Researchers from the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences have been awarded more than $8.3 million in the latest round of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project funding.
The funding for 10 UM research projects was awarded through the CIHR’s Project Grant Program, which is designed to support ideas with the greatest potential to advance health research, health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health systems, health care or health outcomes.
“Congratulations to the individuals from the Rady Faculty that secured funding for their important research,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, UM vice-president (research and international). “I’m thrilled to see that three of the teams were ranked No. 1 by their respective peer review committees. This demonstrates the leading-edge health research being conducted at UM.”
Dr. Peter Nickerson, dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, said the projects also reflect the diversity of health research taking place at UM.
“The studies are led by scientists from many different fields – from community health sciences to oral biology to pharmacology and therapeutics. This funding will help our researchers carry out their projects which will inevitably have an impact on the health of Manitobans, Canadians and people around the world,” Nickerson said.
One of the UM grant recipients is Dr. Soheila Karimi, professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine, and founding director of the Manitoba Multiple Sclerosis Research Centre. She and her team received $1,143,675 over five years to study what could one day be a new treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis (MS).
“MS happens when the body’s immune system attacks and damages myelin, a protective layer around nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. My research group has identified that Neuregulin-1, which is an important protein for proper function of the brain and spinal cord, is depleted in MS lesions. We have strong evidence that Neuregulin-1 holds promise as a potential treatment to promote myelin repair in progressive MS when repair fails, resulting in increased neurological impairments,” said Karimi, who is also a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).
Karimi’s project will evaluate Neuregulin-1 as a future treatment to prevent the progression of MS and support tissue repair. A new treatment is much needed, Karimi said, because Canada is home to the world’s highest prevalence of MS and current medications are minimally effective for the progressive phase of the disease.
“We are really hoping that this research will set the groundwork for conclusive findings which would justify going to clinical trials, especially for progressive MS, because there is a critical treatment gap,” Karimi said.
Learn about the other UM projects funded through the latest round of CIHR’s Project Grant Program. More information about the research teams and the work they’ll be doing is available here.
Dr. Tracie Afifi, professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in childhood adversity and resilience; researcher, CHRIM
Grant: $100,000 (one year)
Afifi will focus on updating and expanding her 10-year-old study related to child maltreatment across Canada. The team will update national and provincial prevalence of child abuse statistics and aim to understand the experiences of child abuse among those with different gender and sexual identities and how this impacts mental health and substance use outcome across age groups.
Dr. Heather Armstrong, assistant professor of internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in integrative bioscience; researcher, CHRIM
Grant: $814,725 (five years)
Armstrong’s team will study the reasons why some dietary fibres are not well tolerated in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). She hopes these findings support development of personalized dietary fibre guidelines for IBD patients, based on the individual’s gut and microbiome health to ensure only safe fibres are consumed, therefore promoting improved microbe and gut health.
Dr. Prashen Chelikani, professor of oral biology, Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry
Grant: $1,319,625 (five years)
Chelikani and the team will work to understand why some dental fungi are associated with tooth decay in preschool children and the local environmental factors that might influence them. This research on the dental mycobiome associated with severe tooth decay will assist with the development of new tooth decay prevention strategies for young Indigenous children.
Dr. Keith Fowke, department head and professor of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine
Grant: $956,250 (five years)
Fowke will partner with organizations and community members in Nairobi, Kenya, to better understand the immune system among women who clear human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. The project aims to identify the immune cells that are important in the natural clearance of HPV with the goal of identifying these HPV clearance associated immune factors that are important for a therapeutic HPV vaccine to mimic.
Dr. Nathan Nickel, associate professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; director and senior research scientist, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy; researcher, CHRIM
Grant: $577,574 (three years)
In partnership with the Manitoba Métis Federation, Nickel and his team’s study will shed light on whether a Manitoba Health campaign that promoted the importance of childhood vaccinations improved childhood vaccination among Métis families. The study’s findings will support the development of strategies aimed at keeping childhood vaccination rates high in Manitoba as well as nation-specific strategies for Red River Métis citizens.
Dr. Christopher Pascoe, assistant professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM
Grant: $784,125 (five years)
Pascoe seeks to better understand why exposure to diabetes during pregnancy makes airways twitchier in asthma. The team will learn whether reducing blood glucose levels during pregnancy is an effective way to prevent changes from occurring and this information may allow them the ability to stop asthma in children exposed to diabetes from developing before it’s a problem that requires treatment.
Dr. Joel Pearson, assistant professor of pharmacology and therapeutics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CancerCare Manitoba
Grant: $983,025 (five years)
Pearson will lead a study aimed at understanding the underlying causes of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and how non-small cell lung cancer can change to SCLC. This research will help them identify new and improved treatments for SCLC so patients living with this cancer will have longer lives and better outcomes.
Dr. Souradet Shaw, assistant professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in program science and global public health
Grant: $883,576 (four years)
Shaw’s study seeks to develop a deeper understanding of trends, determinants and responses to sexually transmitted and bloodborne infections (STBBI) in Manitoba over a 30-year period. Collaborations between community, public health and academics will be at the forefront of this project, with the goal of co-learning and co-designing interventions to ensure no one is left behind while addressing current and future STBBI outbreaks.
Dr. Roberta Woodgate, distinguished professor of nursing, College of Nursing; Canada Research Chair in child and family engagement in health research and healthcare; researcher, CHRIM
Grant: $768,824 (four years)
Woodgate will lead a study to gather evidence to inform the co-design of policies and research priorities meant to enhance the health and well-being of young people who care for family members or other loved ones. Young carers will co-design the policy recommendations and research priorities by gathering evidence grounded in their experiences and providing them with a leadership role in the process.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
