Bruce Verchere (centre) speaking at the funding announcement, flanked by Helen Burt, UBC’s Vice-President, Research and International, and Amrik Virk, B.C. Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services.
The Canucks for Kids Fund Childhood Diabetes Laboratories at BC Children’s Hospital has received $3.2 million from the provincial government to obtain new state-of-the-art technology to further research into diabetes prediction, treatment and prevention.
The grant comes from the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF), which seeks to strengthen scientific research and foster talent at post-secondary institutions, research hospitals and affiliated non-profit agencies across the province.
Altogether, 11 projects in the Faculty of Medicine received BCKDF grants, totaling $21 million.
The Canucks for Kids Fund Childhood Diabetes Laboratories were created in 2002 with a $9-million award from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and BCKDF. Its 12 core investigators have made seven invention disclosures, filed 17 patents (provisional and utility), and filed 2 interinstitutional/option agreements.
“The research enabled by this infrastructure will lead to new ways to predict, prevent, and treat diabetes for the many children in this province affected by this devastating disease,” said Bruce Verchere, a Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, who leads the diabetes laboratories.
The complete list of Faculty of Medicine projects to receive grants from the BCKDF is below:
Canada’s Genomics Enterprise: Steven Jones
- $8.4 million BCKDF contribution
- This BCKDF award will help to cement B.C.’s role as a world leader in the field of DNA (genome) sequencing and allow B.C., along with partners in Ontario and Quebec, to lead one of the largest genomics and computing research networks in the world and significantly contribute to international research activities in health, agriculture, energy, forestry, environment and public policy.
Childhood Diabetes Laboratories – Bruce Verchere
- $3.2 million BCKDF contribution
- BCKDF helped to create Childhood Diabetes Laboratories (CDL) in 1992. This latest investment will provide important new technology for diabetes research and enable CDL to remain a leading-edge childhood diabetes research centre.
Co-APTing Precision Oncology – Colin Collins
- $2.8 million BCKDF contribution
- Funding will be aimed at characterizing a patient’s cancer, re-creating it in the laboratory, developing individually optimized treatments, and monitoring patient responses with a goal of avoiding the treatment-resistant phase to improve patient survival rates and quality of life.
Alex MacKay, founding director of the UBC MRI Research Centre. Photo: Don Erhardt
Three Tesla (3T) MRI scanner and Electrophysiology and Neuromodulation Laboratory – Alex MacKay
- $2.5 million BCKDF contribution
- Funding will be used to install a 3T MRI and electrophysiology suite in the UBC Centre for Brain Health. This equipment will allow researchers to investigate mechanisms and therapies for brain disorders, brain injuries, rehabilitation and healthy aging.
Structural analysis of dynamic macromolecular complexes at the host-pathogen interface – Natalie Strynadka
- $2.3 million BCKDF contribution
- Funding will be used to purchase cutting-edge infectious disease research equipment and undertake renovations at the Life Sciences Centre.
Perinatal Research Imaging Evaluation (PRIME) Centre – Denise Pugash
- $827,685 BCKDF contribution
- Funding will be used to purchase ultrasound equipment, fetal and maternal monitoring equipment, and renovations for the PRIME Centre for ultrasound research. PRIME is expected to transform research discoveries into improved medical practices and new, marketable technology.
Establishing advanced micro-beam capability for macromolecular crystallography at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) – Filip Van Petegem
- $430,000 BCKDF contribution
- As part of a larger national project lead by the University of Saskatchewan, funding will be directed toward research infrastructure aimed at the design of new therapies for inherited cardiac arrhythmias, diabetes, and antibiotic resistance in infectious pathogens.
Research Program for Rare Pediatric Diseases (RaPiD) – Michel Roberge
- $178,732 BCKDF contribution
- Funding will be used to conduct research into discovering new drug therapies to treat children with rare diseases.
Sara Mostafavi
Computational biology for enabling personalized medicine – Sara Mostafavi
- $125,000 BCKDF contribution
- Funding will be directed at the development of computational methods and models that use an individual’s genetic data to inform personalized diagnoses and treatments for chronic complex diseases and conditions.
Molecular determinants of obstructive lung disease – Tillie Hackett
- $125,000 BCKDF contribution
- Research is aimed at impacting the urgent un-met clinical needs of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) by yielding new therapeutic targets to treat this common, debilitating and deadly condition.
Translational research platform to study occupational and environmental respiratory disease – Jeremy Hirota
- $122,640 BCKDF contribution
- Funding will help to establish a research lab to determine the potential health impacts of environmental and occupational exposures to the lungs, heart, and blood vessels such as diesel exhaust, allergens, and viruses.