UBC researchers awarded $38.1 million to lead health research through CIHR's Fall 2024 Project Grant competition

A total of 55 projects led by UBC researchers were awarded $38.1 million in combined funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant: Fall 2024 competition.

• UBC researchers are leading 41 projects awarded Project Grants totaling $36.7 million
• 14 projects led by UBC researchers were awarded Priority Announcement Grants totaling $1.4 million

On a national level, CIHR approved a total of 453 research grants, for a total investment of approximately $411 million. In addition, 105 priority announcement grants were funded for a total amount of $14.1 million and 16 supplemental prizes were awarded for a total of $400,000.

See CIHR's announcement

UBC-Led Project Grants

1. Bamji, Shernaz (Cellular and Physiological Sciences)
   ZDHHC9 enzyme function in the formation and function of oligodendrocytes and neuronal connections
   *Conditional award at time of posting
    
2. Bernatchez, Pascal  (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics)
   Activation of the chronic endothelial function reserve for the prevention and regression of aortopathies.
    
3. Cembrowski, Mark (Cellular & Physiological Sciences)
   A detonator neuron driving the cellular and behavioural expression of seizures
    
4. Chen, Carol (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
   Epigenetic mechanisms of SETD2 neurodevelopmental disorders
   *Conditional award at time of posting
    
5. Devlin, Angela (Pediatrics)
   Understanding the impact of maternal folic acid intake on gestational diabetes and offspring pancreatic islet cell development
   *Conditional award at time of posting
    
6. Doan, Quynh Huong (Pediatrics)
   Cultural Adaption and Validation of MyHEARTSMAP, a Digital Psychosocial Instrument, For Chinese Youth and Families in Canada.
    
7. Dormuth, Colin Russell (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics)
   Co-PIs: Mintzes, Barbara (School of Population and Public Health / Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics); Otte, Jessica (Family Practice)
   Safety Advisories Framework for Effective Risk communication - Phase 2 (SAFER-2)
    
8. Gilbert, Mark (School of Population and Public Health)
   Co-PIs: Grace, Daniel (University of Toronto); Henry, Bonnie (School of Population and Public Health); Worthington, Catherine (University of Victoria)
   Adapting self-collection STBBI testing models for rural and remote communities in BC
    
9. Hilton, Brett (Cellular and Physiological Sciences)
   The role of calcium-dependent vesicle release in corticospinal axon regeneration
    
10. Hirani, Saima (School of Nursing)
    Co-PI: Dev, Rubee (School of Nursing)
    Co-development and Evaluation of Video Resources to Support Racialized Women's Postpartum Mental Health
     
11. Hohl, Corinne (Emergency Medicine) 
    Co-PI(s): Archambault, Patrick (Université Laval); Brooks, Steven (Queen's University); Chandra, Kavish (Dalhousie University); Daoust, Raoul (Université de Montréal); Dong, Kathryn (University of Alberta); Fok, Patrick (Dalhousie University); Grunau, Brian (Emergency Medicine); Kestler, Andrew (Emergency Medicine); Lock, Kurt (BCCDC); Lysyshyn, Mark (School of Population and Public Health / Vancouver Coastal Health); McRae, Andrew (University of Calgary); Moe, Jessica (Emergency Medicine); Morrison, Laurie (University of Toronto); Orkin, Aaron (University of Toronto); Perry, Jeffrey (University of Ottawa); Rosychuk, Rhonda (University of Alberta); Stone-McLean, Jordan (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
    Optimizing outcomes for patients presenting to emergency departments with opioid poisoning
     
12. Kizhakkedathu, Jayachandran (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
    Self-sterilizing Blood Storage Devices for Safer Transfusion of Platelets and Whole Blood
     
13. Kuo, Calvin (School of Biomedical Engineering)
    Co-PIs: Bhatnagar, Tim (Orthopaedics); Leveille, Lise (Orthopaedics)
    Assessing Remote Technologies for Return to Sport after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Children
     
14. Loewen, Christopher (Cellular and Physiological Sciences)
    Characterizing new functions for tethering proteins at membrane contact sites in budding yeast
     
15. Luong, Christina (Cardiology)
    Co-PIs: Abolmaesumi, Purang (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Tsang, Teresa (Cardiology)
    High-precision Echo Assessment and Risk Triage of heart failure using Artificial Intelligence (HEART-AI)
     
