THE INSTITUTE ANNUAL REPORT 2025
SURGICAL AND INTERVENTIONAL SCIENCES (SIS) PROGRAM
SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
Reimagining surgery: The Institute unveils SuPER, a leading surgical robotics and AI research centre
The only hospital-based centre of its kind in Canada, SuPER will drive homegrown innovation from the lab to the operating room
In April 2025, The Institute proudly inaugurated the Surgical Performance Enhancement and Robotics Centre (SuPER) at the Montreal General Hospital (MGH) of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). With critical support from the Montreal General Hospital Foundation (MGHF), this futuristic research hub is bringing robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to many medical disciplines—from orthopedic, abdominal, head and neck, eye, maxillofacial and spinal surgery to interventional cardiology and radiology—reimagining and redesigning medical procedures to make them less invasive, more personalized, safer and more effective.
SuPER is Canada’s first and only hospital-based surgical robotics and artificial intelligence centre capable of conducting full-spectrum translational research from bench to clinic. Leveraging the expertise of McGill University and the MUHC Department of Surgery, it brings together leading clinicians, engineers, researchers, students and trainees from diverse disciplines to collaborate on the design, development, testing and refinement of innovative solutions that address true clinical needs. Learn more
Drugs targeting ‘zombie cells’ show promise for treating chronic back pain
Research in mice identifies drug combination that can slow or even reverse spine damage
In a preclinical study led by researchers from The Institute, two drugs targeting "zombie cells" have been shown to treat the underlying cause of chronic low back pain. The condition affects millions of people worldwide. Current treatments manage symptoms through painkillers or surgery, without addressing the root cause.
"Our findings are exciting because it suggests we might be able to treat back pain in a completely new way, by removing the cells driving the problem, not just masking the pain," said senior author Lisbet Haglund, PhD, a Professor in McGill's Department of Surgery and a Senior Scientist at The Institute.
The work was supported by the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain which is based at the Montreal General Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre. Learn more
More research highlights from the SIS Program
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Majid Abdulrahman Almadi, Yidan Lu, Ali A. Alali, Alan N.G. Barkun. Peptic ulcer disease. The Lancet 404(1447): 68-81, 2024: 85197041836: DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00155-7
Julien Montreuil, Michael Tanzer, Yuling Zhang, Ewa Rajda, Daina Z. Avizonis, Adam Hart. Tourniquet Use and Local Tissue Concentrations of Cefazolin during Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open 7(8), 2024: 85202006312: DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.29702
Mohsen M. Shabahang, Todd A. Schwartz, Liane S. Feldman. Practical Guide to Assessment Tool Development for Surgical Education Research. JAMA Surgery 159(5): 58-581, 2024: 85181907860: DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.6696
Lina Abu-Nada, Younan Liu, Faez Saleh Al-Hamed, Bouchra Ouliass, Magali Millecamps, Simon Dangtuan Tran, Guylaine Guylaine Ferland, Vahab D. Soleimani, Faleh Tamimi Marino, Monzur Murshed. Young bone marrow transplantation delays bone aging in old mice. Experimental Gerontology 202, 2025: 85218407701: DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2025.112704
Sami Alkadri, Rolando F. Del Maestro, Mark Driscoll. Unveiling surgical expertise through machine learning in a novel VR/AR spinal simulator: A multilayered approach using transfer learning and connection weights analysis. Computers in Biology and Medicine 179, 2024: 85197033815: DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108809
Gerald M. Fried, Julián E. Varas-Cohen, Dana Alexa Telem, Caprice C. Greenberg, Daniel A. Hashimoto, John T. Paige, Carla M. Pugh. Opportunities and Applications of Educational Technologies in Surgical Education and Assessment. Annals of Surgery 281(1): 34-39, 2025.
Chloé Fleurent-Grégoire, Nicola Burgess, Daniel I McIsaac, Stéphanie Chevalier, Julio F Fiore Jr, Francesco Carli, Denny Levett, John Moore, Michael P Grocott, Robert Copeland, Lara Edbrooke, Dominique Engel, Giuseppe Dario Testa, Linda Denehy, Chelsia Gillis. Towards a common definition of surgical prehabilitation: a scoping review of randomised trials. British Journal of Anaesthesia 133(2): 305-315, 2024: DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2024.02.035
Glenville Jones, Martin Kaufmann, René A. St.-Arnaud. Infantile hypercalcemia type 1 (HCINF1): a rare disease resulting in nephrolithiasis and nephrocalcinosis caused by mutations in the vitamin D catabolic enzyme, CYP24A1. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation 47(11): 2663-267, 2024: 85194418837: DOI: 10.1007/s40618-024-02381-8
Sepehr Madani, Amir Sayadi, Robert E. Turcotte, Renzo Cecere, Ahmed Adel Aoude, Amir Hooshiar. A universal calibration framework for mixed-reality assisted surgery. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 259, 2025: 85210038500: DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2024.108470
Matthew Mannarino, Hosni Cherif, Saber Ghazizadeh, Oliver Wu Martinez, Kai Sheng, Elsa Cousineau, Seunghwan Lee, Magali Millecamps, Chan Gao, Alice Gilbert, Cédric Peirs, Reza Sharif Naeini, Jean Albert Ouellet, Laura S. Stone, Lisbet Haglund. Senolytic treatment for low back pain. Science Advances 11(11), 2025: 105000237431: DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adr1719
Jason Matthew Harley, Nigel Mantou Lou, Byunghoon "Tony" Ahn, Yang S. Liu. Improving queer history knowledge and perspective-taking toward LGBTQ+ people: There's an app for that. Teaching and Teacher Education 143, 2024: 85187519854: DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2024.104545
Hillary Nepon, Raphaela Allgayer, Cedric Julien, Sarah Petrecca, Nikita Kalashnikov, Tyler Safran, Amanda M. Murphy, Tassos Dionisopolous, Peter G. Davison, Marta Cerruti, Joshua Vorstenbosch. Altered Foreign Body Response at the Posterior Surface Compared to the Anterior Surface of Human Silicone Breast Implants. ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering 10(5): 36-316, 2024: 85191185904: DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c01961
