Major projects propelled to outstanding results
At the top from left to right: Yasaman Aghazadeh, Nabil G. Seidah, François Robert, Emilia Liana Falcone
At the bottom from left to right: Hideto Takahashi, Woong-Kyung Suh, Jacques Drouin, Mathieu Ferron
The Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) is proud to highlight the exceptional success of its researchers in the latest Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grants competition, with the awarding of six Project grants, plus two bridge grants. The IRCM applications reached an impressive 25% success rate (and 33% including bridge grants).
Reflecting the diversity of work carried out in IRCM’s laboratories, these research projects will thus unfold their full potential to open the way to therapeutic avenues for important diseases. They will also address various areas of human understanding of science, including knowledge of the mechanisms involved in diabetes, the immune response, autism, long COVID, and the regulation of gene expression.
The selected projects and their huge potential
- Dr. Yasaman Aghazadeh, for her work Recapitulating beta cell development adjacent to the islet vascular niche to advance beta cell replacement therapies for type 1 diabetes.
- Dr. Emilia Liana Falcone, for her work Role of the gut microbiota and its derivatives on the causes and complications of long COVID.
- Dr. Nabil G. Seidah, for his work The unique and complementary functions of the proteins PCSK7 and PCSK9 in cardiometabolic health and disease.
- Dr. Hideto Takahashi, for his work Molecular bridge for the specificity of brain cell inhibition and its dysfunction in autism.
- Dr. Woong-Kyung Suh, for his work Novel helper T cells controlling antibody production.
- Dr. François Robert, for his work The Roles of IDRs in the Function of Cdk8 in Transcription.
The IRCM is proud to underline that Dr. Falcone was also granted the Bhagirath Singh Early Career Award in Infection and Immunity. This prize is given annually to the highest ranked new investigator in the field of infection and immunity, in the Spring and Fall Project Grant competitions.
In addition, bridge grants were awarded to Dr. Jacques Drouin, for his work How do pioneer factor open chromatin? and to Dr. Mathieu Ferron, for his work Role of the vitamin K reductase VKORC1L1 in NAFLD and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The IRCM congratulates all its researchers and warmly thanks all those who reviewed their colleagues' funding applications as part of the internal review process. We also thank the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
