Congratulations to the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) investigators and their teams who were awarded funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fall 2021 Project Grant competition. Our research community received around $6 million in new research grants as principal investigators or co-investigators.
Many of the investigators who were successful in this competition benefited from the expertise of Dr. Dawn McArthur, director, Research & Technology Development and the BCCHR Research & Technology Development Office (RTDO) team. On behalf of BCCHR, we would like to thank the RTDO’s Dr. Tamara English, senior research development facilitator; Mr. Eric Lussier, research development facilitator (BCCHR/WHRI); Ms. Rita Jekabsons, senior research development coordinator; and the RTDO grants assistants for their dedication and support.
BCCHR and WHRI investigators had a funding success rate of 42 per cent for full and priority announcement grants, compared to the national average of 26 per cent. With the success of the fall 2021 competition behind them, the RTDO team is already assisting with resubmissions for the spring 2022 competition.
View the CIHR summary of Fall 2021 Project Grant results.
Congratulations to:
CIHR Fall 2021 Project Grant recipients
Project Grants
Dr. Clare Beasley – Brain, Behaviour & Development
Project: “Association between Complement C4 and Synaptic Pathology in Schizophrenia”
Funding: $554,625/5 years
Dr. Alexander Beristain and Dr. Wendy Robinson – Healthy Starts
Project: “Placental sex as a biological determinant in trophoblast differentiation and function and trophoblast-directed immune activity“
Funding: $784,125/5 years
Dr. Kelly Brown and Dr. David Cabral – Childhood Diseases
Project: “Evaluating the utility of adult-defined prognostic biomarkers: Are they appropriate in childhood onset primary chronic vasculitis?“
Funding: $290,700/2 years
Dr. Tamara Cohen and Dr. Jean-Philippe Gouin (Concordia University) – Healthy Starts
Project: “Assessing the usability and acceptability of iCANPlate, a mobile dietary self-monitoring tool that aligns with Canada’s Food Guide: A multi-method study“
Funding: $378,675/5 years
Dr. Elizabeth Conibear – Childhood Diseases
Project: “Targeting the VPS13 family of lipid transport proteins to membrane contact sites“
Funding: $669,375/5 years
Dr. Patricia Janssen – Healthy Starts
Project: “Teaching by Texting to Promote Health Behaviours in Pregnancy“
WHRI and BCCHR co-investigators: Dr. Arianne Albert, Dr. Hamideh Bayrampour, Dr. Nichole Fairbrother, Dr. Sarah Munro, Dr. Wendy Norman and Dr. Regina Renner
Funding: $562,275/3 years
Dr. Dan Luciani – Childhood Diseases
Project: “The interplay of apoptosis proteins, mitochondria and premature senescence in beta-cell fate and diabetes“
Funding: $837,675/5 years
Dr. Sarah Munro (WHRI), Dr. Giuseppina Di Meglio (McGill University) and Dr. Wendy Norman – Healthy Starts
Project: “Storytelling about Options and Reproductive access for Youth (The STORY Project): A Pan-Canadian Integrated Knowledge Translation Study to Improve Contraception Health Services“
Funding: $749,700/4 years
Dr. Seth Parker – Healthy Starts
Project: “Understanding the requirements of alanine supply and demand in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma“
BCCHR co-investigator: Dr. Philipp Lange
Funding: $837,675/5 years
Priority Announcement
Dr. Blair Leavitt – Brain, Behaviour & Development
Project: “Lipid Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing for Neurological Disorders“
Funding: $100,000/1 year
Dr. Ted Steiner – Childhood Diseases
Project: “Exploring the potential of type-1 regulatory T cells in treatment and recovery from intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease“
BCCHR co-investigators: Dr. Megan Levings and Dr. Laura Sly
Funding: $100,000/1 year
Dr. Deborah Money (WHRI)
Project: “A Study of Reduced Dosing of the Nonavalent HPV Vaccine in Women Living with HIV“
WHRI and BCCHR co-investigators: Dr. Arianne Albert, Dr. Chelsea Elwood, Dr. Marette Lee, Dr. Elisabeth McClymont, Dr. Gina Ogilvie and Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Funding: $80,000/1 year
Dr. Aline Talhouk (WHRI/VCHRI), Dr. Michael Anglesio, Dr. Janet Hill (WHRI), Dr. Deborah Money (WHRI) and Dr. Anna Tinker (UBC) – Healthy Starts
Project: “Digital self-tracking for early detection and prevention of endometrial cancer during reproductive aging“
BCCHR co-investigator: Dr. Mohamed Ali Bedaiwy
Funding: $100,000/1 year
Dr. Paul Yong, Dr. Michael Anglesio, Dr. Amanda Howard (WHRI), Dr. Mohamed Ali Bedaiwy and Dr. Aline Talhouk (WHRI/VCHRI) – Healthy Starts
Project: “Clinical-biomarker predictors of outcome after endometriosis surgery“
BCCHR co-investigators: Dr. Gillian Hanley and Dr. Anna Lee
Funding: $100,000/1 year
Dr. Jill Zwicker – Brain, Behaviour & Development
Project: “Examining Prenatal and Perinatal Factors associated with Developmental Coordination Disorder in a Canadian Birth Cohort“
BCCHR co-investigators: Dr. Angela Devlin and Dr. Stuart Turvey
Funding: $75,000/1 year
