March 31, 2006 - Issue Fifteen
:: Institute Investigators Awarded CFI Leaders Funding On March 27, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) formally announced the recipients of its Leaders Opportunity Fund. Congratulations to CFRI investigators Drs. Angela Devlin, Steven Miller and Stuart Turvey who were successful in the competition. Each will receive $100,000 in CFI funding, which represents 40% of the total cost for each infrastructure project.* Dr. Devlin, who is with the institute’s Nutrition research program, will use the funding to purchase equipment, such as a DNA pyrosequencer, for the Nutritional Epigenomics Facility. Dr. Miller, with Neurobiology & Mental Health, will direct his funding towards an MRI-compatible incubator, which he’ll use in his research studying brain injury in infants. Dr. Turvey, of the Infectious & Inflammatory Diseases research program, will purchase equipment needed to outfit the Children’s Innate Immunity Research Facility, through which he’ll continue his studies of innate immunity and Toll-like receptors. The Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF) was launched in October 2005, and replaces the New Opportunities Fund. It is designed to assist universities in attracting excellent faculty as well as retaining the very best of today and tomorrow’s leading researchers for Canada. The LOF offers universities the opportunity to acquire infrastructure for their research faculty to undertake cutting-edge research. Candidates must be recognized leaders in their field of research, or show promise of becoming research leaders. They must be engaged in, or embarking on, an innovative research program for which the infrastructure is essential and which will provide an enriched research training environment. The $23.6 million investment announced by CFI will benefit 145 researchers at 35 institutions from coast to coast. Funding is awarded through the country’s universities. 14 University of British Columbia applicants were successful in the competition – more than any other university. The UBC application deadline for the next competition is April 21. *(Notification of matching funds for the projects is still pending. With the matching funds, the three projects are worth approximately $1 million.) |
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| :: Provincial Goverment Funds MSFHR Through to 2009 CFRI extends its congratulations to the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), which on March 13 celebrated its fifth anniversary, and which also recently received an allocation of $70 million from the BC government. Together with a $30 million installment received in 2005, this represents an up-front investment of $100 million to support MSFHR activities through 2009. This is a significant endorsement from the BC government in support of the continuation and expansion of MSFHR’s capacity-building programs and initiatives. To date, the MSFHR has committed more than $130 million towards the support of health research in the province: • Overall, more than $66 million has gone to support 150 Career Investigators; 16 of those Career Investigator awards, valued at $6,599,092, were to Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) researchers on the site of the Children’s & Women’s Health Centre of BC (Children’s & Women’s) • More than $23 million has been committed to support 472 Research Trainee awards; 44 of those health research trainees, who’ve received awards at a value of $2,110,281, are on the Children’s & Women’s site working with CFRI researchers; • $17.8 million has gone to support 25 research units through Research Unit Infrastructure funding; five CFRI research units have received $3,000,000 over the award terms. Dr. Geoff Hammond, CFRI’s Scientific Director, says, “Funding from the MSFHR has allowed the CFRI to leverage our resources in order to increase our research funding base and to offer an exceptional research training environment for the next generation of scientists who will drive the future of health research in British Columbia. In particular, the MSFHR Institutional Infrastructure Award has allowed CFRI to implement some critical capacity-building core resources that have had substantial impact in only two years.” A total of almost $15 million has been committed by MSFHR to support BC’s four major universities and four teaching hospitals. $1,765,920 in Institutional Infrastructure funding has been directed through CFRI to support a number of valuable infrastructure supports. Says Dr. Hammond, ”Support from the MSFHR funding envelope has enabled the CFRI’s Research & Education Services Office to expand its rich and innovative research training environment, which now serves more than 150 research trainees on site, and provides mechanisms to facilitate the recruitment of exceptional graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.” CFRI’S Research & Technology Development Office was also developed through MSFHR funding. “The Research & Technology Development Office based at the CFRI has been instrumental in increasing the external funding levels achieved by scientists, clinicians and health researchers at the Children’s and Women’s campus by at least 20% each year,” says Dr. Hammond. MSFHR has also committed $8 million to support eight designated health population networks. Through the Health Services & Policy Research Support Network (HSPRSN), more than $5.5 million has been committed to fund health authority capacity building, investigative teams and operating grants. |
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| :: Stuart Turvey Receives Clinician Scientist Award Congratulations to Dr. Stuart Turvey, of the CFRI Infectious & Inflammatory Diseases research program, who was recently awarded a Career Development Award from the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program. The Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program (CCHCSP) provides support for highly qualified child health clinician candidates to develop their requisite knowledge and skills for a career as an independent scientist in child health research. The CCHCSP is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategic Training Program in partnership with BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Sick Kids Foundation.
