Category: Grants

Project:  “Integrating clinical data systems to improve the capacity, performance, & value of Manitoba’s healthcare system”

Nominated Principal Applicant: Ryan Zarychanski

Principal Applicants: Marshall Pitz, Alan Katz, Josée Lavoie, James Bolton, Lisa Lix, Terry Klassen

Principal Knowledge Users:

Clinicians: Piotr Czaykowski, Alex Singer, Jitender Sareen, Thomas Mutter

Decision-Makers: Deborah Malazdrewicz, Jeanette Edwards

Collaborators: Dan Skwarchuk, Brock Wright, Sri Navaratnam, Frank Krupka

Funding Source: Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR); Operating Grant: SPOR iCT Rewarding Success, Idea Brief

Funds Awarded: $100,000 Duration:  1 Year

 

TRAINEE GRANTS!

Project:  Reducing transfusion whilepreserving Canada’s blood supply: The use and effectiveness of tranexamic acid in     major non-cardiac surgical procedures at high-risk of bleeding

Principal Investigator: Brett Houston (PhD candidate)

Co Applicants from the Department of Internal Medicine: Ryan Zarychanski (Supervisor), Allan Garland

Funding Source: Manitoba Medical Services Foundation (MMSF)

Funds Awarded: $29,613 Duration:  1 Year

 

Project:  Intravenous immune globulin in septic shock: A Canadian national survey

Primary investigators: Murdoch Leeies (MSc Candidate), Ryan Zarychanski (Supervisor), Faisal Siddiqui

Co-applicants from the Department of Internal Medicine: Anand Kumar, Allan Garland, Bojan Paunovic, John Embil

Funding Source:   Anesthesia Oversight Committee Operating Grant. Winnipeg Manitoba.

Funds awarded: $10,000 Duration: 2 years

 

 

Project : Effect of an Exercise Rehabilitation Program on Symptom Burden in Hemodialysis: a Randomized Controlled Study

Principal Investigator:  Clara Bohm

Co-investigators: Todd Duhamel, Mauro Verrelli, Claudio Rigatto, James Zacharias, Jenniefer MacRae (University of Calgary),  Navdeep Tangri

Grant Funding Source: Kidney Foundation of Canada 2018 Biomedical Grant Competiti

Amount: $99,973.                 Time period:  2 years July 2018-June 2020

 

Project:  “Workplace Diesel Exhaust Exposure: Defining a Biosignature to Support Prevention”

Co-Principal Applicants: Neeloffer Mookherjee, Section of Proteomics and Systems Biology – University of Manitoba, and Chris Carlsten, University of British Columbia.

Funding Source:  Research and Workplace Innovation Program (RWIP), Workers Compensation Board Manitoba

Funds Awarded:  $198,400 Duration:  2018 – 2020.

 

Project Title:   “Innate Defence Regulator (IDR) peptides: Regulatory Mechanisms in the Control of Asthma”

Term: 5 years              Approved total funding amount:   $661,725.

Principal Investigator (PI): 

Neeloffer Mookherjee PhD,  Section of Proteomics & Systems Biology

Abstract:   Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease, characterized by inflammation in the lungs and narrowing of the airways, which makes it difficult to breathe. Nearly 3 million Canadians suffer from asthma. The direct and indirect cost related to asthma in Canada is around $2.2 billion annually. Nearly 10% of patients do not respond to available steroid therapies and have severe uncontrolled asthma. These patients represent the major burden of asthma and associated healthcare costs. Moreover, commonly used steroid therapies can increase the risk of lung infections, which results in worsening of asthma. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new therapies that can control asthma, without compromising a patient’s ability to resolve infections. Dr. Mookherjee’s study focuses on new molecules known as innate defence regulator (IDR) peptides, which are designed from natural molecules that play a critical role in the immune response. IDR peptides can control both inflammation and infection in the lung, with the potential to overcome side effects associated with current therapies. We have shown that IDR peptides improve breathing capacity in an animal model of asthma, and can control cellular processes linked to steroid unresponsiveness. This project is aimed at the development of IDR peptides as a new therapy for asthma. This project will identify the changes that occur in lung cells after they are treated with IDR peptides. We will also study the biological effects of IDR peptides in the control of lung inflammation and fibrosis, in a mouse model of asthma. The results from these studies will allow us to identify new drug targets with the potential to alleviate unresponsiveness to steroid therapies, a condition for which there is currently no effective treatment. This project will directly support the development of a new IDR peptide-based therapy for asthma, which will have the added benefit of countering steroid-refractory asthma and controlling lung infections

Congratulations Dr. Mookerjee!

 

The Young Investigator Grant Competition, sponsored by the Department of Internal Medicine, will be held on an annual basis to support research activities of junior faculty members (with less than 5 years since their initial appointment) within the Department of Internal Medicine.

The purpose of the grant is to allow a young investigator to generate preliminary results that will enable him/her to subsequently apply for an extramural grant, i.e. the Department’s Young Investigator grant is meant to serve as seed money for starting a research career.

Please see the Terms of Reference on our department wiki for details.

Should you have any questions, touch base with your Section Head or the Department’s Managing Director, Dale Gustafson.

NOTE:  Deadline for Submission is Jan 1, 2018 .

The project: “Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): Defining the Impact, Severity and Natural History of NAFLD in Canadian First-Nations and non-First Nations Communities”

• Term: 5 years
• Approved total funding amount: $2,031,075.
• Principal Investigator (PI): Julia Uhanova, Section of Hepatology,
• Co-investigators:
  Gerald Minuk, Section of Hepatology,
  Brenda Elias, Department of Community Health Sciences;
  Robert Tate, Department of Community Health Sciences
  Byron Beardy, Four Arrows Regional Health Authority

 

The project: Promotion of breastfeeding for preventing type 2 diabetes and obesity In First Nations mothers and children in communities.

• Term: 3 years
• Approved total funding amount: $424,575.
• Principal Investigator (PI): Gary Shen Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism
• Co-investigators: Sora Ludwig, Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism

 

The project: Heparin anticoagulation to improve outcomes in septic shock: The HALO International Phase II efficacy RCT

• Term: 3 years
• Principal Investigators: Ryan Zarychanski (Nominated), Anand Kumar, and Dean Fergusson
• Co Applicants: Alejandria M, Yvette Barez, Cook DJ, Turgeon AF, Marshall JC, Fox-Robichaud A, McIntyre LA, Ramsay T, Green R, and Murdoch Leeies (Critical Care Fellow)

Funding Sources:

• Canadian Institute of Health Research ($631,000) – International sites and trial infrastructure
• CancerCare Manitoba Foundation ($120,000) – Patients enrolled in Manitoba
• Philippine Council for Health Research & Development ($125,000)–Patients enrolled in Philippines

This international trial will be directed from Manitoba, but will enroll patients from several high, middle and low income countries.