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Sunnybrook researchers awarded more than $6M in CIHR Fall 2021 Project Grants competition

February 9, 2022

Sunnybrook researchers have been awarded more than $6M in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fall 2021 Project Grants competition.

The Project Grant program supports 'ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes.' In total, CIHR funded 417 projects in this round for an investment of $325M. 23 per cent of SRI applications were funded in the competition.

Highlights of this funding round include a $2.7M grant to Dr. Stephen Fremes and team to study whether stenting or coronary artery bypass surgery is the best approach in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and a new study led by Drs. Stanisz, Sahgal and Maralani that will explore the use of metabolic MRI for the diagnosis and surveillance of low-grade gliomas. Their project was ranked first overall out of 49 reviewed by the committee.

Congratulations to all the successful Sunnybrook-led projects:

Project: STRIVE before surgery trial: a vanguard pragmatic multicenter randomized trial of Structured TRaining to Improve fitness in a Virtual Environment before surgery
Principal Investigators: Dr. Julie Hallet, Dr. Daniel McIsaac (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Dr. Chelsia Gillis (McGill University), Dr. Gurlaavine Kidd, Dr. Margaret Mcneely (University of Alberta), Dr. Monica Taljaard (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Dr. Puneeta Tandon (University of Alberta), Dr. Duminda Wijeysundera (St. Michael’s Hospital)
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Antoine Eskander
Funding: $260,100 over 18 months


Project: The Canadian CABG or PCI in Patients with Ischemic Cardiomyopathy (STICH 3.0) Trial
Principal Investigators: Dr. Stephen Fremes, Dr. Mario Gaudino (Weill Cornell Medicine), Dr. Marc Jolicoeur (Montreal Heart Institute), Dr. Jean-Lucien Rouleau (Montreal Heart Institute)
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Richard Swartz, Dr. Dennis Ko, Dr. Alex Kiss,
Funding: $2,786,128 over 7 years


Project: Development of gastrointestinal track-targeted biologics to improve the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jean Gariepy
Funding: $868,275 over 5 years


Project: Quantifying Osteosarcopenia Progression with Imaging Biomarkers in Prostate Cancer
Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael Hardisty
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Urban Emmenegger, Dr. Joel Finkelstein, Dr. Anne Martel, Dr. Cari Whyne
Funding: $636,180 over 5 years


Project: Targeting Pten to unlock the regenerative potential of the mammalian retina
Principal Investigator: Dr. Carol Schuurmans
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Rob Screaton, Dr. Yacine Touahri
Funding: $956,250 over 5 years


Project: Redefining the paradigm for surveillance in patients with low-grade glioma using saturation transfer magnetic resonance imaging
Principal Investigators: Dr. Greg Stanisz, Dr. Arjun Sahgal, Dr. Pejman Maralani
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Mary Jane Lim-Fat, Dr. Nir Lipsman
Funding: $830,024 over 6 years


Project: Strengthening Oropharyngeal Muscles as a Novel Approach to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Principal Investigators: Dr. Mark Boulos, Elizabeth Asztalos, Dr. Yana Yunusova
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Andrew Lim
Funding: $100,000


Project: Methylphenidate-primed rTMS for apathy in neurocognitive disorders
Principal Investigator: Dr. Krista Lanctôt, Dr. Clement Hamani
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Sandra Black, Dr. Benjamin Lam, Dr. Nathan Herrmann, Dr. Peter Giacobbe, Dr. Alex Kiss, Dr. Mario Masellis, Dr. Mark Rapoport, Dr. Giovanni Marotta, Dr. Shankar Tumati, Dr. Sean Nestor, Dr. Damien Gallagher
Funding: $100,000


Project: Role of the GPR3-SIK2 Pathway in Human Beta Cell Proliferation
Principal Investigator: Dr. Rob Screaton
Funding: $100,000