We are pleased to congratulate the BC Children's and BC Women's investigators who were awarded funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant Spring 2019 competition. Our research community received nine new research and bridge grants totaling more than $5.8 million.
The majority of investigators who were successful in these competitions benefited from the expertise of Dr. Dawn McArthur, Director, Research & Technology Development and the Research & Technology Development Office (RTDO) team. On behalf of BCCHR, we would like to thank the RTDO's Dr. Tamara English, Senior Research Development Facilitator; Ms. Amber Hui, former Research Development Facilitator; and Ms. Rita Jekabsons, Senior Research Development Coordinator for their dedication and support.
Of the projects that received assistance from the RTDO, the success rate was 27.6 per cent, compared to the national average of 15.6 per cent. In addition to this success, a number of projects that were not funded in this competition received high rankings. As such, the RTDO team is already working to assist with resubmissions for the Fall 2019 competition.
Congratulations to:
Dr. Pascal Lavoie – Healthy Starts – Project: “Metabolic regulation of immune defenses in newborns.” BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. Dan Luciani and Dr. Sara Mostafavi. $1,013,816 / 5 years.
Dr. Crystal Karakochuck – Healthy Starts – Project: “Folic acid supplementation in children with sickle cell disease: A double-blind randomized crossover trial.” BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. Angela Devlin, Dr. Yvonne Lamers, Dr. Suzanne Vercauteren, Dr. John Wu, and Brock Williams (Supervisor: Dr. Karakochuk). $180,000 / 3 years.
Dr. Joseph Ting and Dr. Prakeshkumar Shah (University of Toronto) – Evidence to Innovation – Project: “Using Antibiotics Wisely - Development of National Neonatal Intensive Care Unit-specific Antimicrobial Stewardship Plan.” BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. Sarka Lisonkova, Dr. Ashley Roberts, Dr. Sandesh Shivananda, and Dr. Peter Tilley. $478,736 / 5 years.
Dr. Kishore Mulpuri and Dr. David Wilson – Evidence to Innovation – Project: “Advanced MR Imaging of Perthes Disease to Improve Treatment.” BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. Anthony Cooper and Dr. Emily Schaeffer. $451,352 / 4 years.
Dr. Laura Sly – Childhood Diseases – Project: “Targeting PI3-kinase p110delta to treat Crohn's disease-associated intestinal fibrosis.” $956,250 / 5 years.
Dr. Alexander Rauscher – Brain, Behaviour & Development – Project: “Imaging markers for tissue damage and disease progression in MS.” $707,626 / 5 years.
Dr. Stefan Taubert and Dr. Francis Lynn – Healthy Starts and Childhood Diseases – Project: “Function of the Mediator complex in pancreatic islet cell maturation and maintenance.” $983,026 / 5 years.
Dr. Bruce Verchere – Childhood Diseases – Project: “Islet macrophages: regulators of beta cell function in health and diabetes.” $952,426 / 5 years.
Dr. Bernadette Pauly, Dr. Sana Shahram, and Dr. Christopher Horsethief – Women's Health Research Institute – Project: "Decolonizing and Reorienting Health Systems Towards Health Equity: The xaqana itkini (Many Ways of Working Together) Research Project." $100,000 / 1 year (Bridge Grant).
Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen, Dr. Bradley Urquhart (University of Western Ontario), and Dr. Michael Zappitelli (The Hospital for Sick Children) – Childhood Diseases – Project: "Metabolomics for prediction of cisplatin mediated acute kidney injury: a Canadian multi-centre adult and pediatric study." BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. Bruce Carleton and Dr. Rod Rassekh. $1,373,176 / 6 years. Awarded to the University of Western Ontario.
