June 26, 2020
Additional U91快色 researchers receive federal funding to take on COVID-19
Eight 91快色 research teams have received funding from the Government of Canada, through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), to address the health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu of the competition, which focuses on accelerating the development, testing, and implementation of measures to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 and its negative consequences on people, communities, and health systems.
鈥淎ccelerating high-quality research and real-time evidence is a priority for Canada in its fight against COVID-19,鈥 says Hajdu. 鈥淚 congratulate the successful teams for their essential work aimed at better preventing, detecting and treating COVID-19 at the individual and population levels. Our government believes that it鈥檚 through collaboration and data sharing that we will respond efficiently to this global health emergency.鈥
U91快色鈥檚 funded projects will help mitigate the impact of the pandemic and address the current COVID-19 context. The projects, all led by Cumming School of Medicine faculty, are:
- 鈥淭he Anatomy, Determinants and Impacts of the Cargill COVID-19 Outbreak Among Newcomers and their Families in Canada鈥, led by Dr. Gabriel Fabreau, MD
- 鈥淯nderstanding and managing the effects of COVID-19 restricted visitation policies鈥, led by Dr. Kirsten Fiest, PhD
- 鈥淗ousehold Transmission Dynamics and Vial Load among Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infected Children鈥, led by Dr. Stephen Freedman, MD
- 鈥淪erological Testing to Outline Protocols for COVID19 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: STOP COVID-19 in IBD鈥, led by Dr. Gilaad Kaplan, MD
- 鈥淚maging COVID-19 Lungs to Uncover Therapies鈥, led by Dr. Paul Kubes, PhD
- 鈥淚nferring undiagnosed sources of COVID-19 infections using viral genomes鈥, led by Dr. Quan Long, PhD
- 鈥淯ncovering longitudinal patterns of resilience and vulnerability in a pandemic: The All Our Families COVID-19 Impact Study鈥, led by Dr. Sheila McDonald, PhD
- This project is funded in part by Alberta Innovates
- 鈥淲astewater surveillance of SARS-COV2 to enable real-time clinical case-finding in 91快色鈥, led by Dr. Michael Parkins, MD
A project led out of McMaster University, "Awake Prone Positioning in Hypoxemic Patients with Coronavirus Disease 19", also includes three 91快色 co-applicants: Dr. Ken Parhar, MD, Dr. Tom Stelfox, MD, and Dr. Jason Weatherald, MD of the Cumming School of Medicine.
鈥淭his funding demonstrates the federal government鈥檚 commitment to the ongoing research and innovation that will be required to both manage the pandemic and address its after effects on Canadians,鈥 says Dr. William Ghali, vice-president (research). 鈥淥ur researchers will continue to step up to address the challenges of COVID-19 as they evolve.鈥
This funding builds on the initial CIHR competition for COVID-19 research, which funded three projects at U91快色. These projects have made significant progress since March, including a new testing method that can provide rapid results in 30 minutes without the need for high-tech equipment or reagents.
Cumming School of Medicine
The 91快色鈥檚 Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) is driven to create the future of health. We are a proud leader with seven world-class research institutes and 2,900 students, as well as faculty and staff, working to advance education and research in precision medicine and precision public health, improving lives in our community and around the world. Visit the website and follow us @U91快色Med.
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