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 |
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Targeting the gut microbiome to mitigate cholesterol-related diseases |
Lisa Munter Irah King |
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Early life BCG vaccination shaping gut microbiome and subsequently host defense against tuberculosis |
Corinne Maurice Maziar Divangahi |
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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 |
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Discovering Novel Antimicrobials from the Canadian High Arctic |
Dao Nguyen Karine Auclair |
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Point-of-care Rapid Test for Rogue Anti-Cytokine Auto-Antibodies in COVID-19 Patients |
Donald Vinh David Juncker |
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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 |
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 |
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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 |
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A colorimetric nanosurface fluidic platform for rapid phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility testing |
Sara Mahshid Dao Nguyen |
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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 |
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 |
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 |
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The Pragmatic Observation of Labor, Exercise Tolerance, and Respiratory Impairment After Treatment of TB |
Faiz Ahmad Khan Dennis Jensen |
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A stem cell-based microfluidics approach to mine the immunomodulatory activity of the gut epithelial secretome |
Irah King Christopher Moraes |
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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 |
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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 |
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Investigation of the functionality of anti-Respiratory Syncytial Virus specific antibodies |
Selena Sagan Nicole Bernard |
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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 |
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 |
