Recruitment materials are often the first impression potential participants have of your study, but are they leading you to recruitment success? Do your recruitment materials grab their attention, build their trust, and invite them in? This session will explore how to design effective, audience-centered recruitment materials that translate research into clear, compelling messages. We’ll cover principles of effective design, best practices for tailoring study messages to various audiences, common design pitfalls to avoid, how to balance accessibility and creative design, and examples of strong vs. weak design to illustrate what works and why. This talk will also highlight the growing role of AI in recruitment design with how AI tools can support visual design.
Please note: No prior experience with Canva is required.
Presenter:
Sarah Sutter, MPH
Research Project Manager, Recruitment & Retention Program
NC TraCS Institute
The NC TraCS Professional Development Seminar Series is open to anyone seeking exposure to foundational concepts in clinical/translational research such as communication skills, finding funding, career planning, and implementing research. The Finding Funding module focuses on what you need to know before applying for funding for biomedical research.
Seminars in the Finding Funding module are presented every 2 weeks from September 30 - November 14, in-person on Tuesdays from 12 - 2 p.m. ET and repeated via Zoom on Fridays from 12 - 2 p.m ET.
In-person | Bondurant Hall, room 2030
Tuesday, September 30: Introduction to Sponsored Research
Tuesday, October 14: NIH 101, or Anatomy of a Request for Funding Announcement
Tuesday, October 28: Working with Foundation/Industry Sponsors/ SPIN database
Tuesday, November 11: What is a pilot study?
Virtual | Zoom
Friday, October 3: Introduction to Sponsored Research
Friday, October 17: NIH 101, or Anatomy of a Request for Funding Announcement
Friday, October 31: Working with Foundation/Industry Sponsors/ SPIN database
Friday, November 14: What is a pilot study?
Join for the topics that interest you and on the days that work for you. Please register for the Zoom-only option if you are unlikely to participate in-person as space for the in-person option is limited.
Join the Children's Research Institute and Johanna Smeekens, PhD, an assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy & Immunology, for a seminar on her research with biospecimens from sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and oral immunotherapy (OIT) clinical trials for peanut allergy, including saliva, blood, and plasma, to identify biomarkers that are predictive of clinical outcomes. Smeekens' research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of food allergy and identifying biomarkers of successful treatment outcomes. She has developed several models of allergen exposures in mice that help determine the different exposure routes that may lead to sensitization.
Participate in the seminar at 3116 Mary Ellen Jones Building (with lunch provided). A zoom option is available by request.
Multiscale Virtual-Tissue Models of Infection and Immune Response: From Principles to Digital Twins
Understanding infection and immunity—and immune responses in contexts ranging from arthritis to cancer—requires linking molecular, cellular, tissue, and whole-body dynamics across scales. Multiscale Virtual-Tissue models—physics-based, multicellular, agent-based simulations—provide a framework for connecting intracellular networks, cell behaviors, and tissue microenvironments, and can be embedded within physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models of dosimetry. These methods are maturing into practical biomedical tools through platforms such as CompuCell3D, PhysiCell, Tissue Forge, Morpheus, and CHASTE.
I will introduce this modeling approach and illustrate its application to infection and immune dynamics, including models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, antiviral pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and the role of spatial and metabolic heterogeneity in shaping therapeutic outcomes. I will also show how these models integrate immune cell recruitment, cytokine dynamics, and tissue damage and repair, yielding predictions that cannot emerge from well-mixed models alone.
Looking forward, there are both opportunities and challenges in modeling the immune system and in designing effective control strategies. Scientifically, many aspects of immune recognition remain uncertain, immune responses are highly complex and context dependent, and spatial heterogeneity is central to outcomes. Clinically, if we want to realize immune digital twins for medical use, we face the impossibility of directly measuring immune state in real time; most data come from serum assays, which mask spatial inhomogeneity within the patient. Moreover, immune states change rapidly and stochastically, while our current therapeutic modulators are relatively coarse and non-specific. Addressing these scientific and translational hurdles will require close collaboration between experimentalists, modelers, and clinicians. I will conclude by outlining how Duke’s new center can play a pivotal role in bridging these gaps, linking advanced experimental platforms with predictive multiscale modeling to move toward patient-specific immune digital twins.
