.

It was not with Zoom, but with Cisco Webex. The use was intuitive enough at least for just attending. For presenters, there were a few occasions the presentation did not take off smoothly on day 1, but by day 2 organizers figured it out and it was mostly fixed. 

Just like in real conference, I was on and off the conference presentations, listening to presentation of particular interest. Overall it was very good learning and catching up opportunity for the latest topics of cancer chemoprevention studies in the US.

A large segment was dedicated to immunoprevention and cancer vaccines, showing current trend. "Cancer and inflammation" relation is already a common sense topic among cancer chemoprevention researchers, but translating it to clinic is ongoing. Organ-wise, lung, colon, and pancreas seem to be presented most.

I do not know if online conference is going to replace conventional meetings or not. It seems online conference cuts a lot of human interactions and opportunities to know colleagues, and it is a shame.

Well, we will see.

On Friday evening, there came a news of the death of Chadwick Boseman, best known as Black Panther actor. He died of colon cancer at age of 43.

I rented 4K UHD version of Black Panther (2018) and watched it, for a tribute to the actor. 

My obvious response; "I cannot believe this guy would be dead in 3 years".(The movie was filmed in 2017).

It was another cancer death. It was a sobering reminder of how fragile life can be even in his early 40's. We never know what kind of fight a person is fighting, even for an actor in glorified superhero movies. 

RIP.

PS  Also on Friday our new paper was published. I'll write about it later.

Dance: West Coast Swing community saying farewell to Angel Figueroa

Angel Figueroa was a major contributor to West Coast Swing dance community, as a dancer, teacher, coach, event coordinator, judge, etc. He was coming to some events in Tulsa as head judge. Although in recent years many professionals choose to retire early in the late night dances, Angel was one of the few who showed up and enjoying the dancing.


On 7/28/2020, he posted this on Facebook with his wife/dance partner Debbie.

"Well, it looks like 2020 is the year of disease. In June, I was diagnosed with stage 4 bile duct cancer/cholangiocarcinoma. Say that 10 times fast. I've tried! I am in the process of receiving chemo and so far so good. The doctors and I are on the same page of staying positive. My family and close friends have been amazing with their love and support.
I will still be teaching, coaching, and head judging.
Positive thoughts people!!
I will keep everyone in the loop with my progress. Thank you for all your support!
Remember: It's still walk, walk, triple, triple!
#cancersucks
#fuckcancer
#thinkpositive"


Stage 4 of any cancer is bad news. It means the cancer has metastasized to distant place(s), and that makes surgical removal of the cancers much trickier, or often impossible. Also in general, cancers advanced enough to metastasize are difficult to kill, more resistant to chemo- or radio-therapies.

Cholangiocarcinoma (rare cancer occurring in bile duct) is another bad news. Certain cancers are more difficult to deal with, and cholangiocarcinoma is one of those difficult cancers as of 2020. Of course I did not know specifics of his cancer, but it was sobering to read the post.


Afterwards, people in West Cast Swing (and Hustle and other) dance communities started posting his photos and dance videos with their comments as their tributes, encouragements, and well-wishes. Several (likely more) GoFundMe sites popped up to help him and his family.



On 8/15, there was a video of Angel and Debbie, thanking all the support.

It was somewhat shocking to see him thinning so much.



Then only 5 days later on 8/20 Thursday, Debbie posted,

"Angel Figueroa passed peacefully at 4:28pm on 8/20/2020 in the arms of his wife and son. We are heartbroken but ever so grateful."


This post triggered flooding of my FB feed with personal comments, photos, videos, etc from the dance communities, manly from WCS, and friends everywhere.


Today is 8/23 Sunday, but the flood of posts still continue.


Whole dance community is saying farewell and sending tributes. It is a rare sight.

[His "famous" quote as the head judge of WCS contests]

Dance (or lack of): Try something different ..Jump shoes, breaking a fall, etc

 Due to COVID19, social dance scene is pretty much dead for these past 5 months. Almost all party places are closed or limited opening with masks required/encouraged.

For your dance, you can choose either (a) focus on solo practice and keep working, or (b) try something different. It's a good opportunity for a change, for trying something new.

In the meantime, a few months ago I got my knee hurt from running, and was looking for a decent pair of shoes that are easy on my knees. I have pairs from Adidas, Nike, Hoka, Mizuno, Brooks, Reebok, etc. They are all quite decent, but at 195 lb and running on a hard pavement I feel a little heavy in them.

Then I came across this one. It's not really running shoes; it belongs to a different category.

[8/6/2020]

It's a jump shoes. 

Using my birthday as an excuse, I bought it. Hopping around in the shoes was quite fun.

