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Seed Fund Grants

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
MRM-MI4
Ludmer-MI4
Round 4
Round 5
MI4-Pathy
MI4-M-RD
GHP-MI4 Steinberg

GHP-MI4-Steinberg Seed Fund Grant (SFG)

This Spring 2024, the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) and McGill Global Health Programs (GHP) co-sponsored two new Seed Fund Grants with support from the Steinberg Fund for Interdisciplinary Global Health Research. A total of 9 applications were received and were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Enabling adaptive West Nile virus surveillance by simulating the expected benefit of collected data. Project description Mosquito-transmitted diseases like West Nile virus are hard to predict, and their risk is increasing in Canada due to climate change. Risk can be monitored by trapping and testing mosquitos or by testing wastewater for viral genetic material shed by infected people. In this project, we will develop a new framework for an adaptive West Nile virus monitoring strategy. First, we will develop a machine learning model to forecast West Nile virus risk month-over-month across census divisions with uncertainty. Then, we will use framework called ‘expected value of sample information’ to estimate when and where new data (testing trapped mosquitos or wastewater) is likely to reduce uncertainty in a way that leads to better deployment of preventative measures. The framework will be designed to deploy finite resources in ways that maximizes health benefits and health equity, ensuring that risk is not disproportionately born by geographic areas with vulnerable populations.	Dr. Alton Russel
Promoting Indigenous Canadians’ Self-determination in the Adoption of Liquid Biopsy in Cervical Cancer Screening. Project description In Canada, over 16 million women are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Screening with the Pap smear test by a doctor has reduced the number of cases by more than 80%. However, Indigenous women are still disproportionately affected and are three times more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer. Reasons for this disparity include geographic barrier in getting a pap smear, lack of culturally sensitive approach to counseling and education on why screening is performed, discomfort associated with the examination, and historical trauma leading to mistrust in healthcare institutions. A new way of detecting cervical abnormalities is being introduced across Canada called human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. HPV causes the majority of cases of cervical cancer and gives women the option of self-collecting a vaginal swab at home, which can significantly improve access. Along with this technique, liquid biopsy is a new non-invasive technique that detects molecules associated with HPV found vaginal swabs and urine. We demonstrated the ability of liquid biopsy to detect cervical abnormalities among women living in Montreal. Given the unique experiences and barriers faced by Indigenous women, our team aims to explore and engage Indigenous members to co-create educational resources and future implementation plans that is culturally sensitive.	Dr. Shuk On Annie Leung

Project Title

Co-principal Investigators

Enabling adaptive West Nile virus surveillance by simulating the expected benefit of collected data.

Project description

Mosquito-transmitted diseases like West Nile virus are hard to predict, and their risk is increasing in Canada due to climate change. Risk can be monitored by trapping and testing mosquitos or by testing wastewater for viral genetic material shed by infected people. In this project, we will develop a new framework for an adaptive West Nile virus monitoring strategy. First, we will develop a machine learning model to forecast West Nile virus risk month-over-month across census divisions with uncertainty. Then, we will use framework called ‘expected value of sample information’ to estimate when and where new data (testing trapped mosquitos or wastewater) is likely to reduce uncertainty in a way that leads to better deployment of preventative measures. The framework will be designed to deploy finite resources in ways that maximizes health benefits and health equity, ensuring that risk is not disproportionately born by geographic areas with vulnerable populations.

Dr. Alton Russel

Promoting Indigenous Canadians’ Self-determination in the Adoption of Liquid Biopsy in Cervical Cancer Screening.

Project description

In Canada, over 16 million women are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Screening with the Pap smear test by a doctor has reduced the number of cases by more than 80%. However, Indigenous women are still disproportionately affected and are three times more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer. Reasons for this disparity include geographic barrier in getting a pap smear, lack of culturally sensitive approach to counseling and education on why screening is performed, discomfort associated with the examination, and historical trauma leading to mistrust in healthcare institutions. A new way of detecting cervical abnormalities is being introduced across Canada called human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. HPV causes the majority of cases of cervical cancer and gives women the option of self-collecting a vaginal swab at home, which can significantly improve access. Along with this technique, liquid biopsy is a new non-invasive technique that detects molecules associated with HPV found vaginal swabs and urine. We demonstrated the ability of liquid biopsy to detect cervical abnormalities among women living in Montreal. Given the unique experiences and barriers faced by Indigenous women, our team aims to explore and engage Indigenous members to co-create educational resources and future implementation plans that is culturally sensitive.

