Fifty-three teams of researchers from McGill and its affiliated hospitals and institutes have been awarded grants totalling almost $50 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). While information regarding the grant recipients was made public earlier this summer, the official announcement was made Monday, Aug. 13, by the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health. The funding is in support of health-related projects.
“Health research is making a real difference in the lives of Canadians affected by disease,” said the Health Minister. “We are proud to make this significant investment. It will allow dedicated researchers to advance the science that will benefit the entire population.”
Forty-eight of the McGill-related grants were awarded through the CIHR’s Project Grant competition. Through the Project Grant competition, CIHR has invested $277M to provide 369 research grants to support researchers at various stages in their careers as they conduct health research that covers the full range of health research topics.
Five McGill-related projects received CIHR Foundation Grants. Through the Foundation Grant competition, CIHR has invested $101.1M to provide 36 research grants to support established research leaders build and conduct programs of health research.
In all, the CIHR invested a total of $378 million in support of 405 health research projects across the country through the Foundation and Project Grant programs.
“This funding represents CIHR’s largest investment this year in the health research community for the benefit of all Canadians,” said Michel Perron, CIHR Executive Vice-President. “The high calibre of the research projects receiving funding underscores the breadth and depth of scientific excellence from coast to coast, across all career stages, and in all areas of health research.”
The 26 McGill projects that were awarded CIHR Project Grants include:
- Jill Baumgartner and Samuel Harper
Air Pollution, Indoor Temperature, and Health Impacts of the Beijing Coal Ban and Heating Stove Replacement
Four years, $952,424 - Maxime Bouchard
Oriented cell division in prostate stem cell homeostasis and cancer
Five years, $921,826 - Maxime Bouchard
Apoptotic control of urinary tract morphogenesis by the IAP pathway
Five years, $902,700 - Maurice Chacron
The role of state-dependent neural correlations in population coding and behavior
Five years, $657,900 - Jonathan Chevrier and Jill Baumgartner
Exposure to Environmental Contaminants and Immune Function in South African Children
Five years, $1,269,900 - Lesley Fellows
Mapping the Anatomy of Decision-Making
Five years, $680,850 - Imed Gallouzi
Delineating the Mechanisms Underlying Nitric Oxide Induced Muscle Wasting During Cachexia
Five years, $804,780 - Imed Gallouzi
The role of the RNase G3BP1 in Senescence
Five years, $814,726 - Abigail Gerhold
Investigating mechanisms of in vivo variability in spindle assembly checkpoint strength
Five years, $680,850 - Terrence Hébert
The impact of nuclear G protein signalling in health and disease
Five years, $979,200 - Siegfried Hekimi
Identify and develop small-molecular-weight compounds for the treatment of ubiquinone deficiency and mitochondrial dysfunction
Five years, $688,500 - Adam Hendricks
Regulation of microtubule motors in organelle transport
Five years, $719,100 - David Juncker
Microfiltration of Circulating and Disseminated Tumor Cells in Ovarian Cancer: From Monitoring Therapeutic Response Towards Predicting Disease Outcome
Three years, $382,500 - Lawrence Kazak
Physiology and mechanisms of adipocyte creatine energetics
Five years, $833,850 - Mathieu Maheu-Giroux
Model-based impact evaluation of pre-exposure prophylaxis on HIV transmission among men who have sex with men in Montréal
Three years, $355,726 - Marie-Hélène Pennestri, Karine Dubois-Comtois and Phyllis Zelkowitz
Transition to parenthood: realistic sleep-related expectations as a protective factor for mothers’ and fathers’ mental health
Five years, $353,203 - Daniela Quail
Impact of obesity-associated inflammation on breast cancer progression
Five years, $944,776 - Maya Saleh
Metabolic control of innate immunity and cell death
Five years, $830,026 - Thomas Schlich
Medical Innovation and the Patient Consumer: Explaining the Rise of Minimally Invasive Surgery
Four years, $413,101 - Moshe Szyf
Targeted DNA demethylation based therapeutics
Five years, $730,576 - Simon Tran
The use of autologous cell extracts to repair injured salivary glands
Five years, $902,700 - Stuart Trenholm
Vision loss, brain circuit rewiring, and vision therapy
Five years, $979,200 - Youla Tsantrizos
Validation of the human geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (hGGPPS) as a therapeutic target for cancer chemotherapy and design of pre-clinical candidates for the treatment of multiple myeloma
Five years, $883,194 - Zoua Vang
