Author Archives: Melissa Cox Norris

Introducing BenchSci

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The University of Cincinnati Libraries is pleased to present BenchSci to the UC research community.

Registration is free to all scientists with a uc.edu or affiliated institutional emails at https://www.benchsci.com

BenchSci is a online platform designed to help scientists find antibody data in publications.  Their proprietary machine-learning algorithm was trained by PhD-level scientists to identify and understand the usage of commercial antibodies in the research literature.

When searching for a specific protein target, BenchSci curates published data in the form of figures to simplify the literature search process. The figures can then be filtered by specific experimental contexts cited in the paper such as techniques, tissue, cell lines, and more, to help users pinpoint antibodies that have been published under experimental conditions matching their study interest.

For more information about BenchSci, please refer to this article: https://blog.benchsci.com/7-features-to-find-antibodies

To learn how to navigate BenchSci, please watch this short video: https://youtu.be/EFaDwTtqlv4

For further inquiries or feedback, contact Maurice Shen, the Head of Academic Relations at BenchSci, at maurice@benchsci.com

FREE Conference: Precision Genomics Midwest, May 11, 2018

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From making a diagnosis to tailoring treatment to an individual to someday curing disease, precision genomics is having a profound impact on healthcare.

Cincinnati Children’s Center for Pediatric Genomics and the University of Cincinnati launched Precision Genomics Midwest last year to bring genomic education to the Midwest. Often, clinicians and researchers don’t have the time to attend large national events, but they still need to learn about how genomics will be integrated into clinical care; about genomic technologies; and ongoing research in the field.

This one-day, free event – May 11 at the Kingsgate Marriott on the University of Cincinnati campus – is packed full of education on topics relevant to clinicians, researchers, pharmacists, genetic counselors, lab managers, nurses, and students.

Highlights include:

  • The whole day is free, including lunch.
  • Two keynotes: Dan Kastner, MD, PhD, Scientific Director at the National Human Research Genome Institute, and Mike Murray, MD, Director of Clinical Genomics at Geisinger Health System.
  • A new Bioinformatics track, with breakouts in clinical and research genome bioinformatics
  • Break-out sessions including genomics in the clinic, pharmacogenomics, epigenetics, and ethical, legal, and social implications of genomics.
  • A panel discussion on Innovative Genomic Therapeutics: Is Gene Editing or Gene Therapy the Answer to Curing Human Disease?
  • The largest exhibitor fair in the Midwest, featuring more than 30 vendors and sponsors.
  • A networking cocktail hour to finish the day.

Precision Genomics Midwest rapidly is becoming the Midwest’s premier precision medicine conference, by attracting regional attendance and national speakers while simultaneously showcasing talent from UC and Cincinnati Children’s. The inaugural year had nearly 360 registrants from more than 25 different institutions across the Midwest.

Cincinnati Children’s and UC College of Medicine are co-sponsoring the free conference. Other contributing partners include the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation, University of Cincinnati Libraries, and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training.

PGM is free, but space is limited. For the agenda, registration, and exhibitor prospectus, go to www.cincinnatichildrens.org/pgm. For updates, follow @CincyKidsGenomX on Twitter.

UC Libraries and IT@UC Host Data and Computational Science Series

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DCSThe University of Cincinnati Libraries and IT@UC Research & Development and are pleased to announce the Data & Computational Science Series (DCS2) 2018, a speaker series supported by a Universal Provider award from UC’s Office of the Provost for faculty development.

The first speaker in the series, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, March 22 and 23, in the Walter C. Langsam Library room 475, will be led by Jeremy Fischer, a senior technical advisor from Indiana University’s Information Technology Services, who will host sessions on Jetstream. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Jetstream is a user-friendly cloud environment designed to give researchers and students access to computing and data analysis resources on demand — from their tablets, laptops or desktop computers. People interact with the system through a menu of “virtual machines” designed to support research in many disciplines including biology, atmospheric science, earth science, economics, network science, observational astronomy and social sciences. http://jetstream-cloud.org

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Langsam Library’s Spring Break Hours. Fourth Floor to Close when The Desk@Langsam Closes.