Dr. Shuk On Annie Leung

MI4-Microbiomes and Rheumatic Diseases (M-RD) Seed Fund Grant (SFG)

In April 2024, MI4 invited the researchers withing the McGill community to apply for MI4 Microbiomes and Rheumatic Diseases (M-RD) Duthie Saunders Seed Fund Grant Program. One application was received and successfully peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

The awarded project is as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Investigating the role of the gut microbiota in mediating pain hypersensitivity in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Project description Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a cureless, debilitating chronic pain disorder characterized by severe spontaneous and evoked pain in the distal limb, which is disproportionate to the extent of tissue injury. The causes and the underlying mechanisms of CRPS are unknown and consequently, no targeted treatment is available. The microbiota is composed of various microorganisms (e.g., bacteria) that reside on our body. The gut microbiota has been suggested to play a critical role in various health conditions, such as cardiovascular and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as in distinct pain conditions such as neuropathic pain. We recently discovered that the composition of the gut microbiota is altered in CRPS patients. In this project, we will test the hypothesis that alterations in the gut microbiota in CRPS contribute to pain and investigate the underlying mechanisms. We will test this hypothesis by transplanting the gut microbiota from CRPS patients to mice lacking gut bacteria and determine whether this induces pain and other CRPS phenotypes. We will also investigate if such fecal transplant results in changes in the immune system and in the activity of pain circuits. Lastly, we will study the possible role of specific bacteria in mediating this pain condition.	Dr. Yoram Shir Dr. Arkady Khoutorsky

Project Title

Co-principal Investigators

Investigating the role of the gut microbiota in mediating pain hypersensitivity in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

Project description

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a cureless, debilitating chronic pain disorder characterized by severe spontaneous and evoked pain in the distal limb, which is disproportionate to the extent of tissue injury. The causes and the underlying mechanisms of CRPS are unknown and consequently, no targeted treatment is available. The microbiota is composed of various microorganisms (e.g., bacteria) that reside on our body. The gut microbiota has been suggested to play a critical role in various health conditions, such as cardiovascular and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as in distinct pain conditions such as neuropathic pain. We recently discovered that the composition of the gut microbiota is altered in CRPS patients. In this project, we will test the hypothesis that alterations in the gut microbiota in CRPS contribute to pain and investigate the underlying mechanisms. We will test this hypothesis by transplanting the gut microbiota from CRPS patients to mice lacking gut bacteria and determine whether this induces pain and other CRPS phenotypes. We will also investigate if such fecal transplant results in changes in the immune system and in the activity of pain circuits. Lastly, we will study the possible role of specific bacteria in mediating this pain condition.

Dr. Yoram Shir

Dr. Arkady Khoutorsky

MI4-Pathy Seed Fund Grant (SFG)

In April 2024, MI4 was thrilled to announce the Pathy SFG winners of the MI4 Seed Fund Grants Program. A total of 8 applications were received. All applications were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Integrated sample processing and analyte enrichment serving real-time quantitative Plasmonic PCR for infectious pathogen point-of-care diagnostics.	Dr. Jesse Papenburg Dr. Dan Nicolau
The gut-testis axis: Establishing associations between the microbiome metabolome and male infertility.	Prof. Jianguo (Jeff) Xia Prof. Cristian O'Flaherty
Ultrasensitive rapid test for influenza A	Dr. David Juncker Dr. Cedric Yansouni
All-Trans-Retinoic-Acid in Influenza as a Vaccine Adjuvant and Adjunct Therapy	Dr. Leo Liu Dr. Brian Ward

MI4 Seed Fund Grants – Round 5

In April 2023, MI4 was thrilled to announce the Round 5 winners of the MI4 Seed Fund Grants Program. A total of 8 applications were received. All applications were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Reducing antibiotic abuse at the primary care level using locally adapted, digitally delivered, clinical decision support tool: a pilot, intervention study in India	Samira Abbasgholizadeh Rahimi Madhukar Pai
Investigating the impact of impaired immune responses on viral diversity in humans and mice	Judith Mandl Abhinav Sharma
Targeting the gut microbiome to mitigate cholesterol-related diseases	Lisa Munter Irah King
Early life BCG vaccination shaping gut microbiome and subsequently host defense against tuberculosis	Corinne Maurice Maziar Divangahi
Erythrocyte Biphosphoglycerate Mutase (BPGM) as a novel Anti-Malarial Drug Target	Philippe Gros Momar Ndao

