U of S Health Researchers Awarded $5.6M
Posted April 18, 2002
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 18, 2002
U of S Health Researchers Awarded $5.6M
SASKATCHEWAN (April 18, 2002) The Government of Canada today announced
that $5.6 million will go to support 12 research projects at the University
of Saskatchewan. The announcement was made by Ralph Goodale, Government
House Leader, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) President
Dr. Alan Bernstein, on behalf of Health Minister the Honourable Anne
McLellan. This funding is part of the $180 million CIHR investment in
health research announced by Minister McLellan in Alberta on April 3, 2002.
"Thanks to Government of Canada investments the University of Saskatchewan
has quickly become a major player on the health research front," said
Minister Goodale. "Combined with other federal investments such as the
Canadian Light Source synchrotron project, Canada Foundation for Innovation
contributions and the recently announced support for indirect costs, the U
of S has a solid research foundation on which to build."
The grants provide a further boost to Saskatchewan's health research
community. Over the last two years, CIHR funding to the University of
Saskatchewan has increased by over 65%, from $2.6 million in 1999-2000 to
over $4.3 million in 2001-2002. As well, the number of funded researchers
has grown from 46 to 67 over the same time period.
"The cadre of talented health researchers at the University of Saskatchewan
is growing at an encouraging rate," said Dr. Bernstein. "I am proud that
increasing CIHR investments are playing a major role in expanding
Saskatchewan's health research capacity."
"The University of Saskatchewan has doubled its applications, doubled its
success rate and more than tripled its total funding," said U of S President
Peter MacKinnon. "Our faculty are building research success that will
improve the health of Canadians, bring new insights and cutting-edge
knowledge to the classroom experience, and help create a critical mass of
health research expertise in Saskatchewan."
The research projects will be carried out over periods of from one to five
years and range across the full spectrum of health research. Projects funded
through today's announcement include:
- Michael Corcoran's work on assessing the anti-epileptic effects of a new
generation of cannabis-like compounds;
- Luis Melo's study of how the activity of a particular protein his team
discovered is regulated in heart attacks with the hopes of designing a safe
and efficient gene therapy strategy for protecting the heart from damage due
to heart attack;
- John Gordon's study of how to reduce or eliminate symptoms and illnesses
arising from allergic asthma, ideally by inducing 'tolerance' to the
allergen;
- Philip Griebel's look into a new approach to inducing protective immunity
in newborn infants, work that could improve vaccine delivery and better
protect newborns against infectious disease, a major cause of death in
newborns;
- Wei Xiao's investigation of how defects in several genes become cancer
risk factors. The results could improve diagnosis and treatment for a
variety of cancers;
- Peter Bretscher's study of how the immune system decides whether or not to
fight foreign invaders and how it chooses to fight them;
- Robert McNeill's continuing work on the discovery that two hormones
interact in a unique way to increase blood pressure with the aim of
developing new drug treatments;
- Jonathan Dimmock's work to develop new anti-cancer drugs that are toxic to
cancer cells but spare the normal tissue;
- Henry Tabel's investigation of why our immune system is compromised or
rendered; ineffective when attacked by blood parasites such as African
trypanosomiasis or malaria;
- Venkat Gopalakrishnan's investigation of mechanisms that may contribute to
high blood pressure;
- Rui Wang's study of ion channels in blood vessels to better understand how
these channels act as a biological switch to relax blood vessels, with the
aim of preventing and treating high blood pressure; and
- Lorne Babiuk's research on improving vaccination rates among children
through new and innovative methods. His team aims to develop vaccines for
children and young animals that are easy to deliver such as using
needle-free methods. By improving compliance and the level of protection,
the team hopes to reduce the cost of disease burden on society and to
Canada's health care system. This $1.9 million grant will be funded through
CIHR's Institute of Infection and Immunity's Health Research Programs of
Excellence Program.
CIHR is Canada's premier 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.
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For more information, please contact:
Janet Weichel
CIHR, Communications
(613) 941-4563
Kathryn Warden
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
Farah Mohamed
Office of the Honourable Anne McLellan
(613) 957-0200