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Langsam Library has reduced hours during Spring Break, March 9-17. Starting Fri, March 9, Langsam Library’s 4th floor will close when The Desk@Langsam closes during Spring Break.

Langsam Spring Break Hours: March 9-17

Fri, March 9 – 7:45am-6pm
Sat, March 10 – 10am-6pm
Sun, March 11 – Closed
Mon-Fri, March 12-16 – 8am-5pm
Sat, March 17 – Closed

Langsam’s 4th floor will resume 24/7 hours on Sunday, March 18.

Most other UC Libraries have reduced hours for Spring Break. Check the Libraries website for a listing of the hours for each location.

Have a safe and restful Spring Break.

UC Libraries Seeks Books Good Enough to Eat for the International Edible Books Festival

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edible bookKnow of a good book to eat?! Create an Edible Book for UC Libraries International Edible Books Festival!

It’s time once again for the fan favorite International Edible Books Festival scheduled for 1-2 p.m., Tues, April 3, in the Walter C. Langsam Library’s fifth floor lobby. UC Libraries is seeking people interested in creating an edible book for the enjoyment (and consumption) of all in attendance. There are few restrictions – namely that your creation be edible and have something to do with a book – so you may let your creativity run wild.

As in previous years, entries will be judged according to such categories as “Most Delicious,” “Most Creative,” “Most Checked Out” and “Most Literary.” Special prizes will be awarded for the “Best Student” entry and “Best Overall” entry.

If you are interested in creating an edible book, e-mail melissa.norris@uc.edu by Fri, March 23 with your name and the title of your creation.

books by the banks logoLooking for inspiration? Visit UC Libraries on Facebook to see photos from the 2017 festival.

Edible Books, 2018 is sponsored in part by Books by the Banks: Cincinnati Regional Book Festival.

Scholar@UC Upgraded to Enhance Both the Use and Access of the University’s Digital Repository

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Scholar@UC, the University of Cincinnati’s digital repository, has been updated and includes enhanced submission and viewing features:

  • improved look & feel
  • content dashboard for easier management of submitted works
  • batch work creation and upload – upload an entire folder of works simultaneously or create multiple works at once including from folders
  • usage analytics of content (views and downloads)
  • new work-relation model allowing works to be nested and related in meaningful ways
  • social media sharing widgets.

All content previously in Scholar@UC was migrated from the old platform, with files validated and the metadata and relationships maintained.

Scholar@UC is a digital repository that enables the University of Cincinnati community to share its research and scholarly work with a worldwide audience. Faculty and staff can use Scholar@UC to collect their work in one location and create a durable and citeable record of papers, presentations, publications, datasets or other scholarly creations. Students, through an approval process, may contribute capstone projects such as senior design projects, theses and dissertations.

The mission of Scholar@UC is to preserve the permanent intellectual output of UC, to advance discovery and innovation, to foster scholarship and learning through the transformation of data into knowledge, to collect a corpus of works that can be used for teaching and to enhance discoverability and access to these resources.

Scholar@UC is an open source, agile development project supported in partnership by the University of Cincinnati Libraries and IT@UC. To submit or view works in Scholar@UC, visit https://scholar.uc.edu/. Contact the Scholar@UC Team (scholar@uc.edu) with any questions.

Read about Preserving Taft, the Writing of E.B. White and the Digital Scholarship Center in Source.

