$1.3M funding supports life sciences research projects

St John’s, NL – Newfoundland’s Research & Development Corporation (RDC) has announced a total of $1.3 million in funding for 12 health and life sciences-related projects.

Researchers from Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Medicine, School of Pharmacy and Faculty of Science funded through RDC’s LeverageR&D program are receiving over $1 million of additional support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

A total of $1,378,640 is being provided to the following 12 research projects at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Funding is received through RDC’s academic programs: LeverageR&D and IgniteR&D. Those projects funded through the LeverageR&D program are receiving an additional $1,094,640 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

LeverageR&D

LeverageR&D attracts public funding for academic-led research and development (R&D) in areas relevant to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.

• Tubedown Signalling Pathway as a Therapeutic Target for Age-related Retinopathy, $189,773 from RDC. Dr. Hélène Paradis, Biomedical Sciences Division, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• The Role of Cell Survival Proteins in Neurogenesis and Neural Regeneration, $195,779 from RDC. Dr. Jacqueline Vanderluit, Division of BioMedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• Methyl Metabolism and Methionine Requirements in the Neonatal Pig, $52,500 from RDC. Jason Robinson, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Memorial University

• Formate: A Novel Window into One-carbon Metabolism, $206,556 from RDC. Dr. John T. Brosnan, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Memorial University

• Acute and Chronic PAR2 Activation in Endothelial Dysfunction, $147,088 from RDC. Dr. John McGuire, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• A Multi-level Model of the Effects of Primary Care Reform on Ambulatory Care Sensitive Hospital Outcomes, $60,000 from RDC. Dr. Kris Aubrey-Bassler, Primary Healthcare Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine

• Infant Feeding & Institutional Compliance with the WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, $8,750 from RDC. Laura Fullerton, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: An Institutional Ethnography Examining Communication Pathways Between Multi Disciplinary Support Systems and Diagnosed Youth, $52,500 from RDC. Melody Morton Ninomiya, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• Impact of Dietary Methyl Groups on Methionine Metabolism and Early Programming in Neonates, $181,694 from RDC. Dr. Robert Bertolo, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Memorial University

IgniteR&D

IgniteR&D attracts highly-qualified academic researchers and builds new research and development (R&D) capacity in areas relevant to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.

• The Study of Cardiovascular Pathogenesis Associated with Autoimmune Disease, $100,000 from RDC. Dr. Noriko Daneshtalab, School of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• A Common Framework of Privacy-Preserving Data Analysis for Health Research, $100,000 from RDC. Dr. Saeed Samet, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University

• Genetic Epidemiology of Obesity in Newfoundland and Labrador, $84,000 from RDC. Dr. Taraneh Abarin, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, Memorial University