UBC awarded $43m in CIHR Project Grants competition

UBC researchers have been awarded $43m for 65 projects at the university and its affiliated health authority research centres through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's (CIHR) latest Project Grant competition.

A total of $372m was awarded nationally to support Canadian researchers to study the full spectrum of health issues affecting the lives of Canadians. 

national release | Backgrounder

Research Grants

59 projects at UBC and our affiliated health authority research centres received $42.4m in research grant funding. 

  • Abraham, Ninan
    CD127 in the development and function of Type 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC2s).
    $ 1,036,575
  • Auld, Vanessa J
    Mechanisms of tricellular junction formation and regulation
    $ 719,100
  • Barbic, Skye P
    Healthier by doing: Testing the effectiveness of a youth-centred employment/education intervention for young adults with mental illness
    $ 302,175
  • Bernatchez, Pascal N
    The critical role of plasma cholesterol in the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy
    $ 294,524
  • Boyd, John H
    Organ donation after cardiac death: optimizing the donor heart.
    $ 504,900
  • Bromme, Dieter
    Ectosteric inhibitors of cathepsin K: their mechanism and in vivo efficacy
    $ 956,250
  • Brown, Carolyn J
    Role of XIST in human X-chromosome inactivation
    $ 963,900
  • Brubacher, Jeffrey R
    Predictors of poor health and functional recovery following road trauma: An emergency department inception cohort study.
    $ 875,925
  • Buttyan, Ralph
    Interference with Gli to Control Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer
    $ 344,250
  • Buxton, Jane
    Opioid Prescribing Evaluation and Research Activities (OPERA)
    $ 520,201
  • Camp, Patricia G
    Niwh Yizt'iyh Hilht'iz Nets'eelh'iyh - Strengthening our Bodies: A Community-based Research Project to Create Pulmonary Tele-Rehabilitation in Remote and Rural First Nations Communities in Northern British Columbia
    $ 803,250
  • Camp, Patricia G
    Bayis Il Tus - A Strong Breath: Community-Based Research to Identify the Prevalence of and Contributors to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Remote and Rural First Nations Communities in British Columbia
    $ 791,775
  • Carlsten, Christopher
    Does traffic-related air pollution reduce the effectiveness of corticosteroids in asthma treatment?
    $ 673,200
  • Chen, Frances
    Assessing the role of adolescent hormonal contraceptive use on risk for depression
    $ 466,652
  • Cherkasov, Artem
    Design and evaluation of small molecules that target the dimerization interface of full-length and splice-variant forms of the androgen receptor as a potential treatment for advanced prostate cancer
    $ 459,000
  • Cote, Hélène
    Placenta mitochondrial dysfunction and preterm birth
    $ 1,239,300
  • Dong, Xuesen
    RNA splicing regulates prostate cancer progression to hormone therapy resistant neuroendocrine tumors
    $ 699,975
  • Fairbairn, Nadia S
    Repurposing slow-release oral morphine as new oral alternative for the treatment of opioid use disorder
    $ 585,225
  • Fedida, David
    Biophysical properties and regulation of KCNQ1 and KCNE(x) ion channel complexes.
    $ 627,300
  • Field, Thalia S
    SECRET: Study of rivaroxaban for CeREbral venous Thrombosis
    $ 191,250
  • Francis, Gordon A
    Relative deficiency of lysosomal acid lipase in arterial smooth muscle cells as a novel target for atherosclerosis treatment and prevention
    $ 512,550
  • Gantt, Soren M
    Viral determinants of natural human cytomegalovirus transmission
    $ 1,143,675
  • Gill, Jagbir S
    Canadian-Australasian Randomized Trial of Screening Kidney Transplant Candidates for Coronary Artery Disease (CARSK)
    $ 2,237,625
  • Gleave, Martin E
    Preclinical development of a novel androgen receptor antagonist to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer
    $ 351,900
  • Hackett, Tillie-Louise
    The Role of Small Airways Disease Heterogeneity in Asthma
    $ 675,342
  • Holt, Rob
    Engineering T cells to overcome an immunosuppressive solid tumour microenvironment
    $ 150,000
  • Hutcheon, Jennifer A
    Short term benefits but long term harm? Assessing the consequences of antenatal corticosteroid administration for child neurodevelopment
    $ 221,851
  • Jan, Eric
    Host cell protein substrates of enterovirus proteases
    $ 726,750
  • Jiang, Xiaoyan
    Targeting Key Autophagy Proteins/Pathways for Treatment of Human Leukemia
    $ 787,950
  • Kim, Hugh
    Targeting platelet-specific molecules in periodontal disease
    $ 856,800
  • Krahn, Andrew D
    Risk prediction of sudden death in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: the Canadian ARVC registry
    $ 772,650
  • Krassioukov, Andrei
