UBC Faculty of Medicine-affiliated research projects have been awarded more than $18 million in federal funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Innovation Fund, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance Grants 2022, and Social Sciences and Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grants.
The new federal investment supports ten research projects that are addressing some of the most urgent health challenges facing Canadians, including the development of innovative treatments for cancer, diabetes, stroke, infectious diseases and more.
The funding was announced as part of the Government of Canada’s recent investment of over $1.7 billion in research, which included support for over 7,700 researchers and research projects across Canada. The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport and Quebec Lieutenant made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health.
CFI Innovation Fund
The CFI Innovation Fund provides continued investments in research infrastructure across the full spectrum of research, from the most fundamental to applied through to technology development. A total of ten projects led by UBC researchers have been awarded $36 million in the latest round of funding, with UBC researchers also collaborating on projects led by other institutions.
The Faculty of Medicine-led projects include:
- Infrastructure for Accelerated In Vivo Molecular Imaging and Theranostic Research
UBC Lead(s): François Bénard (Radiology) and Arman Rahmim (Radiology)
$6,227,953 - SMART Labs
UBC Lead(s): Janice Eng (Physical Therapy)
$2,146,587 - Transformative and disruptive systems immunology
UBC Lead(s): Leonard Foster (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) and Honglin Luo (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
$2,491,654 - Improved Pre-clinical modeling of metabolic resilience for novel diabetes and obesity therapeutics
UBC Lead(s): James Johnson (Cellular and Physiological Sciences) and Elizabeth Rideout (Cellular and Physiological Sciences)
$6,838,943 - Field Camera and Shim System for Precision MRI
UBC Lead(s): Alexander Rauscher (Pediatrics) and Piotr Kozlowski (Radiology / Urologic Sciences)
$448,250 - CGEn – Canada’s national platform for genome sequencing and analysis
Lead Institution: The Hospital for Sick Children
UBC Lead(s): Steven Jones (Medical Genetics) - TRaC: Therapies for Rare Cancers
Lead Institution: University of Calgary
UBC Lead(s): Natalie Strynadka (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
NSERC Alliance Grants 2022
NSERC Alliance grants supports R&D collaborations between Canadian university researchers and partners from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors, as well as opportunities for Canadian researchers to work with national and international academic counterparts. A total of 52 projects led by UBC researchers were announced as receiving funding through the 2022 Alliance Grants program, with combined funding of $17.5 million.
The Faculty of Medicine-led projects include:
- A novel approach to study occupant kinematics, muscle activity and cervical spine posture in vehicle rollovers
Peter Cripton (School Biomedical Engineering / Orthopaedics)
$20,000 - A unified approach to analyze the time-frequency representation of nociceptive-related potentials
John Kramer (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics)
$25,000
SSHRC Insight Development Grants
Insight Development Grants support research in its early stages and enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and ideas. A total of 46 projects led by UBC researchers were awarded funding through the 2023 Insight Development Grants competition, with combined awards of over $2.75 million.
The Faculty of Medicine-led projects include:
- Well-being and Vicarious Resilience in Healthcare Professionals: Cultural Considerations
Jennifer Coelho (Psychiatry) and Janet Mah (Psychiatry)
$69,524