The Canadian Institutes for Health Research has announced its latest CIHR Project Grants, and 47 members of the Faculty of Medicine are among the awardees. A total of $43m was awarded to UBC researchers for 65 projects at the university and its affiliated health authority research centres. The CIHR Project Grant is a part of the $372m that was awarded nationally to support Canadian researchers to study the full spectrum of health issues affecting the lives of Canadians.
The UBC Faculty of Medicine recipients and their project titles are:
Skye Barbic, Assistant Professor in the Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
Healthier by doing: Testing the effectiveness of a youth-centred employment/education intervention for young adults with mental illness, $302,175 for 4 yrs.
Pascal Bernatchez, Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics
The critical role of plasma cholesterol in the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy, $294,524 for 3 yrs.
John Boyd, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine
Organ donation after cardiac death: optimizing the donor heart, $504,900 for 5 yrs.
Dieter Bromme, Associate Member in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Ectosteric inhibitors of cathepsin K: their mechanism and in vivo efficacy, $956,250 for 5 yrs.
Carolyn Brown, Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics
Role of XIST in human X-chromosome inactivation, $963,900 for 5 yrs.
Jeffrey Brubacher, Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine
Predictors of poor health and functional recovery following road trauma: An emergency department inception cohort study, $875,925 for 5 yrs.
Ralph Buttyan, Professor, Department of Urologic Sciences
Interference with Gli to Control Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer, $344,250 for 3 yrs.
Jane Buxton, Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Opioid Prescribing Evaluation and Research Activities (OPERA), $520,201 for 3 yrs.
Patricia Camp, Professor, Department of Physical Therapy
Niwh Yizt’iyh Hilht’iz Nets’eelh’iyh – Strengthening our Bodies: A Community-based Research Project to Create Pulmonary Tele-Rehabilitation in Remote and Rural First Nations Communities in Northern British Columbia, $803,250 for 5 yrs.
Bayis Il Tus – A Strong Breath: Community-Based Research to Identify the Prevalence of and Contributors to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Remote and Rural First Nations Communities in British Columbia, $791,775 for 5 yrs.
Chris Carlsten, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Does traffic-related air pollution reduce the effectiveness of corticosteroids in asthma treatment?, $673,200 for 5 yrs.
Artem Cherkasov, Professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences
Design and evaluation of small molecules that target the dimerization interface of full-length and splice-variant forms of the androgen receptor as a potential treatment for advanced prostate cancer, $459,000 for 3 yrs.
Helene Cote, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Sciences
Placenta mitochondrial dysfunction and preterm birth, $1,239,300 for 5 yrs.
Xuesen Dong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences
RNA splicing regulates prostate cancer progression to hormone therapy resistant neuroendocrine tumors, $699,975 for 5 yrs.
Nadia Fairbairn, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Repurposing slow-release oral morphine as new oral alternative for the treatment of opioid use disorder, $585,224 for 4 yrs.
David Fedida, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Biophysical properties and regulation of KCNQ1 and KCNE(x) ion channel complexes, $627,300 for 5 yrs.
Soren Gantt, Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics in the
Viral determinants of natural human cytomegalovirus transmission, $1.1M for 5 yrs.
Gordon Francis, Professor in the Department of Medicine
Relative deficiency of lysosomal acid lipase in arterial smooth muscle cells as a novel target for atherosclerosis treatment and prevention, $512,550 for 5 yrs.
Jagbir Gill, Assistant Professor, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine
Canadian-Australasian Randomized Trial of Screening Kidney Transplant Candidates for Coronary Artery Disease (CARSK), $2.2M for 5 yrs.
Martin Gleave, Professor, Department of Urologic Sciences
Preclinical development of a novel androgen receptor antagonist to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer, $351,900 for 2 yrs.
Tillie-Louise Hackett, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics
The Role of Small Airways Disease Heterogeneity in Asthma, $675,340 for 5 yrs.
Rob Holt, Professor, Department of Medical Genetics
Engineering T cells to overcome an immunosuppressive solid tumour microenvironment, $150,000 for 3 yrs.
Jennifer A. Hutcheon, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Short term benefits but long term harm? Assessing the consequences of antenatal corticosteroid administration for child neurodevelopment, $221,850 for 3 yrs.
Eric Jan, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Host cell protein substrates of enterovirus proteases, $726,750 for 5 yrs.