The CCHCSP program has four streams: Predoctoral, Postdoctoral, Career Development, and Rising Researcher Support Program Awards. Individuals funded through the program engage in research training and a core curriculum in one of the participating Child Health Research Training Centres of the CCHCSP. Research training is supervised by a research mentor and advisory committee and structured to facilitate excellence in research with an interdisciplinary focus. Ms. Kim Tomasson, CFRI Research Education Manager, says that there are 16 active participants from UBC in the program; these individuals participate in activities such as study groups, online discussion groups and educational retreats. Dr. Norm Rosenblum, Principal Investigator of the CCHCSP and Pediatric Nephrologist and Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, was at the Child & Family Research Institute on March 21 to present on the program’s progress. The next application deadlines for the CCHCSP are April 1 and November 1. |
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| :: Research Ethics as a Cornerstone of Clinical Research The discussion of ethical issues was once considered the sole domain of philosophers, says CFRI Education Manager Kim Tomasson. But, she adds, the attendance levels at recent CFRI workshops on ethics demonstrate an increased awareness and appreciation of the importance of ethics in clinical care and the research process. Both the half-day workshop on subject-centred research on March 6, and a seminar the following day on ethical issues in genetics research (with presenter Dr. Charles Weijer, Canada Research Chair in Bioethics, and Associate Professor of Philosophy and Medicine, University of Western Ontario), were very well-received, says Ms. Tomasson. “Dr. Weijer was pleased by the number of people who attended. Researchers and trainees are now much more aware of the importance of ethics. There was a good cross group of participants at these events, all asking important and thoughtful questions. Our researchers take these issues very seriously.” Ms. Tomasson says CFRI will continue to promote an awareness of ethics and its importance to all research activities by holding future seminars and workshops. Dr. Anne Junker, CFRI Associate Director, Clinical Research says, “While we have established processes in place to consider ethical issues – for instance all research involving human subjects that is conducted here is required to undergo review and receive formal approval by the UBC Clinical Research Ethics Board – it is also valuable to have these workshops to engage clinicians and researchers and invite discussion.” An increased interest in research translation and clinical research also resulted in an excellent turnout for a half-day workshop on clinical trials in drug development. Drs. Bob Peterson and Bruce Carleton presented four one-hour modules covering a variety of issues related to clinical trials. “There was a large and diverse crowd, and so much interest in the topics that we plan to hold similar workshops at least twice a year,” says Ms. Tomasson. Already the CFRI Research Education office is responding to interest in clinical research-related topics – a half-day workshop on Good Clinical Practice Guidelines will be held May 10 (check the upcoming April issue of RR Online for further details or contact the Research Education office at reseduc@cw.bc.ca). |
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Dr. Michael Hayden, Director and Senior Scientist of CFRI’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, and graduate student Liam Brunham were recently interviewed by Radio Canada International’s SciTech program about their research that will be featured on the cover of the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Their study, “Intestinal ABCA1 directly contributes to HDL biogenesis in vivo,” published online on March 16, provides the first definitive proof that the intestine, together with the liver, produces nearly all of the body’s “good cholesterol”. In 2005, Dr. Hayden and colleagues demonstrated that the liver plays an important