Grants and Awards
Results of the October 2007 AHFMR Interdisciplinary Team Grants Competition
The Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) is delighted to announce the results of its October 2007 Interdisciplinary Team Grant competition. These are the first grants funded through this program.
This program provides opportunities for high-quality, internationally recognized teams of investigators to complete research initiatives with defined health outcomes. Funds available in this competition will support collaborative, interdisciplinary, and multi-institutional teams that address important research questions, health problems, or issues in defined areas of research that are aligned with strategic research priorities of the Foundation and the province. The program will provide up to $1 million per year per team for up to five years.
Dr. Jacques Magnan, AHFMR Interim President and CEO, and the Foundation's Board of Trustees congratulate the successful applicants and acknowledge and thank all applicants for their substantial efforts.
AHFMR acknowledges and thanks Alberta Health and Wellness for the grant to help support this program.
Applications
In February AHFMR received 83 registrations for the 2007 Interdisciplinary Team Grant Letter of Intent (LOI) competition. The Foundation subsequently received 43 LOIs for the April 1 deadline. AHFMR approved 10 of the 43 LOIs (23%) to proceed to the full application. All ten of these teams submitted applications for the October 1, 2007 deadline. Each team was provided with a $10,000 grant to help facilitate the development of the full application.
Assessments and Decisions
The applications were assessed by the Interdisciplinary Team Grant Peer Review Advisory Committee during a meeting held on December 6 and 7, 2007. AHFMR wishes to acknowledge the substantial assistance provided by its committee members and their important ongoing contributions to the Foundation's mission.
Based on recommendations from the advisory committee, the AHFMR Board of Trustees made the final decision regarding funding.
Formal letters of offer will be sent to the team leaders the week of December 17. These letters will include information regarding funding and the reviews received for each application.
The formal letters will serve as the Foundation's official decision should there be any discrepancy with the material on the web site.
Results
The list of successful teams and lay summaries of their research projects are provided below. The team leaders and the team members as of October 1, 2007 are identified together with their primary institution.
Competition Update
A second Interdisciplinary Team Grants competition will be held in 2008. Information will be available on the AHFMR website the week of December 17.
October 2007 Competition Results: Approved Grants
The AHFMR Interdisciplinary Team in The Impact of Maternal Nutrient Status during Pregnancy on Maternal Mental Health and Child Development
Team Leaders
Dr. Bonnie Kaplan
Departments of Paediatrics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
Dr. Catherine Field
Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences
University of Alberta
Dr. Deborah Dewey
Departments of Paediatrics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
Team Members
University of Alberta: Rhonda Bell; Anna Farmer; Laki Goonewardene; Donna Manca; Linda McCarger.
University of Calgary: Francois Bernier; Marja Cantell; Michael Eliasziw; Libbe Kooistra; Maeve O'Beirne; Steven Simpson; Nalini Singhal.
University of Tilburg (The Netherlands): Victor Pop.
The AHFMR Interdisciplinary Team in Preterm Birth and Healthy Outcomes
Team Leaders
Dr. David Olson
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
University of Alberta
Dr. Suzanne Tough
Departments of Paediatrics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
Alberta Children's Hospital / Calgary Health Region
Team Members:
University of Alberta: Larry Guilbert; Shoo Lee; Joyce Magill-Evans; B.F. Mitchell; Christine Newburn-Cook; Martin Somerville.
University of Calgary: Karen Benzies; Donna Slater; Stephen Wood; Wendy Yee.
University of Lethbridge: Gerlinde Metz.
Calgary Health Region: Shirley Leew; Debbie McNeil.
Calgary Laboratory Services: Andrew Lyon.
Institute of Health Economics: Donald Schopflocher.
University of Toronto: Alan Bocking; Stephen Lye; Craig Pennell.
The AHFMR Interdisciplinary Team in Improving Health Care Access and Sustainability with Microfluidic Platforms
Team Leader
Dr. Linda Pilarski
Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
University of Alberta
Team Members:
University of Alberta: Jason Acker; Christopher Backhouse; Jutta Preiksaitis; Tony Reiman; Andrew Belch; John Mackey; Michael Mehta.
University of Calgary: Nizar Bahlis; Edna Einsiedel.
Canadian Blood Services: Gregory Denomme.
National Institute of Nanotechnology: Lorraine Sheremeta.
The AHFMR Interdisciplinary Team in Vaccine Design and Implementation
Team Leaders
Dr. Anthony Schryvers
Departments of Microbiology & Infectious Diseases and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
Dr. Lorne Babiuk
Vice-President Research
University of Alberta
Dr. James Kellner
Departments of Paediatrics and Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
University of Calgary
Team Members:
University of Alberta: Phillip Jacobs; Joanne Lemieux.
University of Calgary: Christian Jacob; Derrick Rancourt; Margaret Russell; David Schriemer.
University of Saskatchewan: Andrew Potter.
University of Toronto: Scott Gray-Owen.
The AHFMR Interdisciplinary Team in Creating Bone and Joint Health from the Bedside to the Bench and Back Again - Designer Therapies to Reduce the Burden of Osteoarthritis (OA) - from Mechanisms to Prevention
Team leaders
Dr. Cy Frank
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
Dr. Walter Herzog
Faculties of Kinesiology, Medicine, and Engineering
University of Calgary
Team Members
University of Alberta: Lauren Beaupre, Michael Doschak, D. William Johnston, Allyson Jones, Robert Lambert, Walter Maksymowych, Candice Nykiforuk, Ron Plotnikoff, Bruce Ritchie, Mavanur Suresh, Hasan Uludag,
University of Calgary: Howard Ceri, Jeff Dunn, Carolyn Emery, Reed Ferber, Marvin Fritzler, Wayne Giles, David Hanley, David Hart, Carol Hutchison, John Matyas, Willem Meeuwisse, Benno Nigg, Tom Noseworthy, Derrick Rancourt, Janet Ronsky, Nigel Shrive, Hans Vogel, Vinzenz von Tscharner, J. Preston Wiley, Ron Zernicke
McMaster University: Deborah Marshall
University of Toronto: Shoo Lee
For additional information please contact:
Pamela Valentine
Director, Grants & Awards
(780) 423-5727 ext. 216