16. Lynn, Francis (General Surgery and School of Biomedical Engineering)
    Co-PIs: Levings, Megan (General Surgery and School of Biomedical Engineering); Verchere, Bruce (UBC Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
    Building better beta cells in order to improve stem cell-derived islet transplantation outcomes
    $ 1,120,725 (5 years)
    *Conditional award at time of posting
     
17. Ma, Hongshen (Mechanical Engineering)
    Red Blood Cell Deformability and Imaging as Biomarkers of Circulatory Clearance Time
     
18. MacVicar, Brian (Psychiatry)
    Lipid Nanoparticle-messenger RNA (LNP-mRNA) as a versatile therapeutic platform for brain diseases
     
19. Masse, Louise (School of Population and Public Health)
    Co-PI: Oberle, Eva (School of Population and Public Health)
    Bridging the gap: Evaluating the real-world impact of Comprehensive School Health initiatives on physical activity, nutrition, and mental health/well-being of elementary school children
     
20. Matsubara, Joanne (Ophthalmology)
    Co-PI: Ju, Myeong Jin (School of Biomedical Engineering)
    Extracellular Granzyme B Accumulates with Aging and Promotes Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
     
21. Maxwell, Christopher (Pediatrics)
    Elucidate the targetable mechanisms underpinning the development of a pregnancy-associated breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers.
     
22. Moritz, Orson (Ophthalmology)
    New animal models of retinal disease with retinal deposits
     
23. Prisman, Eitan (Surgery)
    Co-PI: Salcudean, Tim (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
    Assessing the role of 3D ultrasonography and image guidance during transoral robotic surgery for oropharyngeal cancer
    *Conditional award at time of posting
     
24. Ranger, Manon (School of Nursing)
    Co-PI: Tremblay, Sophie (Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics)
    Determining the neuroprotective effects of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 on neurodevelopmental impairments related to neonatal pain and sucrose-induced inflammatory stress
     
25. Russell, James (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
    Development of Lipid nanoparticle RNA systems as novel therapeutics for endotoxemia resulting from severe bacterial infections
     
26. Schummers, Laura (Pharmaceutical Sciences)
    Co-PIs: Clement, Fiona (University of Calgary); Henry, Bonnie (School of Population and Public Health); Law, Michael (School of Population and Public Health); Nickel, Nathan (University of Manitoba)
    Effect of Canada's first universal contraception subsidy on access, pregnancy outcomes, and costs: a population-based controlled interrupted time series study
     
27. Selvanathan, Thiviya (Pediatrics)
    Brain Connectome and Neurodevelopment in Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy
     
28. Silverberg, Noah (Psychology)
    Personalized symptom mapping to understand and treat persistent post-concussion symptoms
     
29. Snyder, Jason (Psychology)
    Understanding the amnestic side effects of electroconvulsive shock
     
30. Steidl, Christian (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
    Cellular ecosystems of nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma
     
31. Taubert, Stefan (Medical Genetics)
    Co-PI: Lynn, Francis (General Surgery and School of Biomedical Engineering)
    Role of Mediator subunit Med15 in maturation and resilience of endocrine cells in the pancreas
    $ 1,063,350 (5 years)
    *Conditional award at time of posting
     
32. Tebbutt, Scott (Medicine)
    Metabolomic biomarkers for early detection of acute cellular rejection in heart transplant recipients: a multidisciplinary approach to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes
     
33. Tocheva, Elitza (Microbiology and Immunology)
    Structural and functional characterization of the type VII secretion system in Mycobacteria
     
34. Uribe, Carlos (Radiology)
    Co-PIs: Beauregard, Jean-Mathieu (Université Laval); Benard, Francois (Radiology); Rahmim, Arman (School of Biomedical Engineering)
    Precision Radiopharmaceutical Therapies with Theranostic Digital Twins
     
35. Viau, Victor (Cellular and Physiological Sciences)
    Sex differences in inflammatory, neuroendocrine and behavioural responses: Impact of corticosteroid-binding globulin deficiency.
     
