London Welcomes $11.6 Million for Medical Research

The University and its affiliated research institutions will share grants totaling $11,636,063 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), to support 33 research projects in a wide range of areas including brain aneurysms, cancer, diabetes, heart surgery and vision enhancement.

Highlights:

- Dale Laird, Gerald Kidder, Donglin Bai and Suzanne Bernier (Departments of Anatomy & Cell Biology and Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine) will study Cx43 gap junction protein mutations linked to human diseases of the bone, digits and teeth with the prospect of opening up new avenues of therapy.
- Jeffrey Jutai's (Lawson scientist; Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine and Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science) research is aimed at improving our understanding of the effects of vision enhancement technologies for individuals who have low vision to suggest ways to achieve results less expensively.
- Terry Peters and Maria Drangova (Robarts scientists and Departments of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine and Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine) are conducting different types of imaging studies to make cardiac surgery more effective and less invasive.

"Continued investment in CIHR projects is critical to advancing our knowledge in the causes and treatments of diseases," says Carol Herbert, Dean of Western's Schulich School of Medicine. "London's success is a result of the unique partnership among investigators in different disciplines and institutions across the city and is a testament to the strength and collaboration of its research community."

"These kinds of imaging research projects aim to improve a very important aspect of patient care: any way we can make surgery less invasive and more successful means a better and faster recovery for patients," says Dr. Mark Poznansky, Robarts President & Scientific Director. "That's the goal that drives excellent researchers like Drs. Drangova and Peters and that drives CIHR."

New this year, the Clinical Research Initiative is CIHR's response to a clear need and opportunity to strengthen clinical research in Canada. "CIHR limited us to two submissions and both were successful," states Dr. David Hill, Lawson Scientific Director. "We are proud of the work of recipients Drs. Bing Siang Gan and James Lewis and their commitment to health research. The maximal benefits to the nation's health and its economy will be achieved by supporting a continuum from basic to clinical to health services to population health research."

CIHR is Canada's premier federal agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened health care system.

A complete list of London scientists receiving funds from CIHR is attached.

- 30 -

For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Alison Liversage
Schulich School of Medicine
The University of Western Ontario
(519) 661-2111, ext. 81136

Linda Quattrin
Robarts Research Institute
(519) 663-3021

Julia Capaldi
Lawson Health Research Institute
(519) 636-6100, ext. 61098

The following researchers have received one- to five-year grants from CIHR:

Helene Berman (School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences) receives $48,475 for a critical exploratory study in uprooting, displacement and health in the lives of girls.

Nathalie Berube (Lawson scientist; Department of Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $294,681 to study the role of the ATRX mental retardation gene in hippocampal development.

Peter Canham (Department of Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $234,273 to study brain arteries and aneurysms.

Bosco Chan (Robarts Scientist; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $596,960 to research in vivo assessment of the regulation of chemokinetic and chemotactic response to local growth factor production.

Peter Chidiac (Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $301,792 to study RGS proteins in the heart.

James Choy (Department of Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $300,612 to study structural characterization and dynamical studies of naturally disordered proteins using NMR spectroscopy.

Gabriel Dimattia (London Regional Cancer Program scientist; Departments of Oncology and Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $319,200 to study the role of stanniocalcin hormones in bone growth and development.

Maria Drangova (Robarts scientist; Departments of Medical Biophysics and Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $323,746 to study interventional cardiovascular MRI.

Thomas Drysdale, (Lawson scientist; Departments of Paediatrics and Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $497,635 to research the role of retinoic acid in cardiac development and physiology.

Christopher Ellis (Department of Medical Biophysics,Schulich School of Medicine; Lawson scientist) receives $158,052 to study optical imaging of microvascular oxygen transport in skeletal muscle.

Stefan Everling (Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science) receives $276,732 to study the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex investigated with functional resonance imaging.

Wayne Flintoff (Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $292,371 to research the structure and function of the reduced folate carrier.

Peter Fowler (Fowler Kennedy Sport Medical Clinic and Department of Surgery, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $152,495 to study arthroscopic surgery versus non-surgical treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.

Bing Siang Gan, (Lawson scientist; Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology and Surgery, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $25,000 for the development of a mass spectrometry-based assay for GSK-3beta activity in small biological samples.

Neil Gelman (Lawson scientist; Departments of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine and Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine) and David Lee (Department of Paediatrics, Schulich School of Medicine) receive $205,931 to study the value of quantitative MRI measures of white matter injury for predicting neurodevelopmental outcome of preterm infants.

Paul Gribble (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science; Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $343,510 to study computational mechanisms of motor learning.

Femida Gwadry-Sridhar (Lawson scientist; Schulich Department of Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $276,561 to study knowledge innovation and diffusion in myocardial infarction.

Stewart Harris receives (Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine; Lawson scientist) receives $225,000 from the Aboriginal community-based research competition to study the Sandy Lake school-based primary prevention program.

David Haniford (Department of Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $742,265 to research molecular mechanisms of tn10 and tn5 transposition.

Robert Hegele (Robarts scientist; Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $758,250 to study genetic determinants of obesity and lipoproteins.

Kathleen Hill (Department of Biology, Faculty of Science) receives $259,599 to study hormesis in mouse models of neurodegeneration and shortened lifespan: a novel anti-aging stragety.

Anthony Jevnikar (Robarts and Lawson scientist; Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $614,935 to study the regulation of renal tubular epithelial cell injury to promote kidney allograft survival.

Jeffrey Jutai (Lawson scientist; Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine and Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science) receives $145,140 to study the dynamic program approach to modeling assistive technology device outcomes in low vision rehabilitation.

Jim Koropatnick (London Regional Cancer Program scientist; Department of Oncology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $304,146 to study the metallothionein in monocyte function, hormone responsiveness and signal transduction protein activity.

Dale Laird, Gerald Kidder, Donglin Bai and Suzanne Bernier (Departments of Anatomy & Cell Biology and Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine) receive $545,108 to study Cx43 mutations linked to human disease.

Ruth Lanius (Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $245,060 to study neuroimaging of pain in posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder.

James Lewis (Lawson scientist; Departments of Medicine and Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $25,000 to study the prolonged ventilation of adult rats; bridging the gap between clinical studies and animal models.

Joaquin Madrenas (Robarts scientist; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $743,160 to study regulation of CTLA-4 function by PP2A.

Joseph Mymryk (London Regional Cancer Program scientist; Departments of Oncology and Microbiology & Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $545,430 to study the molecular genetic analysis of adenovirus E1A function.

Christopher Pin (Lawson scientist; Department of Paediatrics, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $300,000 to research the role of mist1 in regulating exocrine pancreatic function and susceptibility to pancreatitis.

Terence Peters (Robarts scientist; Departments of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine and Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine) receives $340,605 to study image-guidance for minimally-invasive cardiac procedures.

Rennian Wang (Lawson scientist; Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology and Medicine; Schulich School of Medicine) receives $301,728 to study pancreatic beta-cell development.

Christine Wekerle (Faculty of Education; Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science) receives $892,611 for the first-ever longitudinal study of child welfare-involved youth across the full spectrum of type of maltreatment and type of services or family involvement.