This seminar series is organized by the Center of Multiscale Immune Systems Modeling (MISM), funded by NIAID/NIH (U54AI191253).
Speaker:
James Glazier, PhD
Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering
Director of the Biocomplexity Institute
Indiana University Bloomington
This session provides an overview of some of the upcoming changes to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant application requirements. The NIH originally planned for adoption of a new Common Form for Biographical Sketch and a new Biographical Sketch Supplement to occur on May 25, 2025, but it has been postponed and will instead likely be adopted later this year. The new format is now available for preview.
This presentation will focus on the new “common forms” requirements for biosketch creation with SciENcv and inclusion of an ORCID iD in NIH biosketches and eRA Commons profiles. It will also include demonstrations of the SciENcv biosketch tool and ORCID iD creation and linking steps. The presentation aims to prepare researchers for the new NIH requirements by providing detailed instructions and resources to ensure compliance.
This program is offered via Zoom by the Health Sciences Library and led by Katherine Howell, MSLIS.
Please join the Department of Health Sciences Office of Research & Scholarship for their November research forum. Learn about the opportunities and Innovate Carolina resources available to support your innovation journey or to unlock the commercial potential of your research.
The hybrid forum will take place in person (MacNider 321, LUNCH provided) and via Zoom. Please register to attend.
Questions? Contact the Department of Health Sciences Office of Research & Scholarship at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The 2024 NIH Public Access Policy includes several significant changes from the previous policy, and applies to all NIH-funded manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. Learn more about what has changed, how to comply, and what to expect going forward.
This program is offered via Zoom by the Health Sciences Library and led by Collin Drummond and Katherine Howell.
The NC TraCS Professional Development Seminar Series is open to anyone seeking exposure to foundational concepts in clinical/translational research such as communication skills, finding funding, career planning, and implementing research. The Finding Funding module focuses on what you need to know before applying for funding for biomedical research.
Seminars in the Finding Funding module are presented every 2 weeks from September 30 - November 14, in-person on Tuesdays from 12 - 2 p.m. ET and repeated via Zoom on Fridays from 12 - 2 p.m ET.
In-person | Bondurant Hall, room 2030
Tuesday, September 30: Introduction to Sponsored Research
Tuesday, October 14: NIH 101, or Anatomy of a Request for Funding Announcement
Tuesday, October 28: Working with Foundation/Industry Sponsors/ SPIN database
Tuesday, November 11: What is a pilot study?
Virtual | Zoom
Friday, October 3: Introduction to Sponsored Research
Friday, October 17: NIH 101, or Anatomy of a Request for Funding Announcement
Friday, October 31: Working with Foundation/Industry Sponsors/ SPIN database
Friday, November 14: What is a pilot study?
Join for the topics that interest you and on the days that work for you. Please register for the Zoom-only option if you are unlikely to participate in-person as space for the in-person option is limited.
Mastering communication is not easy, but it is one of the most valuable skills graduate students and postdocs can develop for sharing their research effectively. This Fall, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is offering a three-part virtual workshop series led by Danielle Hennis from Make it Memorable, focused on strengthening communication and presentation skills. Sessions will cover advanced PowerPoint techniques, the power of scientific storytelling, and effective data visualization strategies.
Each 1.5-hour workshop is highly practical and filled with tips and exercises that you can immediately apply to your own research presentations. Please note: sessions will be live and not recorded, so be sure to take advantage of them in real time.
As a bonus, a pre-series session - Deconstructing Presentations - is available as a limited-time recording through mid-October, providing a foundation on the psychology of audience memory. Learn more about the series and access the pre-series session at research.unc.edu/postdocs.
Data VisualizationThis session focuses on how to effectively use data visualization and storytelling in presentations to enhance comprehension and persuasion. It emphasizes the importance of avoiding overwhelming slides filled with data, as they can hinder the audience’s understanding. Instead, the session guides presenters on how to highlight key messages using clear, easy-to-process visuals while providing additional resources for those who want more details. Participants will learn which charts and graphs are most effective, how to analyze data for relevance, and how to eliminate unnecessary information. The session also covers the use of infographics and provides practical tips, tricks, and tools for incorporating data visualization in future presentations.