“I congratulate these successful Rady Faculty researchers and their partner networks whose work is contributing to the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right here in Manitoba and around the world,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, UM’s vice-president (research and international). 

“It is wonderful to see Manitoba leading the nation with the highest average and median grant values, a testament to the outstanding quality of research conducted at the University of Manitoba.”  

Dr. Peter Nickerson, vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, said that the funded projects in the Spring 2024 competition show the diversity of health research taking place across the faculty.  

“The researchers are examining a wide range of topics – from new drug combinations to treat blood cancer to determining how the communication between astrocytes and neurons occurs. This CIHR funding is crucial for advancing science and will inevitably have an impact on the health of patients both locally and globally,” Nickerson said.  

One of the 11 Rady Faculty grant recipients is Dr. Jude Uzonna, professor of immunology at the Max Rady College of Medicine and vice-dean (research) at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. He and his team received $1,005,976 over five years to study what could one day lead to new treatments for leishmaniasis.  

Leishmaniasis is an understudied parasitic disease spread by sand flies that can cause skin sores and even fatal damage to internal organs. The disease affects more than 12 million people worldwide, Uzonna said, and it’s starting to spread to non-endemic countries like Canada.  

“It’s coming,” he said. “It’s really coming because of global warming, increased immigration from endemic countries to Canada and soldiers coming back from peacekeeping duties. The numbers are growing, but if we can develop a vaccine for it, then it becomes a magic bullet used to prevent it.”  

The team has found that leishmaniasis triggers the production of a molecule called pentraxin 3 (PTX3) in infected people. PTX3 weakens a specific part of the immune system that normally helps fight the parasite, so Uzonna suggests that targeting PTX3 might be a good way to develop new treatments for the disease.  

This study aims to better understand the role of PTX3 in the disease. It will also look at whether the level of PTX3 can predict if someone will benefit from treatment or not, which is important because the current drugs used can be toxic.  

“If we can show that PTX3 is causing a problem, then we can develop a molecule that can target and block PTX3 production. We can combine the molecule with a drug to make treatment more efficient and better. That will have a significant impact,” Uzonna said.  

Rady Faculty of Health Sciences CIHR project funding recipients 

Dr. Marissa Becker, professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine 

Grant: $100,000 (one year)  

Using a program science approach, Becker and the team will develop a deeper understanding of how physical, organizational, social and relational dimensions of place shape ecologies of risk and safety for adolescent girls and young women, female sex workers and their male sexual partners in Nairobi County, Kenya. This work will generate contextualized knowledge for prioritizing place-based strategies to optimize sexually transmitted and blood-borne infection prevention program coverage and address unmet needs. 

Dr. Sanjiv Dhingra, professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre 

Grant: $1,067,176 (five years)  

Dhingra will lead a study focused on understanding the reasons for rejecting transplanted donor-derived mesenchymal stem cells in the heart. This research will help to develop strategies to prevent rejection and improve the survival of implanted stem cells in the heart. 

Dr. Jody Haigh, professor of pharmacology and therapeutics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Research Institute in Oncology and hematology, CancerCare Manitoba 

Grant: $1,071,000 (five years) 

Haigh aims to identify new drug combinations to treat aggressive forms of blood cancer and to determine ways to avoid drug resistance to these treatments that can sometimes occur during cancer therapy. This project will be important in identifying and confirming new drug approaches that can be used in personalized medical care for childhood and adult blood cancer patients in Canada. 

Dr. Julie Lajoie, assistant professor of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, and Francis A. Plummer Professorship in Global Infectious Diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine 

Grant: $1,132,200 (five years)  

Lajoie and the team will follow female sex workers from Nairobi, Kenya, who are using an injectable contraception called depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) for six months and determine the immune activation and inflammatory profile in the blood and at the female genital tract. They will also examine whether using DMPA impacts the capacity to respond to previously exposed viruses and affects the cells’ capacity to respond to the stress hormone cortisol. 