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source vol 16 no2Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

This latest issue of Source includes a feature on the work of the Preservation Lab and their collaboration with the Archives and Rare Books Library on a collection about William Howard Taft. Xuemao Wang, dean and university librarian, talks about how libraries need to adapt for the future. Kevin Grace, university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library, writes about a collection centered around children’s books author and co-writer of The Elements of Style, E.B. White. A grant from The Andrew Mellon Foundation in support of the Digital Scholarship Center’s research on machine learning and data visualization in multiple disciplines in the humanities and beyond is announced. Dean Wang and Liz Scarpelli, director of the University of Cincinnati Press are interviewed about the progress of the Press one year in. Gino Pasi, archivist and curator for the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, writes about a set of historical and important surgery films recently digitized and made available. Other articles announce the Libraries’s Adopt-a-Book program and the 2016/17 Annual Progress Report.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Libraries’s Business Office Welcomes Two New People

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Debbie Myree, director of business affairs, announced today two new additions to the UC Libraries’s Business Office.  Christopher A. Zonker joined the office Mon, February 26 and Dorcas Gichuru will begin on Thurs, March 1, 2018.

Chris comes to UC Libraries from General Cable Corporation and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration/Accounting from the University of Cincinnati. He has a solid Accounts Payable background and a record of providing accuracy and attention to detail, which he used to automate key processes on two major projects during his career.  His experience in driving vendor compliance, invoice processing, month-end closing, financial reporting, Concur p-card transactions and working directly with customers, positions him to be successful in the Business and HR Operations.

Dorcas joins the Libraries from the College of Medicine, and her breadth of experience includes higher education, publishing and healthcare industries.  In addition to strong analytics and communication skills, she has demonstrated knowledge of SAP, UC Flex Business Warehouse, Concur and University of Cincinnati Financial Policies. Dorcas’s experience in fund accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, journal entries, deposits and PCR’s will be an asset to Business and HR Operations.

Welcome to UC Libraries, Chris and Dorcas.

Save the Date: Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture May 3

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The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine will host the 9th Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture on Thurs., May 3, 2018.

Michael Farrell

Michael Farrell

This year’s lecture will focus on the contributions and historical relevance of Pediatrics in the Cincinnati region with a primary focus on The Children’s Hospital.  Michael Farrell, M.D. and Bea Katz, Ph.D. will serve as our co-lecturers for the event. Dr. Farrell is currently Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He was Director of the Pediatric Residency Programs until 2001 and Chief of Staff at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center until 2015. His major interests are general pediatrics, the history of medicine and gastroenterology/nutrition. Bea Katz, Ph.D., the editor of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (2008) by Arcadia Publishing, has chronicled the history of Children’s Hospital for 30 years, first as a writer in the hospital’s Marketing and Communications Department and later, post-retirement, as an independent author and researcher.

Their lecture is entitled Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Impacting the Health of Children in Our Community and the World: The Past, Present and Future and will be held from 5:00-6:30pm in Kresge Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 231 Albert Sabin Way. A reception will immediately follow the lecture from 6:30-7:30pm held outside of the Lucas Boardroom; with an accompanying exhibit inside of the Lucas Boardroom highlighting the pediatric history of Cincinnati.

bea katz

Bea Katz

Originally formed in 1976, the initial purpose of the Society was to promote and perpetuate an interest in the history of medicine and all related disciplines in the health care field. Currently, the lecture helps to engage the local community in topics related to the history of medicine; brings people together who have a common interest in the history of medicine; and fosters positive attention to the Winkler Center through publicity and scholarly activities.

__________________________

The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions gratefully recognizes the generosity and foresight of the following individuals and organizations who have provided significant support to establish the Cecil Striker Lecture Endowment Fund.  This endowment fund is a vital permanent resource to strengthen the annual lecture program.

Presenting Sponsor

Dr. and Mrs. Carl Fischer

Dr. and Mrs. Theodore W. Striker

Dr. John E. Bossert

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center


Supporting Sponsor

UC Health

Additional support provided by Dr. and Mrs. Michael K. Farrell and Cecil L. Striker, PhD.

To discuss a gift to the Winkler Center, contact Christa A. Bernardo, Director of Development, at (513) 556-0055 or christa.bernardo@uc.edu.