With budget debates happening in Washington and discussions about funding scientific research appearing in the news recently, we wanted to turn our attention in this week’s post to describing one way researchers in the College of Pharmacy can find sources of funding for the important work that they do. Research dollars come from a variety of local, state, federal and other sources, and finding those sources hasn’t always been a quick or easy process. Electronic Research Administration software and databases have helped to improve the efficiency of this process for our faculty and other researchers across the university.

One such software package, the SPIN funding opportunities database, administered by InfoEd, is a tool that can link researchers not only to customized funding opportunities, but can also help link researchers to other researchers interested in similar areas of study.

Adopted by the Ohio State Office of Research in July 2012, SPIN is a three-part suite of products.

·         The SPIN (Sponsored Programs Information Network) database itself includes more than 40,000 funding opportunities from more than 10,000 global sponsors, including federal, state, foundation and other sources. The database is updated daily and opportunities are regularly reviewed for accuracy and timeliness. The database offers a full-text search engine based on U.S. Library of Congress subject headings and the ability to save searches for future reference. Searches are customizable based on interests, and trainees are able to customize searches to look for fellowships and other support as well.

·         InfoEd’s GENIUS (Global Expertise Network for Industry, Universities and Scholars) offers researchers a place to create a personal profile that helps them connect with other researchers with similar interests. GENIUS profiles can be searched using free text search, or the ability to search profiles according to recent submission, recent funding awards, recent patents, or recent publications.

·         GENIUS also provides a foundation that the third part of the SPIN suite, SMARTS (SPIN Matching and Research Transmittal Service) which uses information in a researcher’s GENIUS profile to identify and deliver customized funding opportunity alerts to the researcher via email.

The SPIN suite is accessible to faculty, staff and students.  Instructions for creating a GENIUS profile as well as a SPIN Reference Guide are available online at http://go.osu.edu/funding. In-person training sessions are offered by the Office of Research typically once per semester. Dates may be found at http://researchcalendar.osu.edu. Training sessions can also be arranged for specific departments by contacting Mr. Jeff Agnoli, at agnoli.1@osu.edu.  For additional information please visit http://infoedglobal.com/ or contact the Ohio State University Office of Research at research@osu.edu.

Best regards,

Katherine Kelley