MI4 Seed Fund Grants – Round 4

In March 2022, MI4 was thrilled to announce the winners of Round 4 of the MI4 Seed Fund Grant Program. A total of 17 applications were received. All applications were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
A multidisciplinary approach to tackle multidrug resistant - tuberculosis (MDR-TB)	Michael Reed Jesse Shapiro
Discovering Novel Antimicrobials from the Canadian High Arctic	Dao Nguyen Karine Auclair
Point-of-care Rapid Test for Rogue Anti-Cytokine Auto-Antibodies in COVID-19 Patients	Donald Vinh David Juncker
The impact of viral infection on the initiation and development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)	Joyce Rauch Judith Mandl
Targeting soluble CD109 in mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) secretome for the treatment of fibrosis in scleroderma	Anie Philip Dieter Reinhardt

Ludmer - MI4 Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

In February 2022, the Ludmer Centre and MI4 were pleased to announce the results of the Ludmer-MI4 Collaborative Seed Fund Grant Competition! This grant aimed at supporting a new health research project focusing on the role of infection, immunity and/or the microbiome in the development, prevention or treatment of mental health disorders.

Congratulations to Dr. Patricia Silveira and Dr. Nicolas Cermakian!

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Maternal immune activation and circadian disruption as risk factors for mental disorders – using transcriptomics to identify individual differences in susceptibility	Patricia Silveira Nicolas Cermakian

Project Title

Co-principal Investigators

Maternal immune activation and circadian disruption as risk factors for mental disorders – using transcriptomics to identify individual differences in susceptibility

Patricia Silveira

Nicolas Cermakian

MRM-MI4 Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

In July 2021, the McGill Regenerative Medicine (MRM Network) and MI4 were pleased to announce the result of the MRM-MI4 Collaborative Seed Fund Grant Competition! This grant aimed to support a new health research project focusing on stem cell or regenerative medicine within the domains of either infection or immunity.

Congratulations to Dr. Alex Gregorieff!

Project Title	Principal Investigator
Creation of a patient-derived enteroid biobank to study the role of intestinal stemcells in inflammatory bowel disease.	Alex Gregorieff

MI4 Seed Fund Grants - Round 3

In March 2021, MI4 was thrilled to announce the Round 3 winners of the MI4 Seed Fund Grant Program. A total of 16 applications were received. All applications were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

MI4 would like to acknowledge that support for this round of its SFG Program was provided by the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), The Montreal General Hospital (MGH) Foundation, and the Doggone Foundation donation to McGill University. In addition, MI4 was pleased to collaborate with McGill Global Health Programs (GHP) to co-sponsor an additional grant with support from the Steinberg Fund for Interdisciplinary Global Health Research whose aim was to catalyze innovative and impactful infection- or immunity-focused global health research.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Biomarkers associated with infections in Canadians 45-85 years of age with and without diabetes: analysis of metabolomic and clinical data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging	Elham Rahme Robert Sladek
MENELIC-1 - Impact of mobile clinical decision support tool on prescription behaviour and patient outcomes in low-resource settings: A pilot trial of self-stewardship in Ethiopia	Makeda Semret Nicole Basta
A colorimetric nanosurface fluidic platform for rapid phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility testing	Sara Mahshid Dao Nguyen
At the heart of the matter - Speckle tracking echocardiography in lupus mothers and their offspring	Evelyne Vinet Lawrence Rudski

MI4 - MNI Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
Inflammation-mediated white matter injury in pediatric encephalopathies	Myriam Srour Jack Antel

Project Title

Co-principal Investigators

Inflammation-mediated white matter injury in pediatric encephalopathies

Myriam Srour

Jack Antel

MI4 - MGH Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

Project Title	Co-principal Investigators
A Rabbit Prosthetic Joint Infection Model for Evaluation of Nano-Layered Antimicrobial Surface Coatings	Maryam Tabizian Adam Hart

Project Title

Co-principal Investigators

A Rabbit Prosthetic Joint Infection Model for Evaluation of Nano-Layered Antimicrobial Surface Coatings

Maryam Tabizian

Adam Hart

GHP-MI4 Steinberg Seed Fund Grant

Project Title	Principal Investigator
The contribution of stigma among sexual minority men to HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa	Mathieu Maheu-Giroux