role in the production of “good cholesterol.” Dr. Hayden and collaborators used a gene-deletion approach in mice to demonstrate that the ABCA1 gene in the intestine plays a key role in the production of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol. This unexpected finding establishes the intestine as an important source of HDL. The discovery could lead to new therapeutic opportunities in patients with cardiovascular disease, which accounts for the death of more Canadians than any other disease (with more than 74,000 people dying of the disease in 2002.) More than half of all cardiovascular deaths are due to coronary heart disease (CHD), which is the leading cause of death in the U.S. A low level of “good cholesterol” (HDL) is a common abnormality in individuals with CHD, yet there are no approved treatments that significantly raise HDL levels. Dr. Jan Friedman, Head of the CFRI Genetics research theme area, was recently featured in a story by CTV news, about a study linking the folic acid fortification of enriched grain products to a dramatic drop in stroke deaths. Dr. Friedman is one of the authors of “Improvement in Stroke Mortality in Canada and the United States, 1990 to 2002” published in the March 14, 2006 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The researchers studied national death statistics in the United States and Canada from 1990 to 2002 to determine if fortification of flour affected stroke rate deaths. In 1988 the Canadian and American governments announced folic acid would be added to flour and grain products to reduce the number of children born with spina bifida and other malformations of the brain and spine. The researchers hypothesized increased folic acid concentration would also improve stroke mortality because of reduced levels of homocysteine in the blood; homocysteine levels are inversely associated with increased folate concentration. The researchers found that between 1990 and 1997, the rate of deaths from stroke in people over 40 decreased one per cent per year, on average, and more than five per cent per year from 1998 to 2000. Dr. Ron Barr’s research on shaken baby syndrome was recently highlighted in the weekly Vancouver newspaper Georgia Straight. The Head of the CFRI Centre for Community Child Health Research and Canada Research Chair in Community Child Health Research is a renowned authority on infant behaviour and expert on shaken baby syndrome prevention. |
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The Child & Family Research Institute warmly welcomes the following new staff: Ms. Virginia Lew has joined CFRI as Finance Manager. Ms. Lew is a Certified General Accountant previously with the Vancouver School Board. Her office is in room K4-115, Ambulatory Care Building, and she can be reached at 604-875-2000, ext. 6771 or vlew@cw.bc.ca. She'll provide assistance with management of day-to-day financial administration of research accounting and maintenance of reporting systems, preparing financial statements, preparing working paper schedules and draft financial statements for the annual audit, and providing orientation and advice to investigators and staff regarding finance and reporting. Mr. Husein Kaba arrived at CFRI the end of February as Systems Analyst. He will be working with Gurm Dhugga to ensure that CFRI researchers’ IS/IT needs are met. Mr. Husein's office is located in room 3109 at the institute. He can currently be reached via email at hkaba@cw.bc.ca. Mr. Husein's main roles will be to provide network administration and IS/IT support in the form of technical assistance to both Mac and PC users. Ms. Mickey Frenklach has been brought on as Project Manager/Coordinator for the CFRI building expansion. She will work on the project for the next 18 or so months. Ms. Frenklach comes courtesy of Stantec project management and has vast experience, including most recently as a project manager on a $190 million - 675 unit residential complex. Ms. Frenklach is trained as a structural engineer. She can be reached at mfrenklach@cw.bc.ca or 875-2000, ext. 6510. Her work area is located in room 3109.
