SHRF Launches First Saskatchewan Fund for Research Groups at the U of S

Posted March 10, 2004


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Wednesday, March 10, 2004 2004-03-18-OTHER

SHRF Launches First Saskatchewan Fund for Research Groups

SASKATOON - The Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) has launched
a new capacity-building matching funding program that encourages health
researchers from a variety of disciplines to form research groups.

The first of its kind in Saskatchewan, SHRF's Research Group Facilitation
Grant Program competition resulted in five grants worth $500,000 to address
issues as far ranging as new treatments for diseases such as diabetes,
cancer, heart disease, immune disorders, infectious disease, and epilepsy
and other brain disorders.

The program is a partnership with universities. SHRF contributes 40 per cent
of funds and the researchers' university contributes 60 per cent. The
$200,000 committed in this first round by SHRF has been matched by $300,000
from the University of Saskatchewan. (A backgrounder on successful groups is
attached.)

Over the years, experts have recommended development of research groups.
University Coordinator of Health Research Bruce Waygood said, "The funding
opportunity provided by SHRF has been a critical and invaluable element in
providing a focus for the development of new health research groups."

A research group consists of active researchers with common interests who
study matters associated with the human health sciences, the health-related
social sciences or other human health-related fields of study and who are
interested in establishing a longer-term association with each other that
will benefit their research productivity and competitiveness.

In addition to encouraging and facilitating formation of new research
groups, the program is intended to advance strategic directions for health
research within the home institution or the province, help increase national
funding for health research in Saskatchewan, and enhance the capacity for
and quality of research in health research generally in Saskatchewan.

SHRF CEO June Bold said, "Our program is intended to bring top researchers
together in stimulating group environments where they can more readily share
resources and exchange ideas. The outcome should be a stronger health
research environment overall. We hope to see more federal research grant
money flowing to the province, as a result, and more students excited about
working in health and health research in Saskatchewan."

Peer Review Committee Chair Tom Wishart said of the selection process, "We
used experts from outside the province to make judgments about the quality
of the proposals. We used the standard format for reviewing proposals, and
the bar was set fairly high. Though the funded groups differ in terms of
their stages of development, the committee considered all of the funded
groups to have submitted strong applications."

Research supported must be in a field of human health research, defined
broadly as encompassing biomedical science, clinical research, health
services and systems research, and research on the cultural, social, and
environmental determinants of population health.

-30-

FOR MORE INFORMATION

University of Saskatchewan contact:
Kathryn Warden
Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
www.usask.ca/research


SHRF contact:
Suzanne Cornforth
SHRF Communications
253-111 Research Drive
Atrium, Innovation Place
Saskatoon, SK S7N 3R2
(306) 664-2723
(306) 975-1688
scornforth@shrf.ca
www.shrf.ca


____________________________________________________
Descriptions of 2004 SHRF Funded Research Groups

Immunology Research Group
2004-05 $20,000
2005-06 $20,000

Peter Bretscher, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of
Medicine, and John Gordon, Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Western
College of Veterinary Medicine, U of S.

Members (all from U of S): J. Ellis, V. Gerdts, P. Griebel, D. Haines, C.
Havele, A. Rosenberg, B. Singh, H. Tabel, S. Van den Hurk, K. West, and K.
Williams.

This group has a history of previous collaborative work on tumor immunology,
allergies, vaccination against tuberculosis, and understanding what kind of
immune response can protect against the viruses that cause hepatitis C and
AIDS. The group shares a common interest in how immunology affects many
areas of health, including allergy, infectious diseases, cancer,
transplantation and autoimmunity, such as autoimmune diabetes. Autoimmunity
reflects the unusual situation where the immune system attacks part of the
body of which it is a part. The Group wants to look at specific themes like
understanding what is or is not protective vaccination and immunotherapy,
treatment and prevention of allergic disease, immunotherapy for tumors and
the prevention and treatment of autoimmune disorders such autoimmune
diabetes.

