RI-MUHC Annual Report

RI-MUHC ANNUAL REPORT 2023

YEAR IN REVIEW

CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (CHHD) PROGRAM

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Expanding into Phase 2, the CHILD-BRIGHT Network headed by Annette Majnemer, OT, M.Sc., PhD, invokes teamwork on a national scale to move patient-oriented research into action. (Data courtesy of CHILD-BRIGHT.)

CHILD-BRIGHT Network moving forward with $9M in funding

Headed by Child Health and Human Development (CHHD) Program researcher Annette Majnemer, the CHILD-BRIGHT Network creates an inclusive community for equity-driven knowledge mobilization and implementation science. In the past year, this national network earned a Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Networks Knowledge Mobilization and Implementation Science Grant from the CIHR to initiate CHILD-BRIGHT Phase 2. A special focus is on moving patient-oriented research into action through insight and methods grounded in implementation science and knowledge mobilization, while integrating the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization and Indigenization.

Liquid biopsy: The next frontier in pediatric cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment

CHHD Program researcher Janusz Rak and collaborators Nada Jabado (CHHD Program), Claudia Kleinman (McGill University and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research), Livia Garzia and Joanna Przybyl (Cancer Research Program, RI-MUHC), and Sarah Mahshid (McGill University), received a 6M$ donation to develop a simple blood or urine test ─ a liquid biopsy ─ that will replace risky surgical biopsies to determine if a suspicious lump is cancerous and pinpoint the exact type of cancer. Read more in the central feature of this report.

Deciphering the complex biology of pediatric cancers

A Montreal research team has demonstrated how genetic mutations cause brain cell death and inflammation by derailing synaptic pruning. By examining the developmental consequences of three specific histone mutations (H3.3G34R, V and W), the team, led by researchers Nada Jabado and Livia Garzia at the RI-MUHC, together with Claudia Kleinman at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, unravelled a genetic mechanism that leads to severe neurodevelopmental syndromes. Read more in the central feature of this report. (Cell, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.02.023)

Annette Majnemer, OT, M.Sc., PhD, Janusz Rak, MD, PhD, and Nada Jabado, MD, PhD, are three researchers from the Child Health and Human Development Program at the RI-MUHC leading the way to change through projects that harness multidisciplinary team science.

Selected CHHD Program news links

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Lata H. Adnani, Jordan Kassouf, Brian Meehan, Cristiana Spinelli, Nadim Tawil, Ichiro Nakano, Janusz W. Rak. Angiocrine extracellular vesicles impose mesenchymal reprogramming upon proneural glioma stem cells: Nature Communications 13(1):0, 2022: doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33235-7

Esli Osmanlliu, Isabelle Gagnon, Saskia Weber, Chi Quan Bach, Jennifer Turnbull, Jade Séguin. The Waiting Room Assessment to Virtual Emergency Department pathway: Initiating video-based telemedicine in the pediatric emergency department: Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 28(6): 452-457, 2022: doi: 10.1177/1357633X211044038

Nam Tien Tran Nguyen, Etienne Léveillé, Elena Guadagno, Luc Malemo Kalisya, Dan Poenaru. Use of mobile health technologies for postoperative care in paediatric surgery: A systematic review: Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 28(5): 331-341, 2022: doi: 10.1177/1357633X20934682

Jennifer M. Ladd, Atul Kumar Sharma, Elham Rahme, Kristine Kroeker, Marjolaine Dubé, Marc Simard, Céline Plante, Claudia Blais, Marni Brownell, Celia J. Rodd, Meranda M. Nakhla. Comparison of Socioeconomic Disparities in Pump Uptake among Children with Type 1 Diabetes in 2 Canadian Provinces with Different Payment Models: JAMA Network Open 5(5):0, 2022: doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.10464

Donovan Chan, Kathleen Oros-Klein, Antoni Riera-Escamilla, Csilla Krausz, C. O'Flaherty, Peter T.k. Chan, Bernard Robaire, Jacquetta M. Trasler. Sperm DNA methylome abnormalities occur both pre- and post-treatment in men with Hodgkin disease and testicular cancer: Clinical Epigenetics 15(1):0, 2023: doi: 10.1186/s13148-022-01417-1

Menal Huroy, Tarannum Behlim, John C. Andersen, David J. Buckley, Darcy L. Fehlings, Adam Kirton, Nicole Pigeon, Ram A. Mishaal, Ellen P. Wood, Michael Israel Shevell, Maryam Oskoui. Stability of the Gross Motor Function Classification System over time in children with cerebral palsy: Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 64(12): 1487-1493, 2022: doi: 10.1111/dmcn.15375

Kaitlyn Easson, Guillaume Gilbert, Charles V. Rohlicek, Christine Saint-Martin, Maxime Descoteaux, Sean C.L. Deoni, Marie Brossard-Racine. Altered myelination in youth born with congenital heart disease: Human Brain Mapping 43(11): 3545-3558, 2022: doi: 10.1002/hbm.25866

Valérie Courchesne, Rackeb Tesfaye, Pat L. Mirenda, David Bruce Nicholas, Wendy Mitchell, Ilina Singh, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, M. Elsabbagh. Autism Voices: A novel method to access first-person perspective of autistic youth: Autism 26(5): 1123-1136, 2022: doi: 10.1177/13623613211042128

Marie Claude Beauchamp, Alexia Boucher, Yanchen Dong, Rachel Aber, Loydie Anne Jerome-Majewska. Craniofacial Defects in Embryos with Homozygous Deletion of Eftud2 in Their Neural Crest Cells Are Not Rescued by Trp53 Deletion: International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(16):0, 2022: doi: 10.3390/ijms23169033

Seline Y. Vancolen, Taghreed A. Ayash, Mariela A. Segura, Marie Julie Allard, Bernard Robaire, Guillaume Sébire. Androgens Upregulate Pathogen‐Induced Placental Innate Immune Response: International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(9):0, 2022: doi: 10.3390/ijms23094978

Don Daniel Ocay, Elizabeth F. Teel, Owen Dan Luo, Chloé Savignac, Yacine Mahdid, Stefanie Blain-Moraes, Catherine Estelle Ferland. Electroencephalographic characteristics of children and adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal pain: Pain Reports 7(6):0, 2022: doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000001054

Gabriella Le Blanc, Elias Jabbour, Sharina Patel, Olga Kazantseva, Marco Zeid, François Olivier, Wissam Shalish, Marc Beltempo. Organizational Risk Factors and Clinical Impacts of Unplanned Extubation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Journal of Pediatrics 249(0): 14-21.e5, 2022: doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.06.012