36. Wang, Yemin (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
    Leveraging Epigenetic Reprogramming for Targeted Therapy in ARID1A/ARID1B Dual-Deficient Cancers
     
37. Wei, Kevin (Zoology)
    Molecular mechanisms and genomic consequences of transposable element hijack strategies during embryogenesis
     
38. Whittaker, Jacqueline (Physical Therapy)
    Preventing symptomatic post-traumatic osteoarthritis in young people at high risk: The Stop OsteoARThritis (SOAR) Randomized Controlled Trial
     
39. Wiens, Matthew (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics)
    Co-PIs: Duby, Jessica (McGill University); Kenya-Mugisha, Nathan (Walimu)
    Smart Discharges for newborns with sepsis: a personalized public health approach for improving discharge and post-discharge care in low-resource settings
     
40. Yip, Calvin (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
    Investigating the molecular mechanism of autophagosome-lysosome fusion
     
41. Zeng, Haishan (Dermatology and Skin Science)
    Co-PI: Lam, Stephen (Respiratory Medicine)
    Endoscopic Laser Raman Spectroscopy for Minimally Invasive Detection of Peripheral Lung Cancer
     

See full list of project grant awardees

UBC-Led Priority Announcements

1. Dummer, Trevor School of Population and Public Health)
   Co-PIs: Darvishian, Maryam (School of Population and Public Health); Feldman, Fabio (BC Cancer)
   Understanding and Reducing Disparities in Cancer Screening Participation and Retention to Improve Early Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in British Columbia
   Priority Announcement Area: Breast Cancer Prevention & Early Detection
    
2. Floresco, Stanley (Psychology)
   Prefrontal-subcortical network mechanisms underlying risky decision making
   Priority Announcement Area: Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
    
3. Foster, Leonard (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Michael Smith Laboratories)
   Accelerating Next-Generation Vaccine Development to Combat the Global Mpox Crisis
   Priority Announcement Area: Global Health Research - Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies
    
4. Foster, Leonard (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Michael Smith Laboratories)
   Innovative Expression Platform for Therapeutic Antibody Delivery
   Priority Announcement Area: Global Health Research - Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies
    
5. Greyson, Devon (School of Population and Public Health)
   When clinicians misinform: Assessing and understanding the impact of expert-provided misinformation on trans and gender diverse populations
   Priority Announcement Area: Sex and Gender in Health Research - Sex and Gender Science for Health Equity in Priority Communities
    
6. Johnson, James (Cellular and Physiological Sciences)
   Targeting Scn9a Na+ channels for beta cell survival and disease modification in type 1 diabetes
   Priority Announcement Area: Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes
    
7. Verchere, Bruce (Surgery)
   Islet macrophages: regulators of beta cell function in health and diabetes
   Priority Announcement Area: Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes
    
8. Kalia, Sunil (Dermatology and Skin Science)
   Co-PIs: Avina-Zubieta, Juan (Rheumatology); Dutz, Jan (Dermatology and Skin Science); Lacaille, Diane (Rheumatology); Lui, Harvey (Dermatology and Skin Science)
   Mapping the current landscape, treatment patterns, and access to health services for eczema patients in British Columbia
   Priority Announcement Area: Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis: IMHA Mandate Areas
    
9. Wilson, David (Centre for Hip Health and Mobility)
   Co-PI: Lodhia, Parth (Orthopaedics)
   Biomechanical and imaging assessments of hip microinstability
   Priority Announcement Area: Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis: IMHA Mandate Areas
    
10. Kuo, Calvin (School of Biomedical Engineering)
    Co-PI:Whittaker, Jacqueline L (Physical Therapy)
    Understanding Differences in Exposure to and Biomechanical Features of 'Risky' Movements between Female and Male Athletes in Soccer
    Priority Announcement Area: Female Athlete Health
     
11. McKevitt, Elaine (General Surgery)
    Surgical, oncologic, and patient reported outcomes following breast conserving surgery versus mastectomy in breast cancer patients: a prospective study
    Priority Announcement Area: Breast Cancer Survivorship
     
12. Stirling, Peter (Terry Fox Laboratory)
    Identification of novel DNA nuclease inhibition strategies
    Priority Announcement Area: Genetics
     
13. Turvey, Stuart (Pediatrics)
    Harnessing early life developmental trajectories and the gut microbiota to identify new ways to predict and prevent asthma
    Priority Announcement Area: Genetics
     
14. Stringhini, Silvia (School of Population and Public Health)
    Explaining life-course socio-economic inequalities in ageing trajectories
    Priority Announcement Area: Population and Public Health - Early Career Investigator

See full list of priority announcement awardees