Then,

[08/09/2020]

I went out for a jog/jump in the shoes. And tripped while attempting to run fast. Glad my body somehow remembered how to break a fall, taught by a PE teacher at an introductory judo class in my junior high (or was it in high school Kendo class? It was such an old time, I cannot even remember exactly when).

They said something like, "Instead of trying to stop the fall with your limbs, which can cause broken bones in your wrist or arm, redirect the momentum and roll."

"For the finish, tuck in your chin and look at your navel to avoid hitting the ground with back of your head."

Anyhow, I rolled fine enough on the concrete ground, while getting a few scratches on my palms, right elbow, and right knee. 

I was humbled enough. I ordered some protective gear to avoid scratching next time.

[08/13/2020]

I'll go again, once these scratches heal.

PS

Today a friend of mine was admitted to ICU due to COVID19. And he is not even old, still in his 30's (probably). The virus is very real. Hope he gets well soon.

Science: DOD grant sent out, and 3 lessons to improve the process next time

Sending out a grant, federal or local, needs to follow steps. It's not something that you just write a proposal based on your great idea and send it out.

Today we sent out a grant application to DOD. This entry is a self-debriefing session to go through the process easier next time.

Actually, today was the due date. We worked on it last minute. How did it happen?


To write a grant, a Principal Investigator (PI) search announcements (local, federal, private, etc),, and find an announcement that he would have chance to get funded, which should match his qualification, skills, specialty, etc.

Then he read the announcement and get the details; how much funding and for how long, its scope, etc. That will define what he should do, collect, and prepare, to write the grant. Also he can determine whether he can be competitive, or has some weaknesses. He should drop an email to the grant's scientific officer and request advice on if his idea is a good match to the scope of the grant.

Eventually, he decide go or no-go.

Some grants require letter of intent (LOI) beforehand to submit the application. He needs to send LOI in time.

Once decided to go, he write it. Prepare all files following page number and formatting specifications, and collect all the documents needed, like letter of support (LOS) from co-investigator or from department chair. Quotes for cost will be needed for proper budgeting, too.

Although scientific contents of the proposal is important once the proposal is sent out, budget is the most important part for internal review. PIs are usually scientists with some "XYZ Professor" title, and accounting may not be their forte. That is why Office of Research Administration (ORA) people help us out. They will review proposal internally before it is approved to submit. They check all the files and see formatting and specifications are met for the granting agency and announcement.

The ORA people do not check scientific contents, though. Improving scientific contents and increasing his chance to get funded is grantsmanship game of the PI.


About one week before the due date, he needs to get all files ready. Typos and awkward writings should be weeded out by editing software and editor. Scientific contents should be honed with review, feedback and discussion with colleagues and/or co-investigators. 

We have a departmental administrator who help us to set up grant applications.  She also set up internal routing, based on the information PI provide (e.g., title, granting agency, fund requested, starting date, participants, effort %, patent information, etc).

Once the routing form is set up, it will be reviewed by PI, co-investigator, department administrator, deans office, and so on. It will take 2-3 days for the routing form to reach the ORA for their review.

The ORA requires a routing to arrive 3 business days before the due date. If the due is 7/21 Tuesday, ORA should receive the routing by 7/16 Thu evening.

......so this is the rough idea about the procedure to send out a grant.


This time, we initiated the routing on 7/13 Mon.,which was good.

The routing was reviewed by our department, as well as two other departments co-investigators belong, and reached ORA on 7/15, which was also good.

Then it got stuck. Somehow it was assigned to a vacationing officer and she did not come back until Monday. This is one of the reasons we got to work until last minute.

Lesson 1: next time we need to be more proactive to track the progress, even inside ORA. 

This morning (Tuesday) an ORA officer let us know where to fix. Some are easy fix, others are involved in updated fringe rate, which will change salaries on personnel and thus require rework on the budget.

In particular, I was unfamiliar with accounting on cost-sharing and had it wrong. Fixing it took some time and re-approval by departmental reviewer. This is another point we will fix next time.

Lesson 2: Get the cost-sharing accounting right and make sure it is correct at the routing stage. Don't assume administrators correct it.


Then there was some undue stress. I was assuming the due time was Eastern time 5:00 pm (cst 4:00 pm). Naturally, as 4pm was approaching I was uneasy. Then they told me the due time is 11:59 pm eastern time.

Lesson 3: Check the due time.


Thankfully, after the review by the officer, the proposal was sent to the Associate Director (who has authority to submit) for final check, then the proposal was submitted on time.


Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


I heard the ORA is terribly busy place with high turnover, and I can see why. Especially around the due dates for federal grants (Feb, June, Oct), their reviewing would just be swamped. Still, sending out grant proposals is among few ways Universities make money from outside. ORA is an essential place. I appreciate their help. 

I want to get the application process done easier for me and for them next time, with less fixing.