MI4 Seed Fund Grants - Round 2

In May 2020, MI4 was thrilled to announce the Round 2 winners of the MI4 Seed Fund Grant Program. A total of 23 applications were received. All applications were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Principal Investigators
CCR5 gene editing with antiviral genes to cure HIV-1 infection	Anne Gatignol Jean-Pierre Routy
Integrating polygenic risk scores, machine learning and mouse models to develop predictive tools and therapeutics for severe dengue disease	Jamie Engert Silvia Vidal
The Pragmatic Observation of Labor, Exercise Tolerance, and Respiratory Impairment After Treatment of TB	Faiz Ahmad Khan Dennis Jensen
A stem cell-based microfluidics approach to mine the immunomodulatory activity of the gut epithelial secretome	Irah King Christopher Moraes
Targeting oncosome educated neutrophil subsets to curtail breast cancer metastasis	Peter Siegel Janusz Rak

MI4 Seed Fund Grants - Round 1

In June 2019, MI4 was thrilled to announce the Round 1 winners of the MI4 Seed Fund Grants Program. A total of 43 applications were received. All applications were peer reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee composed of researchers external to the McGill community.

MI4 was also pleased to collaborate with the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) and the Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC) in this round of the MI4 Seed Fund Grant Program. This allowed the funding of two Collaborative Seed Fund Grants: one in neurological disease and the other in immuno-oncology.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Project Title	Co-principal investigators
Nature-inspired nanostructures: designing next generation antimicrobial biomaterials	Nathalie Tufenkji Dao Nguyen
Integration of genomics and metagenomics for the surveillance of the Lyme disease vector Ixodes scapularis in Canada and the USA	Michael B. Reed Ioannis Ragoussis
A Deadly Combination: Air Pollution and TB in India	Madhukar Pai Scott Weichenthal
Design of a Rapid Point-of-Care PCR device for the diagnosis and management of HIV, HCV and other infectious diseases for key vulnerable populations in real-world settings	Bluma Brenner Nadine Kronfli
Investigation of the functionality of anti-Respiratory Syncytial Virus specific antibodies	Selena Sagan Nicole Bernard
The impact of the microbiome in shaping host defense against tuberculosis	Maziar Divangahi Jianguo Xia
Apta-Nanosurface Fluidic Assay for Specific and Rapid Detection of Parasites via a Labelfree Electrical Readout	Sara Mahshid Momar Ndao
Targeting the MNK1/2-eIF4E axis in postpartum breast cancer liver metastasis	Sonia del Rincon Pnina Brodt
Targeting the mitophagy pathway to treat sepsis-induced organ dysfunction	Sabah Hussain Heidi McBride
The combi-targeting concept: Engineering small molecules to target cell signaling, kill tumour cells and stimulate the immune system	Bertrand Jean-Claude Moulay Alaoui-Jamali

MI4 - MNI Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

Project Title	Co-principal investigators
Unraveling the microbial contributions to Parkinson’s Disease	Heidi McBride Erwin Schurr

Project Title

Co-principal investigators

Unraveling the microbial contributions to Parkinson’s Disease

Heidi McBride

Erwin Schurr

MI4 - GCRC Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

Project Title	Co-principal investigators
Humanized Mouse Models to Untangle Mechanisms of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors- Immune Related Adverse Events and Effects of their treatment in Tumor Biology	Ines Colmegna Logan Walsh

Project Title

Co-principal investigators

Humanized Mouse Models to Untangle Mechanisms of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors- Immune Related Adverse Events and Effects of their treatment in Tumor Biology

Ines Colmegna

Logan Walsh

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Seed Fund Grants

GHP-MI4-Steinberg Seed Fund Grant (SFG)

Project description

Project description

MI4-Microbiomes and Rheumatic Diseases (M-RD) Seed Fund Grant (SFG)

Project description

MI4-Pathy Seed Fund Grant (SFG)

MI4 Seed Fund Grants – Round 5

MI4 Seed Fund Grants – Round 4

Ludmer - MI4 Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

MRM-MI4 Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

MI4 Seed Fund Grants - Round 3

MI4 - MNI Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

MI4 - MGH Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

GHP-MI4 Steinberg Seed Fund Grant

MI4 Seed Fund Grants - Round 2

MI4 Seed Fund Grants - Round 1

MI4 - MNI Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

MI4 - GCRC Collaborative Seed Fund Grant

Department and University Information

McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4)