The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, issued an update to the current regulations governing research involving human subjects, known as the Common Rule (45 CFR 46, The Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects). The final rule was published on January 19, 2017, with an effective date of January 19, 2018. These changes are the first substantial changes since the Common Rule was originally adopted in 1991. The changes are intended to “modernize, strengthen and make more effective” the regulations governing research involving human subjects.

In October 2017, HHS submitted a request to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget asking for a one-year implementation delay to meet new requirements. On January 17, 2018, HHS announced that a six-month delay has been accepted, thus moving the effective date to July 19, 2018. 

Read more about the changes and how the University Research Compliance Office will implement them from Cheryl Doerr, associate vice president for research compliance.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs invites proposals for the spring 2018 Faculty Development Awards and University Small Research Grants for Kansas State University tenured or tenure-track faculty who are interested in receiving assistance in their scholarly activities and professional development. Faculty must have at least some percentage of their appointment devoted to research to be eligible for the funds.

Please attend an FDA and USRG Information Session to hear about changes to this semester’s application and review process based on input from the USRG/FDA Focus Group. The session will be offered at two different times:

Thursday, February 8 at 3:30 p.m. in Union 207

Wednesday, February 21 at 3:30 p.m. in Union 207

U.S. Researchers Relieved as Government Shutdown Ends

The US government shutdown that began on 20 January is over, after Congress approved legislation on 22 January to fund government operations until 8 February.

Nearly 100 Scientists Spent 2 Months on Google Docs to Redefine the P-Value. Here's What They Came Up With

Psychologist Daniël Lakens of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands is known for speaking his mind, and after he read an article titled “ Redefine Statistical Significance” on 22 July 2017, Lakens didn’t pull any punches: “ Very disappointed such a large group of smart people would give such horribly bad advice,” he tweeted. In the paper, posted on the preprint server PsyArXiv, 70 prominent scientists argued in favor of lowering a widely used threshold for statistical significance in experimental studies: The so-called p-value should be below 0.005 instead of the accepted 0.05,  as a way to reduce the rate of false positive findings and improve the reproducibility of science . Lakens, 37, thought it was a disastrous idea. A lower α, or significance level, would require much bigger sample sizes, making many studies impossible. Besides, he says, “Why prescribe a single p-value, when science is so diverse?”

Oddball Scientists, the Rise of Chinese Research, and Other Highlights from NSF's New Tome of Essential Science Statistics

Scientists discover something new every day. But science policy trends can take decades to reveal themselves. That’s why the bottom line in  the newest edition of an indispensible statistical tome  from the National Science Foundation (NSF)—that China continues to close the gap with the United States in the international race for scientific supremacy—will sound very familiar to those who follow these trends.

NIH to Launch Genome Editing Research Program

The National Institutes of Health will launch an effort aimed at removing barriers that slow the adoption of genome editing for treating patients. This program, Somatic Cell Genome Editing, plans to award researchers approximately $190 million over six years beginning this year, pending availability of funds. These researchers will collaborate to improve the delivery mechanisms for targeting gene editing tools in patients, develop new and improved genome editors, develop assays for testing the safety and efficacy of the genome editing tools in animal and human cells, and assemble a genome editing toolkit containing the resulting knowledge, methods, and tools to be shared with the scientific community.

Have suggestions for future issues? Email researchweekly@k-state.edu

Miss an issue? Visit our archives