RI-MUHC teams received $6.9 million in project funding and $2 million more for COVID‑19 research

Source: RI-MUHC and CIHR. Researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) will embark on 11 new projects designed to accelerate discoveries of benefit to human health, thanks to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fall 2020 Project Grants Competition. The RI-MUHC teams received $6.9 million in project funding.

Across Canada, the competition has approved 354 research grants for a total investment of approximately $274 million. In addition, over $9.5 million was awarded for 97 priority announcement bridge grants and and $296K for 11 supplemental prizes.

Exceptionally this year, four RI-MUHC researchers were also awarded operating grants to tackle evidence gaps in COVID-19 research for a total of close to $2 million more in project funding. Their strategic projects address the challenges of vaccine development, rapid self-sampling strategies for individuals with suspected COVID-19 infection risk, protection factors in Canadian youth, and ensuring timely, equitable care during the pandemic and beyond. Across Canada, the CIHR has invested $25.2 million in 52 projects in this stream.

The CIHR Project Grant program is designed to capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes.

Congratulations to RI-MUHC grant recipients and their teams!

Project Grants

• Jean Bourbeau, Jeffrey R. Brook, Benjamin M. Smith
  Air pollution, climate and COPD: acute and long-term impacts in Canadian populations
• Matthew P. Cheng, Nick Daneman, Jennie Johnstone, Todd C. Lee
  The S. aureus Network Adaptive Platform Trial (SNAP) Canada: A Randomized Controlled Trial for Penicillin-susceptible, Methicillin-susceptible, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bloodstream Infections in Hospitalized Patients
• Yen-I Chen, Alan N. Barkun
  Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) of first intent with a lumen apposing metal stent vs. endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in the management of patients with malignant distal biliary obstruction: a multi-centre randomized controlled trial (ELEMENT trial)
• Natalie Dayan, Robert W. Platt
  Beyond survival: examining health of mothers after severe maternal morbidity in Canada (the BEYOND project)
• Alexandra De Pokomandy
  Creating a learning health system to improve cancer prevention in people living with HIV
• Maia Kokoeva
  The leptin receptor expressing pericyte links obesity to neuroinflammation
• Maia Kokoeva
  Could mitotic senescence in NG2-glia explain the remyelination deficit in MS?
• Jun-Li Liu
  Matricellular protein CCN5/WISP2 mediates a synergistic stimulation of pancreatic beta-cell expansion by IGF-I and Wnt signaling
• Anie Philip, Andrew C. Leask
  Characterization of a novel anti-fibrotic peptide for the treatment of scleroderma
• Abhinav Sharma, James M. Brophy, Nandini Dendukuri, Ariane Marelli, Harriette Van Spall
  Identification and prediction of sex-specific cardiovascular causes of death and outcomes in people with diabetes mellitus post myocardial infarction (SCD-DM-MI)

Priority announcements

• Andrea Benedetti, Brett D. Thombs
  Statistical Methodology for Prediction Modelling to Improve Depression Screening with Individualized Risk Estimates in the Context of Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis

COVID-19 Operating Grants

• Alan Barkun
  Digestive endoscopy in the era of COVID19: An opportunity for optimizing timely equitable care during the pandemic and beyond
• Maziar Divangahi
  Developing a novel vaccine against COVID-19
• Nitika Pant Pai
  Evaluation of a digital, rapid self-sampling strategy for individuals with suspected COVID-19 infection in South Africa and India
• Cecile Rousseau
  Social polarization and behavioral intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-site study of risk and protective factors in Canadian youth

Learn more on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) website

—Published March 19, 2021