Mind the Gap: Disparities in Perinatal Health among Foreign-born Women in Canada
Four years, $351,901 - Stephanie Weber
Molecular mechanisms controlling the phase behavior and biosynthetic activity of the nucleolus
Five years, $650,250 - Jason Young
The Hsp70 chaperone system and protein quality control
Five years, $860,626
The six projects from the Jewish General Hospital that were awarded CIHR Project Grants include:
- Colin Crist
Selective Translation of mRNA Regulates Muscle Stem Cell Activity
Five years, $657,900 - Konstantinos Pantopoulos
Iron and inflammatory regulation of hepcidin: implications for anemias and infectious diseases
Five years, $956,250 - Hyman Schipper
Role of HO-1 in Aging and Parkinsonian Neural Tissues
Three years, $481,950 - Ian Shrier
Determining a safe way to increase physical activity without getting injured
Three years, $383,648 - Michael Witcher
Oncogenic activity of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase
Five years, $665,550 - Michael Witcher
Epigenetic characterization and therapeutic targeting of cancers harboring dysfunctional CTCF
Five years, $726,750
The 16 projects from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre that were awarded CIHR Project Grants include:
- Sasha Bernatsky
Air pollution and systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases
Five years, $772,650 - Daniel Dufort
Elucidating the role of Nodal signaling in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy
Five years, $845,326 - Todd Lee
Initial vancomycin taper for the prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection
Two years, $378,676 - Lucie Nadeau
Atautsikut: Implementing a Community of Practice in Youth Mental Health and Wellness in Nunavik.
Four years, $696,152 - Olivier Martin
Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Leishmania-Macrophage Interaction: Impact on Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Progression.
Five years, $956,250 - Louise Pilote
Sex and Gender-related Differences in Access to Care for Premature ACS: Does the Health Care System Matter?
Three years, $309,826 - Constantin Polychronakos
Precision diagnostics in childhood diabetes; therapeutic implications
Four years, $1,086,301 - Salman Qureshi
Functional and genetic susceptibility to progressive cryptococcal pneumonia
Five years, $1,021,276 - Joyce Rauch
Targeting RIPK3 as a key regulator in the development of SLE
Five years, $745,876 - Janet Rennick
When Expertise Collides: Using Experience-Based Co-Design to Enhance Care Experiences for Children with Medical Complexity in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Four years, $462,824 - Christian Rocheleau
Characterization of the TBC1D2 family of Rab GAPs in endosome trafficking
Five years, $810,900 - Donald Sheppard
Development of immunotherapeutics against Aspergillus fumigatus
Five years, $784,126 - Tomoko Takano
Role of beta-PIX and CdGAP in the pathogenesis of proteinuria
Five years, $726,750 - George Thanassoulis
Genomics of Aortic Stenosis – an International Collaboration
Four years, $722,925 - Donald Van Meyel
Dissecting mechanisms by which Excitatory Amino Acid Transporters (EAATs) contribute to CNS function and neurological diseases
Five years, $749,700 - Jeremy Van Raamsdonk
Molecular mechanisms underlying a mitochondria-to-nucleus signaling pathway that promotes longevity
Five years, $719,100 - The four McGill projects that were awarded CIHR Foundation Grants include:
- Kalle Gehring
Structural studies of neurodegenerative diseases
Seven years, $2,800,246 - Vincent Giguere
Transcriptional control of cancer metabolism
Seven years, $3,587,401 - Siegfried Hekimi
ROS metabolism and mitochondrial function in the aging process and in age-dependent diseases.
Seven years, $3,048,055 - Michel L. Tremblay
Molecular and physiological understanding of the protein tyrosine phosphatome towards clinical applications.
Seven years, $3,010,120
The one Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre project to receive a CIHR Foundation Grant is:
- Donald Sheppard
Human Fungal Infections – Targeting host-pathogen interactions to develop novel antifungal therapies
Seven years, $2,270,367
Also announced were the recipients of competition bridge grants and Institute Priority Announcement bridge grants. McGill and Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre competition bridge grant recipients include:
- Louis Collins
Individualized prognosis and prediction of cognitive decline in cognitively normal individuals at risk of AD
One year, $100,000 - Edward Harvey
Advanced sensors for acute and chronic brain injury
One year, $100,000
McGill Institute Priority Announcement bridge grant recipients include:
- Pedro Rosa-Neto
Imaging epigenetics in dementia
One year, $100,000 - Jacques Archambault
Host factors involved in human papillomavirus (HPV) genome replication
One year, $100,000