Dr. Aaron Marshall, department head and professor of immunology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology, CancerCare Manitoba 

Grant: $1,151,326 (five years) 

Marshall’s project deals primarily with B lymphocytes, the immune system cells responsible for producing antibodies. The research aims to define the cellular reprogramming signals that either switch on or switch off B lymphocytes and how these networks are altered in chronic autoimmune disease. 

Dr. James Nagy, professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine 

Grant: $898,876 (five years)  

Using experimental mouse models, Nagy and the team will determine how spinal neurons, called V0c neurons, contribute to force level control in the limbs. He expects the results will challenge current textbook knowledge on force generation during movement and reveal new concepts on how command signals to motoneurons are converted to desired levels of muscle activity. 

Dr. Zulma Rueda, associate professor of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in Sexually Transmitted Infection – Resistance and Control 

Grant: $688,501 (four years)  

Rueda will lead a study that will generate a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the knowledge, attitudes and practices about HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) among people living with HIV and people who face disproportionate risk of acquiring HIV/STBBI (people experiencing houselessness, people who inject drugs) and health and service providers in Manitoba. 

Dr. Tabrez Siddiqui, associate professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine, Health Sciences Centre; researcher, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba 

Grant: $1,143,676 (five years)  

Neurexins are essential proteins that help nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other, and changes in the genes for these proteins can increase the risk of developing autism. Siddiqui’s research highlights the possibility of fixing certain brain communication issues by targeting specific proteins, offering hope for new treatments. 

Dr. Jillian Stobart, assistant professor, College of Pharmacy 

Grant: $944,776 (five years)  

Stobart’s project aims to determine how the communication between astrocytes and neurons occurs. This will be the first evidence that astrocytes can change brain circuits responsible for the sense of touch and is important because astrocyte-neuron communication changes in disease. Problems with astrocytes and their communication with neurons could be the missing link in these disorders. 

Dr. Geoffrey Tranmer, associate professor, College of Pharmacy  

Grant: $730,576 (five years)  

Tranmer and the team plan to create new and improved versions of the ALS drug edaravone and test the drug-like properties of these molecules in test tubes and ALS animal models. This will allow the team to determine and optimize the drug properties of the new ALS drug and will enable them to develop an optimized drug candidate ready for advanced clinical trials. 

The recently announced grants from the Fall 2022 funding round went to faculty members in medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

“This outstanding result reflects the high calibre of our health researchers,” said UM Vice-President (Research and International) Dr. Mario Pinto.

“This funding will enable UM laboratory scientists to advance knowledge in areas such as cardiovascular health, spinal cord injury, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Rett syndrome. Rady Faculty investigators will also conduct cutting-edge data research, as well as vital studies aimed at supporting mental health and well-being.”

The largest grant of more than $1.4 million went to a team led by Dr. Linda Larcombe, an associate professor of internal medicine, community health sciences and medical microbiology/infectious diseases.

Larcombe is an anthropologist whose research focuses on First Nations history, health and collaborative research. Her grant will fund a three-year project called “Connecting with cultural heritage: Land-based learning and healing through archeology in northern Manitoba.”

The study team will create and evaluate a land-based healing and cultural heritage program that will enable youth to explore archeological sites and artifacts reflecting the thousands of years of Inuit, Dene and Cree presence along the coast of Hudson Bay at Churchill, Man.

“We will determine if cultural heritage in land-based healing programming can contribute to wellness and leadership development of Inuit, Dene and Cree youth,” the researchers wrote.

Here’s a look at the other funded projects. More information on the studies and research teams is available here.

Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, distinguished professor, psychiatry, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

In Chochinov’s study, health-care professionals will hold conversations with cancer patients, guided by the Patient Dignity Question: “What do I need to know about you as a person to take the best care of you possible?” The study will measure how this affects the experiences of both patients and care providers.

Dr. Ian Dixon, professor, physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; principal investigator, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital

Grant: $1,040,400 (five years)

Dixon’s project centres on proteins and processes involved in skin wound healing, with the goal of developing treatments to speed wound closure and reduce scarring. The study will investigate how age and sex affect dermal healing. It will also examine the healing of skin damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation.

