“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. 

Most of the 14 funded professors lead labs in the basic science departments of the medical college, such as immunology, physiology and pathophysiology, or biochemistry and medical genetics.

Their five-year discovery grants and one-year discovery launch supplements from NSERC total $545,000.

“Congratulations on obtaining these prestigious grants in support of cutting-edge science,” said Dr. Brian Postl, dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine and the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. “We are fortunate to have a wealth of experts at UM whose laboratory discoveries have exciting potential to benefit human health.

“These NSERC grants also make it possible for our professors in medicine to train a large number of undergraduate and graduate students in state-of-the-art research techniques.”

Here are the funded studies:

Dr. Heather Armstrong, assistant professor, internal medicine; Canada Research Chair in integrative bioscience; researcher, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM)

Discovery Grant: $28,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Armstrong’s team will focus on dietary fibres from agricultural products. They will examine how certain fibres alter microbial communities in the gut that are needed for the fermentation of fibre, and how this influences immune responses in the gut.

Dr. Robert Beattie, assistant professor, biochemistry and medical genetics

Discovery Grant: $37,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Beattie’s project centres on gene function in the normal embryonic development of brain cells in the cerebral cortex. His team will use new genetic technologies to examine molecular regulators of the proliferation of a specific kind of neural stem cell.

Dr. Britt Drögemöller, assistant professor, biochemistry and medical genetics; Canada Research Chair in pharmacogenomics and precision medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Discovery Grant: $37,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Drögemöller’s team will perform genomic analyses to identify novel genes and genetic pathways associated with variability in human hearing. They will also look at sex-specific auditory differences and how genetic pathways for hearing change as people age.

Dr. Jean-Eric Ghia, professor, immunology; researcher, CHRIM

Discovery Grant: $33,000

Ghia will examine the role of a stress protein in the gut microbiota and in smooth muscle contractions of the colon. In mice bred to lack this protein, his team will test whether a fecal microbiota transfer improves colonic muscle contraction.

Dr. Depeng Jiang, associate professor, community health sciences; researcher, CHRIM

Discovery Grant: $18,000

Jiang, a biostatistician, will develop new statistical models for multilevel data research by using a high-efficiency computer lab for statistical computations and simulations. These new models will provide researchers with new ways to understand their data.

Dr. Meaghan Jones, assistant professor, biochemistry and medical genetics; researcher, CHRIM

Discovery Grant: $31,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Jones will investigate how genes help cells to detoxify after exposure to dioxins, which are environmental pollutants. Her team aims to determine whether cells “remember” exposure to dioxins and mount a stronger response upon re-exposure, and whether this differs between embryos and adult mammals.

Dr. Oleg Krokhin, associate professor, internal medicine

Discovery Grant: $24,000

Krokhin, whose field is proteomics (the large-scale study of proteins), seeks to assist labs in separating peptides, which are produced when proteins are broken down. With the goal of advancing peptide separation science, his team will generate innovative tools and techniques.

Dr. Sam Kung, professor, immunology

Discovery Grant: $32,000

Kung’s project focuses on “natural killer” cells, which are important in maintaining immunity to viruses and tumors. His team will examine how a particular protein regulates natural killer cell biology, in part by studying mice that lack this protein.

Dr. Liam O’Neil, assistant professor, internal medicine; researcher, Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology

Discovery Grant: $28,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

O’Neil’s study centres on neutrophils, which are blood cells on the front line of the immune system. His team will investigate how neutrophils modify their release of proteins to improve their ability to neutralize invading pathogens.

Dr. Deanna Santer, assistant professor, immunology; GSK Endowed Research Chair in immunobiology of infectious diseases; researcher, CHRIM

Discovery Grant: $28,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Santer’s focus is type III interferons – proteins released by the immune system to fight viruses. Her team will study their signaling and receptor biology, illuminating processes such as what happens immediately after these interferons bind their receptor in individual immune cells.

Dr. Tabrez Siddiqui, associate professor, physiology and pathophysiology; principal investigator, Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine

Discovery Grant: $56,000

Siddiqui’s team will explore the role of synapse-organizing proteins in synapse development in the brain. They will investigate, for example, how these proteins govern brain lamination (cell layering) and plasticity, and how they control synapse numbers.

Dr. Galen Wright, assistant professor, pharmacology and therapeutics; Canada Research Chair in neurogenomics; principal investigator, Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine

Discovery Grant: $28,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Wright uses genomics to study DNA repair processes in the human brain. His team will use computational analyses and human stem cell-derived neural models to identify important DNA repair genes and explore the mechanisms underlying how they are regulated.

Dr. Jiuyong Xie, professor, physiology and pathophysiology

Discovery Grant: $32,000

Xie aims to understand how genes have evolved to produce diverse RNA and protein products through an innate process called “alternative pre-mRNA splicing.” His team will use state-of-the-art techniques to uncover molecular details, helping to predict how splicing will evolve in the future.

Dr. Frederick Zeiler, associate professor, surgery; Rudy Falk Clinician-Scientist Professor

Discovery Grant: $33,000; Discovery Launch Supplement: $12,500

Zeiler will develop new techniques for continuous rapid assessment of cerebral autoregulation (control of blood flow to the brain by cerebral blood vessels) in healthy humans. This will allow for analysis of variations in brain regions and differences based on age and sex.

A total of more than $12 million was awarded in the form of project and bridge grants, with study durations ranging from one to five years.

“Congratulations to all the dedicated UM researchers who were successful in this Spring 2021 funding competition,” said UM Vice-President (Research and International) Dr. Digvir Jayas.

“These professors have shown leadership in their fields and are advancing knowledge in several important areas of Indigenous health, as well as in illnesses such as kidney disease, heart disease, HIV, diabetes, cancer and psychiatric disorders.”

