“Making the Right Decisions: Adapting to Emerging Needs”: The 7th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Shared Resources, Atlanta, GA, USA, June 12–14, 2019

INTRODUCTION

One hundred and nine shared resource directors, managers, administrators, and staff from 26 academic, government, or nonprofit institutions and 24 corporate partners descended upon Atlanta, Georgia, to attend the seventh Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Shared Resources (SEASR) at the Emory Conference Center Hotel from June 12 to 14, 2019. Due to the overwhelming interest and response from SEASR sponsors, meeting registration was complimentary for all noncorporate attendees. This one-and-a-half-day meeting presented a combination of scientific, administrative, and networking sessions that are summarized herein.

OPENING SESSIONS

Opening remarks

The SEASR educational program began with remarks from Kim Dahlman, Ph.D. (SEASR President, Director, Innovative Translational Research Shared Resource, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center), and Ken Schoppmann [Executive Director, Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF)]. Dr. Dahlman thanked the meeting sponsors and provided a history of SEASR and its mission. She introduced and thanked the SEASR Executive Committee and then honored the work of SEASR Chapter Co-Founder, Executive Committee Member, and 3-time SEASR President David Blum, Ph.D. (University of Georgia), who ended his term with the SEASR Executive Committee. Ken Schoppmann then introduced the ABRF and the benefits of membership.

Keynote lectures

• Heritable Gene Editing: What’s at Stake and Where Should We Draw the Lines (Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for Genetics and Society): Dr. Darnovsky provided a historical perspective of human gene editing with an emphasis on public policy. The ethical implications of new technologies, particularly human gene editing, were discussed.

• So You Want Us to Stop a Pandemic in 60 Days? How Aspirational Projects Push Us to Learn and Grow (Robert Carnahan, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center): Dr. Carnahan presented the groundbreaking work by members of his research group to rapidly generate neutralizing antibodies against emerging viruses, as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Pandemic Prevention Platform initiative. His talk highlighted how the sprint to success mindset led to new technology development and how shared resources were integral to the success of their work.

BREAKOUT SESSION I

• Speed Mentoring for Career Advancement (Nawal Boukli, Ph.D., Director of Proteomics Facility, Full Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Universidad Central Del Caribe, and 14 faculty and staff mentors): The purpose of this session was to provide an informal venue in which early career core personnel could receive advice from more senior members in their profession. Prior to the event, participants indicated if they were interested in pairing with a specific mentor. At the event, mentees participated in 4 rounds of 5-min one-on-one interaction time with a mentor. The participants were provided with a list of sample questions to guarantee a productive lively and enthusiastic session.

• Best Practices for Single Cell Sequencing (Rhonda Bacher, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, University of Florida): Dr. Bacher introduced the concept of single cell sequencing and different approaches/technology. She then addressed some of the challenges associated with the technology and solutions to those challenges.

• Project Management Workshop (Joe Rando, M.B.A., Director, Associate Professor of the Practice of Managerial Studies, Vanderbilt University): Mr. Rando conducted a 2-h hands-on workshop addressing project management issues in shared resources. For the first hour Mr. Rando gave a talk on the fundamentals of project management, and for the second hour he led teams through a case discussion with attendees to identify project management challenges that led to the scenarios described in the case. Each team of attendees presented the specific case challenges and potential solutions to the problems.

• Georgia Core Facilities Partnership Meeting (Michael Zwick, Ph.D., Assistant Dean of Research, Assistant Vice President for Research, Professor of Human Genetics and Pediatrics, Emory University): The Georgia Core Facilities Partnership is an organization with a mission to enhance sharing of core facilities/shared resources in the state of Georgia. This session provided updates from each of the member institutions followed by a discussion of core sharing with people attending the session.

• Writing a Strategic Plan (Tiffany Seagroves, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Research–Core Laboratories, Executive Director, Molecular Resource Center, Professor of Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, UTHSC): Dr. Seagroves reviewed why developing centralized core facility strategic plans and business plans are important to justify the subsidy of core facilities by the institution and to measure their return on investment. She presented examples of obstacles she experienced during the centralization of institutional core facility oversight, which began at UTHSC in 2015. She then presented specific examples of how 3-yr rolling operating budgets, including projections of future core recoveries and net subsidies required by the institution, are calculated annually at UTHSC.