Xiaoyan Jiang, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Genetics
Targeting Key Autophagy Proteins/Pathways for Treatment of Human Leukemia, $787,950 for 5 yrs.
Hugh Kim, Associate Member, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Targeting platelet-specific molecules in periodontal disease, $856,800 for 5 yrs.
Andrew Krahn, Professor, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
Risk prediction of sudden death in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: the Canadian ARVC registry, $772,650 for 5 yrs.
Andrei Krassioukov, Professor, Division of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine
Transient Hypertension and Vascular-Cognitive Impairment after Spinal Cord Injury: Benefit of Passive Exercise, $267,750 for 3 yrs.
Viviane Lima, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and School of Population and Public Health
What will it take to decrease the burden of the HIV and STI epidemics among MSM in British Columbia, Canada? A sexual network modeling analysis, combining syndemic theory, to evaluate the impact of behavioural and biomedical interventions for HIV and STI prevention, $810,900 for 5 yrs.
Francis Lynn, Associate Professor, Division of General Surgery, Departments of Surgery and Cellular & Physiological Sciences
Cell cycle regulation of human pancreatic endocrine cell development, $692,325 for 5 yrs.
Kimberlyn McGrail, Associate Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage: Testing and Potential Implementation in Canada, $413,100 for 3 yrs.
Bruce McManus, Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
HEARTBiT: A novel multi-marker blood test for management of acute cardiac allograft rejection, $2.1m for 5 yrs.
Kelly Mcnagny, Professor, Department of Medical Genetics
Modulation of Innate Immune Responses as a Therapy for Muscular Dystrophy, $956,250 for 5 yrs.
Vivien Measday, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Targeting of a mobile genetic element into the genome using budding yeast as a model system, $669,375 for 5 yrs.
Orson Moritz, Associate Professor, Department of Opthalmology and Visual Science
Mechanisms of cell death in inherited retinal degeneration caused by rhodopsin mutations, $856,800 for 5 yrs.
Mechanisms of rod and cone disk membrane synthesis and quality control in normal and diseased retina, $745,875 for 5 yrs.
Christian Naus, Professor. Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences
Pannexin1 mediation of stroke recovery responses: Sex and sex steroid influences, $692,325 for 5 yrs.
William Panenka, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Characterization of Traumatic brain injury as a contributor to chronic neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive impairment in a marginally housed population, $577,576 for 3 yrs.
Anthony Phillips, Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Role of ionotropic glutamate receptors and synaptic plasticity in development of novel fast-acting antidepressants, $967,725 for 5 yrs.
Gregor Reid, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Identifying infection-induced determinants of paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia progression, $688,500 for 5 yrs.
Jean Shoveller, Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Women’s overdose risk environments and the response to the overdose crisis in Vancouver, Canada, $451,350 for 4 yrs.
Guy Tanentzapf, Assistant Professor, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences
Regulation of Stem-Cell niche interactions in the hematopoietic system by occluding and gap junctions, $768,825 for 5 yrs.
Helen Tremlett, Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine
Prescription Drug Safety and Effectiveness in Multiple Sclerosis [DRUMS]: a population-based, multi-province platform for comprehensive pharmacovigilance, $1.2m for 4.6 yrs.
Matilda van den Bosch, Assistant Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Prescription Drug Safety and Effectiveness in Multiple Sclerosis [DRUMS]: a population-based, multi-province platform for comprehensive pharmacovigilance, $351,900 for 3 yrs.
Saraswathi Vedam, Associate Professor in the Department of Family Practice
Giving Voice to Mothers; Measuring access to high quality, respectful maternity care in Canada, $883,575 for 5 yrs.
Alexander Wyatt, Assistant Professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences
Predicting therapy resistance in castration-resistant prostate cancer with circulating tumor DNA, $516,375 for 3 yrs.
Paul Young, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Sexual pain in endometriosis: role of somatic mutations and local neurogenesis, $976,905 for 4 yrs.
Haishan Zeng, Clinical Assistant Professor / Professor. Dermatology and Skin Science, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Real-time Endoscopic Raman Spectroscopy for Improving Dysplasia/Colorectal Cancer Detection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, $508,725 for 4 yrs.
Youwen Zhou, Clinical Assistant Professor / Professor. Dermatology and Skin Science, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Role of CLEC12B+ macrophages in the pathogenesis of vitiligo and melanoma, $745,875 for 5 yrs.