Charlene Supnet, Ph.D., named director of Neuroscience Research Development (NeRD) Office
By Julie Kirchem, Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics
DALLAS - Feb. 16, 2016 - Since Charlene Supnet, Ph.D., joined the UT Southwestern Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, she has assisted with more than 100 grant applications and manuscripts. Her expertise is to guide and advise researchers through the process of putting together competitive grant applications for submission and manuscripts for publication.
Dr. Supnet, Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, joined the department as a Scientific Research Writer in April 2013. In that role, she worked with researchers to generate and edit documents, provide critical review of proposals or papers, and manage the grant or manuscript submission process.
In addition, she played a substantial role in the growth of the Perot Foundation Neuroscience Translational Research Center, the Texas Institute for Brain Injury and Repair, and the Neuroscience Nursing Research Center. She was promoted in October 2015 to Director of the newly-formed Neuroscience Research Development (NeRD) Office.
NeRD is a group consisting of researchers, scientific writers, and grants and contracts specialists with the common goal of efficiently managing the grant application and contracts process from inception to submission and execution. In addition, NeRD aspires to serve as a hub for neuroscience research at UTSW, providing a means for inter-departmental collaboration and integration of research programs.
The NeRD core members are Caryn Harper, M.S., CCRC, Research Programs Manager; Samarpita Sengupta, Ph.D, Scientific Research Writer; and Sheila Allen, Senior Grants and Contracts Specialist.
“The overall goal of the NeRD office is to facilitate the discovery of novel neurotherapeutics and technologies,” said Dr. Supnet. “We will accomplish this goal by empowering individual and team researchers to focus on the science while obtaining funding.”
Dr. Supnet is a native of Canada and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba. She went on to graduate school at the University of Prince Edward Island and received her doctorate in Biomedical Sciences in 2010. Her research has focused on neurodegenerative disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Supnet took a position at UT Southwestern in 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher in physiology. In that role, she made an important discovery about herself.
“I realized that the thing I liked best about science wasn’t bench research,” she said. “It was helping other people work through their projects and helping them to write grant proposals and manuscripts.”
She knew she was at a crossroads in her career and started looking for guidance. She found it when she attended a lecture by Ann Stowe, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, at the Annual Neuroscience Retreat. Afterwards, Dr. Supnet talked with Dr. Stowe who suggested that she apply for a newly-created scientific writer position in neurology.
A few months later, Dr. Supnet joined the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics as its first Scientific Research Writer. Her success in securing grants and pushing manuscripts to publication has created a university-wide demand for the services that she and the NeRD office provides.
“We want to be the place that researchers come to when they have a research idea but don’t really know where to start, who to talk to, or don’t know what resources are available to them. We want them to come to us as part of their research team so we can guide them in the right direction,” she said.
NeRD services are available to any faculty member, trainee, or student who conducts neuroscience research related to diseases of the brain. For more information or to schedule a consultation, contact Dr. Supnet at nerdoffice@utsouthwestern.edu
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