• The Gap Between Goals and Execution (Gary Teal, M.B.A., Vice President, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University): Mr. Teal leveraged his own experiences at Emory University to provide examples of how to manage expectations if one falls short of goals that are set for the group or organization. He emphasized the importance of the necessity of being realistic when goal setting, including being able to identify the rate-limiting step of a project timeline.

BREAKOUT SESSION II

• Integration Across Shared Resources (Kim Dahlman, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Daniel Johnson, M.S., Ph.D., Director of the Molecular Bioinformatics Center, UTHSC; Christine O’Connell, M.M.Sc., F.A.B.C., Senior Director, Laboratory Research Operations, Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute; Michael Zwick, Ph.D., Emory University): This forum provided an opportunity for participants to ask questions about how integration across shared resources is achieved from the shared resource level to the institutional level.

• Proteomics as Applied to Biomarker Detection (Nawal Boukli, Ph.D., Universidad Central Del Caribe): Dr. Boukli highlighted the importance of proteomics experimental design and provided insight into the overall workflow required for biomarker identification experiments. Specifically, how proper sample processing and balance between biologic vs. technical replication is required for confident biomarker identification was discussed. Recent peer review publications on quantitative protein data analysis in a high-throughput manner from a muti-“omics” screening methods and validation perspective were also discussed.

• Measuring Shared Resource Impact (Dean Edwards, Ph.D., Executive Director, Advanced Technology Cores, Associate Director for Research Infrastructure, Director, Antibody-Based Proteomics Shared Resource, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, BCM): Dr. Edwards presented the history of BCM’s institutional centralization of resources to minimize duplication of resources, to increase efficiencies of management and costs, and to create consistent quality standards, as well as how to efficiently measure impact of centralization. He also reviewed how BCM performs core oversight activities through faculty advisory committees and annual performance surveys to the core users, how operating budgets are developed, and how cores are supported through extramural funding.

• Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (David Blum, Ph.D., Director of the Bioexpression and Fermentation Facility, University of Georgia and Timothy Gardner, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Riffyn): The session on Electronic Lab Notebooks started with an introduction by Dr. Blum focused on freemium (free with a paid option) lab notebook systems such as Benchling, which is used to both record experimental data and molecular biology information, including plasmid maps and DNA sequences. Dr. Gardner then presented an overview of another freemium platform, Riffyn, and its new open access program for scientists at nonprofit organizations.

CORPORATE PARTNER SESSIONS

In addition to their presence in the vendor hall, select SEASR corporate partners presented their newest technologies to the meeting attendees throughout the meeting:

• Whole Genome Sequencing Using Oxford Nanopore Technologies to Enable High Quality Reference Genomes (Nanopore Technologies).

• Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Using Bead Based and Planar Technologies (Quanterix).

• Pairing DRAGEN^TM with the NovaSeq 6000 to Overcome Common Data Analysis Challenges in your Core (Illumina).

• Bio Layer Interferometry Label-Free Platforms: Providing Faster Solutions to Emerging Applications (FortéBio).

• Advances in Single Cell Multi-Omics Applications with the 10X Chromium Platform (10X Genomics).

ADDITIONAL NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

Opening reception

SEASR hosted an Illumina-sponsored Opening Reception at Wisteria Lanes at the Emory Conference Center Hotel. Teams of meeting attendees, including our corporate sponsors, competed against one another in a bowling tournament.

Poster session

The first day of educational sessions ended with a poster session at a wine and cheese reception. Eleven posters were presented on research projects and technology best practices. Jamye O’Neal, M.L.I. (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) was the recipient of a $500 travel award for her poster presentation of The Usual Suspects? An Assessment of Biospecimen Collection Deviations (Figure 1). Ms. O’Neal’s project created and streamlined a system to track, to extract, and to present deviated biospecimens data in a dashboard format.

FIGURE 1.

Jamye O’Neal was the SEASR poster award winner. Jamye O’Neal, M.L.I. (Laboratory Manager, Innovative Translational Research Shared Resource, Vanderbilt University Medical Center) was the recipient of a $500 travel award for her poster presentation of The Usual Suspects? An Assessment of Biospecimen Collection Deviations. Left to right: Jamye O’Neal and Kim Dahlman, Ph.D. Photo credit: Thayumanasamy Somasundaram, Ph.D.