    Transient Hypertension and Vascular-Cognitive Impairment after Spinal Cord Injury: Benefit of Passive Exercise
    $ 267,751
  • Kurtz, Donna L
    Building Indigenous Pathways for Diabetes and Obesity Prevention and Management with Urban and Rural Communities in BC
    $ 849,150
  • Larjava, Hannu S
    Epithelial alpha-v-beta-6 integrin: critical regulator of periodontal inflammation
    $ 879,750
  • LeMoult, Joelle
    Characterizing the Peripheral Biology of Depression, Social Anxiety, and their Comorbidity
    $ 573,750
  • Lima, Viviane D
    What will it take to decrease the burden of the HIV and STI epidemics among MSM in British Columbia, Canada? A sexual network modeling analysis, combining syndemic theory, to evaluate the impact of behavioural and biomedical interventions for HIV and STI prevention
    $ 810,900
  • Lynn, Francis C
    Cell cycle regulation of human pancreatic endocrine cell development.
    $ 692,325
  • McGrail, Kimberlyn M
    Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage: Testing and Potential Implementation in Canada
    $ 413,100
  • McManus, Bruce M
    HEARTBiT: A novel multi-marker blood test for management of acute cardiac allograft rejection
    $ 2,180,250
  • Mcnagny, Kelly M
    Modulation of Innate Immune Responses as a Therapy for Muscular Dystrophy
    $ 956,250
  • Measday, Vivien R
    Targeting of a mobile genetic element into the genome using budding yeast as a model system
    $ 669,375
  • Moritz, Orson L
    Mechanisms of cell death in inherited retinal degeneration caused by rhodopsin mutations
    $ 856,800
  • Moritz, Orson L
    Mechanisms of rod and cone disk membrane synthesis and quality control in normal and diseased retina.
    $ 745,875
  • Naus, Christian C
    Pannexin1 mediation of stroke recovery responses: Sex and sex steroid influences
    $ 692,325
  • Panenka, William J
    Characterization of Traumatic brain injury as a contributor to chronic neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive impairment in a marginally housed population.
    $ 577,576
  • Perrin, David M
    Dual-Mode PET imaging agents for PET imaging cancer and visualizing tumor margins
    $ 596,700
  • Perrin, David M
    Alpha-amanitin: synthetic derivatives for applications in targeted therapy
    $ 405,450
  • Phillips, Anthony G
    Role of ionotropic glutamate receptors and synaptic plasticity in development of novel fast-acting antidepressants.
    $ 967,725
  • Reid, Gregor
    Identifying infection-induced determinants of paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia progression
    $ 688,500
  • Shoveller, Jean A
    Women's overdose risk environments and the response to the overdose crisis in Vancouver, Canada
    $ 451,350
  • Tanentzapf, Guy
    Regulation of Stem-Cell niche interactions in the hematopoietic system by occluding and gap junctions.
    $ 768,825
  • Tremlett, Helen L
    Prescription Drug Safety and Effectiveness in Multiple Sclerosis [DRUMS]: a population-based, multi-province platform for comprehensive pharmacovigilance
    $ 1,220,175
  • van den Bosch, Matilda
    Born to be Wise: Impact of Modifiable Early-life Environmental Exposures on the Health and Development of Children
    $ 351,900
  • Vedam, Saraswathi
    Giving Voice to Mothers; Measuring access to high quality, respectful maternity care in Canada
    $ 883,575
  • Winstanley, Catharine A
    The effects of reward cues on risky decision making: the role of dopamine and relevance to addiction
    $ 612,000
  • Wyatt, Alexander W
    Predicting therapy resistance in castration-resistant prostate cancer with circulating tumor DNA
    $ 516,375
  • Yong, Paul
    Sexual pain in endometriosis: role of somatic mutations and local neurogenesis
    $ 976,905
  • Zeng, Haishan
    Real-time Endoscopic Raman Spectroscopy for Improving Dysplasia/Colorectal Cancer Detection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
    $ 508,725
  • Zhou, Youwen
    Role of CLEC12B+ macrophages in the pathogenesis of vitiligo and melanoma
    $ 745,875

Bridge Grants 

A further six projects recieved $600,000 through bridge grants.

  • Hunt, Michael A 
    Shoe insoles designed to target foot and knee symptoms in people with knee osteoarthritis: A randomized controlled study
    $100,000
  • Nabi, Ivan R 
    Caveolin-1 regulation of focal adhesion tension and the breast cancer cell response to matrix stiffness
    $100,000
  • Seamans, Jeremy K 
    How is anxiety represented in the anterior cingulate cortex?
    $100,000
  • Verchere, Bruce C 
    Islet macrophages: regulators of beta cell function in health and diabetes
    $100,000
  • Wellington, Cheryl L 
    Precision Fluid Biomarkers of Traumatic Brain Injury
    $100,000
  • Wilson, David R 
    Development, assessment and application of a new method for characterizing degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis in the symptomatic upright posture.
    $100,000