Posted on July 23: CIHR funds 26 McMaster research projects

McMaster has received $9.1 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to fund the operational costs of 26 research projects.

Immune responses in HIV infection and AIDS, monitoring high blood pressure among older adults, and understanding the value, priorities and world views of families who raise children with chronic developmental conditions, are among 26 projects funded through CIHR's new and renewal grants program.

“This CIHR funding will provide support, as well as training opportunities, in a wide spectrum of innovative, state-of-the-art medical, biomedical, and health-related research projects at McMaster and our affiliated teaching hospitals,” says John Capone, associate dean of research in the Faculty of Health Sciences. “CIHR support will allow our research scientists to remain competitive and at the leading edge at the national and international levels, and potentially lead to the discovery and generation of new knowledge and products that will benefit the health and well-being of all Canadians.”

McMaster had one of its better showings in CIHR's latest round of funding, says Marie Townsend, research programs administrator on the Committee on Scientific Development.

In total, 42.6 per cent of the projects McMaster applied for under its new and renewal grants were funded by CIHR, compared to the national average of 31 per cent, she says.

One of McMaster's most successful applications was for the Group in Mucosal Immunity, led by researcher Ken Rosenthal, a professor of pathology and molecular medicine. This group received a $2.1-million grant over a five-year period in CIHR's Group Grant competition to examine immune responses in HIV infection and AIDS.

With the funding, the group will study responses to viral, bacterial and parasitic infections at mucosal surfaces of the lung, gut and genital tract.

A number of young investigators also were successful. McMaster assistant professor of critical care Alison Fox-Robichaud, for example, received more than $200,000 over a three-year period to study molecular mechanisms of cytokine and chemokine mediated hepatic leukocyte recruitment.

“The CIHR is the most important and competitive funding organization for medical and health research in Canada and CIHR funding success is often used as a measure of the research stature of an institution,” Capone says. “Our success underscores McMaster's reputation as one of Canada's leading research-intensive universities and is a direct reflection of the outstanding calibre of faculty, students, and staff we have here that are engaged in research.”