The MRC awards $16.4 million to McGill and its affiliated institutions
Dr. Henry Friesen, President of the Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC) and Dr. Abe Fuks, Dean of Medicine at McGill University, announced today that 46 research grants and training awards worth $16.4 million over five years have been awarded to health scientists at McGill University and its affiliate institutions.
McGill researchers were awarded almost 20 per cent of the total MRC investment of $82 million, divided among research projects in 21 universities, 20 teaching hospitals and nine health centres across the country. Most of that funding takes the form of operating grants, which support individual researchers efforts for a one- to five-year period. The research projects at McGill range from the study of the cellular and molecular factors responsible for early pregnancy loss to an investigation into how long-term memory functions in healthy individuals and deteriorates following brain damage.
MRC group grants were also awarded to two McGill teams of investigators. A three-year group grant of almost $2 million was awarded to a team headed by Biomedical Engineering Professor, Dr. Alan Evans. His team is investigating brain function and the underlying mechanisms of sensation, memory, language, pain, perception, sleep, and mood. The second group grant, awarded to Physiology Chair, Dr. Alvin Shrier and colleagues, is a five-year grant valued at $720,426. This team is studying the small electrical currents that flow across cell membranes and control the regulation of heart and blood vessels.
Nine studentship awards totalling $688,275 have also been awarded to researchers at McGill University and its affiliate institutions. Studentships are offered to graduate students who are undertaking full-time health research training leading to a Masters or PhD degree, and who are working with a principal investigator holding an MRC operating grant.
"We at McGill are very pleased indeed that our scientists and physicians have been highly successful in the recent MRC grant competition," said Fuks. "This is a reflection of the outstanding quality of our researchers and students and all the more special in view of the current cutbacks in research budgets. It is a very competitive environment and we are proud of our continuing strength and the opportunity to contribute to the health needs of our society."
MRC funds are granted on the basis of rigorous peer review of applications received in a broad range of programs. Peer review is carried out by hundreds of leading scientists from Canada and other countries who volunteer their expertise. Decisions are based on the excellence of the applications in competition for limited funds. The judgement of excellence is based on the quality of the science and its potential for adding new knowledge of benefit to human health.
MRC is the major federal agency funding health research and training at Canadian universities, research institutes and teaching hospitals and this year has a budget of $237.5 million. Each year, MRC supports as many as 2,300 researchers, as well as providing direct employment opportunities for more than 10,000 scientists and support staff.
A list of the MRC grant recipients at McGill University and its affiliate institutions is attached along with a brief summary of their projects.
