Nearly $20 million has been awarded to researchers with McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) Spring 2023 Project Grant competition.

Over 20 Health Sciences research teams have secured critical funding to advance our understanding of health and medicine and to address critical health issues, including tree nut allergies and the impact of cannabis exposure to babies.

The Project Grant program is designed to capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes.

“McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences has again proven itself as a research leader with a success rate that is above the national average,” said Jonathan Bramson, vice-dean of Research for the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University.

Congratulations to:

Canadian Alliance of Healthy Hearts and Minds: Dissecting the Pathways Linking Ectopic Adipose Tissue to Cognitive Dysfunction ($1,617,976)
Sonia Anand, Department of Medicine

A Clinical Prediction Model for the Diagnosis of Immune Thrombocytopenia ($120,000)
Donald Arnold, Department of Medicine

GRP78 as a driver and therapeutic target of atherothrombotic cardiovascular disease ($803,250)
Richard Austin and Peter Gross, Department of Medicine

Multigenerational caregiving at home for a relative with dementia amidst COVID-19: A qualitative multiple case study of the new immigrant South Asian experience ($501,076)
Pamela Baxter, Maureen Dobbins, Susan Jack and Iqra Bhatti (MSc student), School of Nursing; Salima Hemani, Department of Medicine; Anthea Innes, Faculty of Social Sciences

The TACtful Trial: A first-in-human multi-centre trial of BCMA specific T-cell antigen coupler infusion, generated from cryopreserved G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma ($3,056,176)
Jonathan Bramson, Department of Medicine; Hira Mian, Amaris Balitsky and Courtney Coschi, Department of Oncology

Low dose ColchicinE in pAtients with peripheral artery DiseasE to address residual vascular Risk (LEADER-PAD): A multinational randomized trial ($4,022,754)
Noel Chan and John Eikelboom, Department of Medicine

A pilot randomized, double-placebo controlled trial of sublingual or oral immunotherapy for tree nut allergy (TRADE) ($470,475)
Derek Chu, Department of Medicine

ProNGF and Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease ($1,239,300)
Margaret Fahnestock, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences; Sam Sadeghi, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Faculty of Science)

Early Sedation with Dexmedetomidine in Older Ventilated Critically Ill Patients (SPICE-IV): A Randomised Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial ($823,140)
Kimberley Lewis and Waleed Alhazzani, Department of Medicine

Translational studies of heparin in sepsis-associated immunothrombosis ($655,696)
Patricia Liaw and Alison Fox-Robichaud, Department of Medicine

Leveraging an Existing Longitudinal Observational Cohort to Understand the Impacts of Cannabis Legalization and the COVID-19 Pandemic on Alcohol and Cannabis Use in At-risk Young Adults ($749,700)
James MacKillop, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences

Exploring the role of extravascular factor IX in hemostasis in hemophilia B ($680,850)
Davide Matino, Colin Kretz, Peter Gross and Alfonso Iorio, Department of Medicine; Sam Sadeghi, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

A Phase III Non-Inferiority Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of Fixed-Duration Daratumumab Versus Continuous Daratumumab Among Transplant Ineligible Older Adults with Newly-Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma($3,056,172)
Hira Mian and Gregory Pond, Department of Oncology

Dial-Bicarb Trial: Lower vs. Higher Dialysate Bicarbonate Concentration in Patients Receiving Hemodialysis ($1,682,998)
Amber Molnar, Department of Medicine

Mechanisms of weight loss due to dual GIP GLP-1 receptor agonism with tirzepatide compared to semaglutide ($648,397)
Zubin Punthakee, Department of Medicine; Katherine Mary Morrison, Department of Pediatrics

Cannabis exposure in utero: impact on the developmental programming of the gut-brain axis ($765,000)
Elyanne Ratcliffe, Department of Pediatrics

Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome: Establishing a Clinical Diagnostic Test and an International Registry ($1,071,000)
Jason Roberts, Department of Medicine

Therapeutic targeting of Purine metabolism in Brain metastases ($680,851)
Sheila Singh, Department of Surgery

Determining the most effective way to assess, prevent, and manage upper extremity impairment in breast cancer survivors: development and usability of the “StrongArms-Cancer” system ($164,476)
Jenna Smith-Turchyn, Julie Richardson and Tara Packham, School of Rehabilitation Science; Som Mukherjee, Department of Oncology; Christopher Anand, Faculty of Engineering

Generative machine learning for narrow spectrum antibiotic discovery against Acinetobacter baumannii ($841,500)
Jonathan Stokes, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Discovery and characterization of anti-infective microbial natural products ($956,250)
Gerard Wright, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Bariatric surgery for the Reduction of cArdioVascular Events randomized controlled (BRAVE) trial: vanguard phase for assessment of feasibility ($531,064)
Salim Yusuf and Jorge Wong, Department of Medicine

Visit the CIHR website to learn more about the Project Grant program.