The UM project that received the largest grant, more than $1.9 million over five years, is titled Qanuinngitsiarutiksait.2: Developing tools for the wellness and safety of Inuit.

DR. JOSEE LAVOIE

Led by Dr. Josée Lavoie, professor of community health sciences and director of Ongomiizwin Research, the project builds on a previous study of service use by the thousands of Inuit from Nunavut who come to Manitoba to access services.

The new study will focus on how Inuit concepts of wellness can be used to create healing programs in Winnipeg that reflect Inuit values. The researchers plan to develop and implement several programs, such as one tailored to the needs of Inuit families involved with Child and Family Services.

A five-year grant of more than $1.4 million was awarded to the project Oral microbiome and caries risk in young First Nations and Métis children in Manitoba.

DR. ROBERT SCHROTH

A team led by Dr. Robert Schroth, professor of preventive dental science in the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry and researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), will examine the dental microbiome that is associated with the severe form of baby-tooth decay that affects many First Nations and Métis preschoolers.

The aim is to understand why only some dental microorganisms cause tooth decay, and the environmental factors that may influence this process.

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

Dr. Marissa Becker, associate professor, medical microbiology & infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $200,000 (two years)

Becker’s team will study sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) among military personnel in Ukraine, examining how they contribute to broader STBBI epidemics amid the armed conflict in that country.

Dr. David Collister, assistant professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $321,300 (three years)

Collister seeks to determine which uremic toxins are responsible for individual disease symptoms in advanced chronic kidney disease, and which symptoms respond to dialysis. The findings will inform dialysis decision-making.

Dr. Kevin Coombs, professor, medical microbiology & infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Coombs will examine human cells’ susceptibility to the Zika virus, which is transmitted by a mosquito that is becoming known in Canada. He aims to understand how cellular genes and proteins work to allow or inhibit Zika growth.

Dr. Sanjiv Dhingra, associate professor, physiology & pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; principal investigator, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre

Grant: $960,076 (five years)

Dhingra’s study relates to the potential of using transplanted stem cells from healthy donors to treat heart disease. He will investigate why transplanted stem cells are ultimately rejected by the host’s immune system, and how to prevent this.

Dr. Vernon Dolinsky, associate professor, pharmacology & therapeutics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $822,376 (five years)

Dolinsky’s team has found that the offspring of mothers who had gestational diabetes are at risk of later heart failure. His study will investigate the role of a cellular protein that could prevent damage to the heart and allow it to pump better.

Dr. Krista Hardy, assistant professor, surgery, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $470,475 (four years)

Hardy aims to better understand the experiences of Indigenous patients who undergo bariatric surgery in Manitoba as a treatment for obesity. Her project will incorporate and assess Indigenous healing and wellness practices in bariatric surgery care.

Dr. Richard Keijzer, professor, surgery, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $233,324 (three years)

Keijzer’s team has created a database of more than 750 Manitobans who were born with a congenital anomaly that required surgery at birth. By linking this to population data, the team will conduct a follow-up study of the patients’ medical, educational and socio-economic outcomes.

Grant: $749,700 (five years)

Keijzer will also lead an international team of experts on congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) to determine the role of circular RNAs in these infants’ abnormal lung development. The results will help to better predict outcomes in babies with CDH.

Dr. Dylan MacKay, assistant professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

MacKay will enrol patients with chronic kidney disease in a one-year, randomized study comparing methods of reducing dietary acid. Half the patients will take baking soda pills, while the other half will have fruits and vegetables delivered to them to reduce acid through diet.

Dr. Lyle McKinnon, associate professor, medical microbiology & infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $300,000 (three years)

McKinnon’s team has previously found that vaginal inflammation increases a woman’s risk of becoming HIV-infected if exposed. His study focuses on regulatory T cells and their potential to control female genital inflammation as an HIV prevention strategy.

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

Grant: $742,050 (five years)

Nagy’s study builds on his previous research on how nerve cells in the brain communicate at electrical synapses, how protein components function in this transmission, and how malfunctioning of these mechanisms contributes to neurological disorders.

Dr. Marcus Ng, associate professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $548,890 (five years)

Ng will analyze data from patients with epilepsy to compare the brain zone of epileptic activity during rapid eye movement sleep, other stages of sleep, and wakefulness. Better mapping of where seizures arise could allow more patients to undergo life-changing neurosurgery.

Dr. Tabrez Siddiqui, associate professor, physiology & pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $983,026 (five years)

Siddiqui will investigate, in mice, how a type of altered biochemical signaling affects the brain, producing deficits such as those in autism and schizophrenia. The goal is to increase understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders so that drug targets can be identified.

Dr. Jörg Stetefeld, professor, biochemistry, Faculty of Science; Canada Research Chair in structural biology and biophysics

Grant: $742,050 (five years)

Stetefeld will pursue a molecular study of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a protein involved in cancerous tumor development and tissue fibrosis. He aims to develop new therapeutic targets based on understanding the role of CTGF.

Dr. Julia Uhanova, associate professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $573,751 (two years)

Uhanova will explore whether adherence to a traditional First Nations land-based diet decreases the severity of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, an aggressive form of fatty liver disease. This inflammatory disease has a high prevalence among First Nations.

Dr. Jude Uzonna, professor, immunology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $990,676 (five years)

Uzonna’s study focuses on how the body maintains immunity after recovery from leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease. Understanding factors that regulate the antigen-specific memory response to the disease will aid progress toward a vaccine.

Dr. Kristy Wittmeier, associate professor, pediatrics & child health, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $240,976 (two years)

Building on her previous research, Wittmeier will study knowledge-sharing networks in child development and rehabilitation in Canada. Her team will make recommendations to improve these networks to better serve children’s needs.