Four researchers receive CFI funding

The project titles are complex and the equipment required is highly specialized. The research reflects basic science that will one day ensure transplanted organs are not rejected, buildings are safer, diseases are detected earlier, and the quality of life for our aging population is enhanced. The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has announced that the labs of four McMaster researchers have been funded for essential infrastructure costs that will accelerate their cutting edge research and provide an enriched research-training environment for students.

Associate professors Kim Jones (Chemical Engineering), Gianni Parise (Kinesiology and Medical Physics), Ravi Selvaganapathy (Mechanical Engineering) and Michael Tait (Civil Engineering) are in the early stages of their career and all share the same view that the funds for new equipment in their labs will greatly accelerate their research.

Gianni Parise

Kim Jones

Ravi Selvaganapathy

Michael Tait

“One of the biggest advantages to these CFI initiatives is that the funding allows us to acquire in three to four years much of what our mentors acquired over a 25 year period. We can expand our labs in a much shorter time frame, accelerating our research results,” says Gianni Parise.

Parise's research is focused on discovering the mechanisms associated with the loss of muscle mass and strength (collectively referred to as sarcopenia) that occurs as we age. Over the long term, he hopes to identify the key players in the loss of muscle mass so that appropriate therapies — either pharmaceutical or physical — can be applied in a targeted strategy to ease and possibly reverse the rate of muscle aging. His work is trans-disciplinary, spanning the Faculties of Social Science, Science and Health Science.

Much like Parise's research seeks answers at a basic, molecular level, chemical engineer Kim Jones is also searching for an answer to the problem of inflammation and scarring when biomaterials — anything from catheters to engineered tissues — are implanted in patients.

“I am taking what has been a fundamental engineering problem and applying biology to it in a more sophisticated way than has been done before,” explains Jones.

The new equipment for Kim Jones' lab will allow her to evaluate biomaterials at the cellular and molecular level. She will be able to screen the biomaterials more efficiently and inexpensively, allowing her to move to the next phase of her research: the design of the next generation of biomaterials that are themselves biologically active.

“Long term, my research might contribute to solving the problem of the shortage of donor organs for transplant. A patient undergoing a kidney transplant, for example, will not reject it, or need anti-rejection drugs, because the biomaterials have been chosen properly for the individual,” says Jones.

Another engineering professor, Ravi Selvaganapathy, will use his materials and manufacturing expertise to develop Lab-on-Chip (LoC) systems that will have applications in many fields, including medical diagnostics, drug delivery and tissue engineering.

“Without the funding for this lab equipment, I quite simply could not do this type of research. I can now build up a lab that will construct and test systems that can be used in three areas: the early detection of diseases like cancer; drug delivery via Band-Aid size patches that can also monitor and provide feedback for the patient; and create blood supply networks for constructing tissues,” says Selvaganapathy.

Civil engineer Michael Tait's research moves far beyond the bounds of the construct of minute medical devices. His research focuses on improving the response of buildings when excited by windstorms or earthquakes.

“My plan is to develop an integrated lab that will be unique in Canada. The equipment I require will be used to develop control systems that will aid in improving the safety and performance of both new and existing structures,” says Tait.

Allison Sekuler, associate vice-president of research explains that, “this CFI funding of more than $420,000 will translate directly into a more efficient, more productive, and healthier society. The projects are particularly exciting because they take place at the interface of traditional research areas, and, as such, can expand our knowledge in completely new directions.”

As well as acknowledging that the lab equipment adds acceleration value to their research, there is also a common refrain among the four researchers that their students are “itching to use the new equipment.”

Sekuler, who is a Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, notes that “the creativity and vision behind these research projects show why McMaster is one of Canada's premiere research Universities. That we are home to young scientists of this calibre, equip state-of-the-art laboratories for them, and expose both their undergraduate and graduate students to their pioneering research projects, is just one example of our University's commitment to excellence in a research intensive, student centred environment.”

The four infrastructure projects funded will purchase equipment to:

* Measure biological responses to biomaterials (Kim Jones) $99,331

* Determine the function and regulation of myogenic progenitors during aging and exercise (Gianni Parise) $120,000

* Develop an integrated facility for advanced structural control
testing and full-scale monitoring system (Michael Tait) $106,334

* Construct and test plastic/polymer based LoC (Lab on Chip) systems(Ravi Selvaganapathy) $98,418

“These awards represent a strategic boost to the research capacities of McMaster University,” said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO of the CFI. “It's investments like these that have transformed Canada's research landscape over the past decade and made the country a destination of choice for the world's best researchers.”

David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, says, “McMaster University has a well-established reputation as one of the world's leading innovators and home to some of Canada's best and brightest minds. We welcome the Canada Foundation for Innovation funding to help create the partnerships that will continue building McMaster's research capacity. These are investments in McMaster University's research infrastructure. In our 21st century global economy, that's important, not only to our local economy, but to Canada's standing on the world stage.”

This announcement marks the inauguration of the CFI's new Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF). The new program, created to reflect Canada's fast-evolving research environment, was designed to give Canadian universities the added flexibility they need to both attract and retain the very best of today's and tomorrow's researchers at a time of intense international competition for leading faculty.