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On March 22, the University of British Columbia announced Dr. Stephen Toope (PhD, LLB, BCL) has been appointed its 12th President and Vice-Chancellor. Dr. Toope, who is currently President of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, succeeds Dr. Martha Piper, who will complete nine years of service on June 30. Dr. Toope was selected following an international search and on the unanimous recommendation of a 21-person search committee. Dr. Toope, a former dean of the Faculty of Law at McGill University, is a scholar specializing in human rights, public international law and international relations. He will also hold a UBC academic position as a tenured professor of Law. |
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Sheila Innis' Achievements Recognized Through UBC Killam Prize Dr. Sheila Innis, head of the CFRI Nutrition Research Program and Professor in the UBC Department of Pediatrics, has been named one of the winners of the 2005 UBC Killam Research Prizes. The UBC Killam Research Prizes, established in 1986, are awarded annually to up to 10 top campus researchers in recognition of their outstanding research and scholarly contributions. All fields of research are included. Award recipients were acknowledged at the UBC Celebrate Research Gala held March 9. |
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CFRI Trainee Achievement Awards - Call for Nominations CFRI has issued its request for nominations for the 2006 trainee research awards. The annual awards recognize outstanding achievement in five categories: Masters (MSc) students; Doctoral (PhD) students; Postdoctoral Fellows; Residents; Clinical Subspecialty Residents or Fellows. Deadline for submitting a nomination form is Friday, May 19. The nomination package should include the 2006 Trainee Research Awards Nomination form (available on the CFRI training website), current CV of nominee, letter of support from nominating faculty member, and supporting documentation such as articles, abstracts, etc. Awards recipients will be honoured at an awards ceremony on Thursday, June 15 in the Chan Auditorium at CFRI. In addition, the top ranked individual in each category will have the opportunity to give an oral presentation on their research on Friday, June 16. For more information, contact Allison Rintoul, Director, Research & Education Services at arintoul@cw.bc.ca or 604-875-2448. |
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The University of British Columbia (UBC) is planning to move to a web-based document management system for its Research Ethics Board (REB) Review this summer. Once in place, only electronic documents submitted through the Researcher Information System (RISe) will be accepted. All departments and research groups are encouraged to prepare by making document scanning facilities as widely available as possible, as all necessary documents, including sponsor protocols, consent documents, investigators’ brochures, and adverse event reports must be submitted in electronic format. Indication of approval or acceptance of documents will be done by logging on to the RISe system. Currently, the UBC REBs process tens of thousands of documents annually, and managing, tracking and retrieving all these documents through only a paper system have become unfeasible. In addition to eliminating the need to make multiple paper copies of submission to the REB (and saving UBC researchers and administrators over a million sheets of paper annually), the move to an electronic system will streamline processes for both researchers and REB staff – allowing researchers more time for their research, and REB staff more time to help researchers with advice and guidance. RISe is already in use for all applications to the UBC Animal Care Committee, and the UBC Office of Research Services intends to eventually use RISe to facilitate all administrative processes involved in grant submissions and funding. |
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Research Canada Embarks on 2006 Advocacy Campaign This February, health research advocacy organization Research Canada: An Alliance for Health Discovery embarked on its 2006 Winter/Spring Advocacy Campaign. The campaign includes a formal letter to all Members of Parliament (MPs), meetings with key Ministers who sit on the Planning and Priorities Committee, and its first national public opinion poll. Recommendations in the letter to MPs included that the government make a multi-year commitment to increase the budget of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) by $300 million over the next three years, commit $1 billion to the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) by 2010, and continue investing in Genome Canada. Research Canada representatives are also meeting with as many new MPs as possible, to inform them of the benefits of investing in health research: healthier Canadians, a more cost-effective and efficient health care system, a stronger economy with more jobs, and making Canada a magnet for world-class talent. This year, the organization will also undertake its first national public opinion poll to gauge Canadians' understanding of, and attitudes about, health research. CFRI Executive Director Dr. Stuart MacLeod, who sits on the Board of Research Canada, says, “Research Canada provides a much needed focal point for research organizations’ efforts to raise the profile of health research provincially and nationally.” Research Canada evolved from the Council for Health Research in Canada (CHRC) in 2005. Incorporation of the new organization allowed it to broaden its mandate and its membership. Membership is drawn from all sectors dedicated to increasing investments in health research, including leading health research institutes, national health charities, hospitals, regional health authorities, universities, private industry and others. Research Canada's new website is at http://www.rc-rc.ca |
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