Dr. Soheila Karimi, professor, physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM)

Grant: $1,136,025 (five years)

Neural stem cell therapy has exciting potential for patients with spinal cord injury, but it currently faces the challenge that the cells die after they are transplanted. Karimi’s project will test an experimental treatment aimed at optimizing the use of neural stem cells for repairing spinal cord injury.

Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor, medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $750,000 (five years)

Kindrachuk’s team will investigate the circulation and transmission of the monkeypox virus in wildlife in regions of Africa where the virus is endemic, as well as surrounding areas. They will also assess the potential impact of the virus on Canadian wildlife.

Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum, professor, physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in molecular cardiology; director, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre

Grant: $853,931 (five years)

Kirshenbaum’s project builds on the growing evidence of a link between body-clock disruptions – like those experienced by shift workers and people with health issues such as sleep apnea – and cardiac dysfunction. He will investigate the relationship between circadian disruption and heart attack.

Dr. Lisa Lix, professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in methods for electronic health data quality

Grant: $508,725 (three and a half years)

Lix’s study focuses on using anonymized health-care databases to construct personal and family disease histories for chronic illnesses, such as heart disease. Researchers will compare two methods for creating disease histories, using data from Manitoba and Denmark, and assess their value for predicting disease risk.

Dr. Suresh Mishra, professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Mishra will explore the role of cholesterol in the body’s production of steroid hormones. He aims to develop new ways to treat altered steroid hormone levels, which can lead to infertility and illnesses such as inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Neeloffer Mookherjee, professor, internal medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Mookherjee’s team will look at differences in how rheumatoid arthritis (RA) develops in males and females. In addition to using a mouse model, her team will study human samples from close relatives of RA patients, who may show changes in their blood before the appearance of clinical RA symptoms.

Dr. Christopher Pascoe, assistant professor, physiology and pathophysiology; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Pascoe’s project aims to better understand how diabetes in pregnancy increases the risk of asthma in offspring. He will examine how maternal diabetes increases the twitchiness of airway smooth muscle in the lungs of offspring, and whether a specific enzyme co-ordinates changes in this muscle.

Dr. Mojgan Rastegar, professor, biochemistry and medical genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $990,675 (five years)

Rastegar has been working for more than 10 years to understand the pathobiology of Rett syndrome, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder in young children. This study will investigate the molecular and cellular abnormalities of the brain in this syndrome. The goal is to pave the way for therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Emily Rimmer, assistant professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $307,530 (three years)

Rimmer’s project is a pilot study in preparation for an international randomized controlled trial of therapeutic plasma exchange as a treatment for septic shock. The researchers see potential for this treatment to save lives by removing harmful substances from the blood and replacing missing blood components.

Dr. Zulma Rueda, associate professor, medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in sexually transmitted infection – resistance and control

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Rueda’s team will look at the incidence and impact of methamphetamine use and concurrent sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections in people living with HIV in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. One of the study’s goals is effective knowledge-sharing among people living with HIV, service providers and communities.

Dr. Geoffrey Tranmer, associate professor, College of Pharmacy

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Tranmer will focus on edaravone, one of the few drugs approved to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In its current form, this medication has many limitations. Tranmer’s team plans to develop improved versions of edaravone and test them in order to optimize the drug and prepare it for advanced clinical trials.

Dr. Sonia Udod, associate professor, College of Nursing

Grant: $450,000 (three years)

Udod’s research will examine how health system leaders have adapted in response to the pandemic. She aims to determine how leaders can build their own and nurses’ psychological health and well-being to ensure a healthy workforce and organizational resilience at hospitals during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

Dr. Roberta Woodgate, distinguished professor, College of Nursing; Canada Research Chair in child and family engagement in health research and healthcare; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $776,475 (five years)

Woodgate’s youth-centred, mixed-methods study aims to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health and well-being of Manitoba youth who have come of age during the pandemic. The findings will inform recommendations to improve services and supports for this population.

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Woodgate’s team will also conduct a youth-centered, arts-based longitudinal study that will result in the creation and evaluation of a toolkit. This toolkit, co-created by youth, will be designed for use in schools to foster social connectedness and optimize youth mental health and well-being.