Neural Systems and Plasticity Group
2004-05 $20,000
2005-06 $20,000

Michael Corcoran, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, U of S College of
Medicine

Members (all from U of S except where noted otherwise): G. Binsted, M.
Crossley, R. Doucette, T. Fisher, J. Gray, R. Griebel, M. Gupta, D.
Hannesson (University of Regina), L. Kalynchuk, A. Kirk, G. Muir, A.
Nazarali, P. Paterson, D. Saucier, and X. Zhang.

Neuroscience deals with the structure and function of the nervous system. It
has become increasingly evident that an understanding of the function of the
nervous system at the level of cells and molecules is necessary for
understanding the function of the nervous system in health and disease.
The group is interested in a variety of neurological disorders, including
epilepsy, recovery from damage to the brain and spinal cord, and stroke.
There is also interest in ageing, in brain development, and in the
mechanisms of learning and memory. Ultimately the formation of the Group
should enable the researchers to identify new areas of collaboration that,
by increasing our understanding of brain function and brain disorders, could
lead to new and more effective treatments.


Cancer Proteomics Group
2004-05 $19,978
2005-06 $19,978
John DeCoteau, Department of Pathology, and Ron Geyer, Department of
Biochemistry, U of S College of Medicine

Members (all from U of S): W. Dong, R. Sharma, T. Kusalik, C. Zhang, A.
Ross, and D. Sheridan.

The Cancer Proteomics group aims to clarify the molecular mechanisms of
cancer promotion and progression using systematic approaches to analyze the
large sets of genes and proteins from patient tissues, cells, and serum.
Ultimately, the research of the Cancer Proteomics Group aims to improve
patient diagnosis, treatment and survival by refining cancer
classifications, by developing new prognostic and predictive markers to
guide therapy decisions, and by identifying proteins that may represent
novel targets for designing drugs and therapeutic antibodies. Outcomes from
the Cancer Proteomics Group studies will provide economic benefits by
providing novel protein targets for diagnostic tests and for therapeutic
drug and antibody development.

Molecular Design Group
2004-05 $20,000
2005-06 $20,000

Louis Delbaere and Peter Howard (Acting Leader), Department of Biochemistry,
U of S College of Medicine.

Members (all from U of S): H. Bull, H. Goldie, P. Grochulski, T. Haas, K.
Hamilton, H. Iwai, M. Loewen, Y. Luo, S. Moore, D. Palmer, D. Sanders, and
J. Yang.

This group is truly multidisciplinary, with members from Medicine, Arts and
Science and Pharmacy and Nutrition, as well as scientists from the Canadian
Light Source and National Research Council's Plant Biotechnology Institute.
Our major research themes are signaling networks and their regulation, and
enzyme structure/function relationships. Both involve identifying the three
dimensional forms of the molecules that make up living cells. Information
of this kind is critical to understanding both normal and abnormal cellular
functions, which in turn is critical in the understanding and treatment of
virtually all diseases. Learning more about this area will lead to new drug
therapeutics and diagnostic kits for the treatment, prevention and early
detection of diseases that affect Saskatchewanians, including infectious
diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's,
diabetes, and immune disorders.


Cardiovascular Group
2004-05 $20,000
2005-06 $20,000

Rui Wang, Department of Physiology, U of S College of Medicine

Full members (all from U of S): V. Gopel, L. Hiebert, J. Kalra, E. Krol, P.
Lee, J.R. McNeill, M. Pato, K. Prasad, A. Qureshi, J. Thornhill, T. Wilson,
A. Wollin, and L. Wu. Associate members: T. Hurst, A. Kakadekar, D. Quest,
B. Reeder, N. West, P. Yu, and X. Zhang.

The Cardiovascular Research Group (CVRG) consists of 23 researchers from
College of Medicine, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, College of
Pharmacy and Nutrition, and College of Nursing. The goals of CVRG are to
promote collaborative multidisciplinary cardiovascular research at the U of
S; build capacity in cardiovascular research through training and
recruitment; and promote and advance cardiovascular wellness.
The common research theme of CVRG is to determine how the cardiovascular
function is regulated by a complicated cellular information network.
Research progress of this Group will shed light on the mechanisms of many
cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and
stroke.

For further information of the organization and academic activities of this
Group, please visit: http://www.usask.ca/healthsci/cardiovascular