(Edmonton) University of Alberta researchers have won more than $14 million in the latest round of investment funding from the federal government's health research investment agency.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has awarded 27 U of A research projects belonging to 24 health researchers $14.25 million over the next five years as part of its September 2012 Operating Grants competition.
"With this investment, our researchers can continue to help improve the health and lives of Canadians through vital multidisciplinary research in medical and rehabilitation sciences, health services and patient care," said Lorne Babiuk, U of A vice-president of research. "Their results illustrate both the quality and importance of the research being conducted at the University of Alberta."
Three researchers-cardiologist Evangelos Michelakis, kidney specialist Sara Davison and diabetes researcher Dean Eurich-each received funding for two research projects.
Eurich, a researcher with the School of Public Health, received $380,000 in CIHR funding over three years for two of his projects, which are designed to formally evaluate the various long-term effects of a number of new drugs designed to manage blood-sugar levels in people with diabetes.
He says because of the complex nature of the disease, co-operation across all levels of government, industry and health-care professionals, and among the many diabetes researchers at the U of A, is critical to improving the health of these patients.
"The interdisciplinary research and strong partnerships that the University of Alberta has formed provides a solid foundation for this research not only to be conducted, but conducted successfully," he said.
Made up of 13 institutes, CIHR has a mission to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health-care system.
UAlberta recipients of CIHR Operating Grants
Adetola Adesida
Knee meniscus reconstruction using mesenchymal stem cells
$696,183 over five years
Troy Baldwin
Cellular and molecular regulation of T cell tolerance
$784,330 over five years
Sara Davison
Functional and symptom trajectories in elderly chronic kidney disease patients and their association with dialysis initiation
$379,279 over four years
The development and evaluation of state-of-the-art prognostication in a novel palliative care program for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease in Canada
$341,922 over four years
Jason Dyck
The involvement of CD36 in the regulation of myocardial metabolism and function
$728,201 over five years
Dean Eurich
International population-based evaluation of drug therapies used to manage Type 2 diabetes
$176,644 over three years
Effectiveness of sitagliptin in patients with diabetes and heart failure: Population-based cohort study
$203,918 over three years
Catherine Field
Establishment of a role for docosahexanoic acid in the treatment of breast cancer
$395,200 over four years
Tom Hobman
Flavivirus host cell interactions
$900,500 over five years
Dawn Kingston
Integrated Maternal Psychosocial Assessment to Care Trial (IMPACT): Intervening early to improve maternal and child health
$346,231 over four years
Peter Light
Novel protective roles for ATP-sensitive potassium channels in the heart
$665,800 over five years
Richard Long
Reducing the burden of tuberculosis in the foreign-born through an expanded program of post-landing Immigration Medical Surveillance: A nationwide study in Canada, 2003-2010
$247,925 over three years
Katherine Magor
Influenza virulence and host defence
$528,275 over five years
Todd McMullen
The biological and clinical significance of platelet derived growth factor receptor in papillary thyroid cancer
$642,147 over five years
Evangelos Michelakis
A functional nuclear pyruvate dehydrogenase complex is important for a mitochondria-independent generation of acetyl-CoA and histone acetylation in the nucleus
$813,784 over five years
Mitochondrial suppression in pulmonary hypertension
$813,550 over five years
Gavin Oudit
Role of ACE2 in heart disease: Pathophysiology, molecular mechanisms and therapeutics
$747,156 over five years
Richard Rachubinski
Mechanisms of peroxisome assembly
$707,235 over five years
Yves Sauvé
Retinopathy in a cone-rich rodent model of spontaneous Type 2 diabetes
$553,994 over five years
Shannon Scott
Upscaling data to develop knowledge translation theory for child health-care contexts
$122,491 over two years
Maya Shmulevitz
Characterizing structural changes that retarget enteric reovirus towards tumours
$563,670 over five years
Marcello Tonelli
Quality of cancer care in remote-dwelling Canadians
$237,868 over three years
Marie Turner
Short bowel syndrome and glucagon-like peptide-2 therapy: Actions and mechanisms studied in neonatal piglets
$548,527 over four years
Lorne Tyrrell
Studies on hepatitis C-Host pathogen interactions
$612,030 over five years
Andrew Waskiewicz
Investigations of genetic pathways underlying superior retinal colobomata, defects in closure of a novel ocular fissure
$667,921 over five years
Jaynie Yang
Intensive motor training after perinatal stroke to enhance walking
$373,461 over three years
Stephanie Yanow
Integrated molecular approaches to the diagnosis and epidemiology of pregnancy-associated malaria in Latin America
$418,101 over three years