Subject: Funding available. MSM Research Grant Competition now underway. 

Canadian Blood Services is pleased to announce its 2017 MSM Research Grant Program competition. The objective of the MSM Research Program is to ensure the generation of adequate evidence-based research for alternative screening approaches for blood or plasma donors, which could evolve the current deferral policy for men who have sex with men (MSM)while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.

For detailed information about the Program competition, please refer to www.blood.ca. The deadline is February 26, 2017 to submit a registration form as an indication of your intent to submit an application. Applications will be due April 30.

In its first year the Ontario-Israel Research Network Program – MAGNET (OIRNP-MAGNET) is committing CAD 2M to support Cybersecurity-Fintech companies, and potentially academic institutions, developing cybersecurity technology solutions in the Financial Services sector. OCE is collaborating with the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) during this inaugural call. Future calls may focus on different sectors.

Managed by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and offered through a partnership with Ontario’s Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science (MRIS) and the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA), the program supports bilateral collaboration, including consortia comprised of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and academic institutions to jointly develop cybersecurity technology solutions for multinational, Ontario-based financial institutions (FIs). Each application must include at least one SME from Ontario, one SME from Israel, and one partnering FI from Ontario. Ontario applicants are encouraged to collaborate with academic researchers.

The expression of interest (EOI) submission does not require identification of an Israeli SME or FI, though if a potential partnership has been formed it should be identified. SMEs with accepted EOIs will be required to attend a Partnering Forum in mid-May 2017 in Toronto where they will meet with all other SMEs, both Ontarian and Israeli, as well at the FIs. Full Applications will be submitted thereafter.

Objectives

• To create partnerships through bilateral collaboration that develop innovative industry-oriented technologies that will strengthen both Ontario and Israel’s technological expertise while enhancing competitiveness.

Genome Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), has announced a Request for Applications (RFA) for the 2017 Large Scale Applied Research Project Competition “Genomics and Precision Health”.

In the context of this competition precision health is an evidence-based approach to decision making with regards to health care. The spectrum of precision health includes health maintenance and disease prevention, through early detection, to disease prognosis and treatment of disease. Through this RFA, activities can be targeted to any part of the precision health spectrum but must demonstrate the potential to contribute to a more evidence-based approach to health and thereby improve health outcomes, and/or have the potential to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the health-care system. Proposed projects should attain concrete deliverables by the end of the funding period that have the potential to be subsequently translated into valuable treatments, tools or improved health-care policies and practices.

March 2, 2017, 10:00AM Draft Registrations due to Ontario Genomics

Transformational Research 2017

Now Open

Provides funding (maximum of $1,500,000 over up to 3 years) for high-potential translational research projects with excellent preliminary data that will advance the development of therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases of aging.

Applications open: October 4, 2016
Application deadline:  March 31, 2017

This funding opportunity is to support successful Canadian applicants to the 4D Nucleome funding opportunity. 

The 4DN TCPA is expected to:

1. Expand the breadth of research supported by the 4DN Program through the development of new scientific strategies or technologies to explore the nuclear organization of the vertebrate genome in space and time and/or the role that this organization plays in regulating gene expression and cellular function. The proposed research needs to be clearly distinct from but complementary to projects that are ongoing within the 4DN program.
2. Broaden the pool of 4D Nucleome investigators and breadth of expertise within the program.

In order to protect and prolong the usefulness of existing antimicrobials, increasing cross-sectoral efforts are needed to rationalize their use and misuse in human and animal health and food production settings. Key measures to achieve this are to improve existing and implement new evidence-based control, prevention, stewardship and intervention strategies to reduce the risk of acquisition, development and transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and infection caused by these pathogens, in hospitalized patients, outpatients, healthy people, animals and the environment.

Despite significant investments in research and increased knowledge about the development, acquisition, occurrence, and transmission pathways of AMR, little of this research has translated into interventions to significantly improve health care by reducing improper antibiotic usage or infections by resistant microbes. Furthermore, much of what has been recommended as interventions to control AMR has been based on experience, empiricism, and common sense, rather than strong evidence. Consequently, the evidence-base for key interventions including detection, screening, isolation, decolonization, environmental decontamination, and antibiotic stewardship remains weak. The lack of sufficient evidence-based research is a problem in veterinary and agriculture science too, which has limited prospects for new antibiotics and therefore, interventions to enable lowering antibiotic usage in animal husbandry are vital.

It is a formidable challenge to decrease the misuse of antibiotics as well as to implement measures to block transmission of AMR in humans and animals. Cultural, contextual and behavioral determinants influence antibiotics use and may also determine interventions which are most cost-effective and/or can be successfully implemented.

In summary, controlled integrated studies between human population, health care systems, and agricultural settings, multiple sectors are urgently needed to devise the optimal intervention strategies across diverse cultural settings and heterogeneous systems of human health and animal health and food production.

For more information, please consult the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance website.

The Dr. James Rossiter Master's of Public Health (MPH) Practicum Award Program is expected: 

• To contribute to a reliable supply of highly qualified public health professionals able to respond to current and emerging public health problems across the country, including rural and northern communities, and in special populations (eg. immigrants, refugees, homeless populations).
• To provide special recognition and support to students who are pursuing a Master’s of Public Health degree in Canada.
• To build capacity for effective knowledge translation and use of research evidence by the public health system including encouraging work with other sectors.

Mitacs is accepting applications for competitive international research opportunities, including student travel to and from Canada. The deadline to apply is March 31, at 5 p.m. PST.

Projects last 12–24 weeks and are open to graduate students. Select destinations are also open to senior undergraduates. Funding varies by destination.

Students in Canada can do research in:

• Brazil
• China
• France
• India
• Korea
• Mexico
• Tunisia

Graduate students in Canada can also apply for the Globalink Partnership Award, which supports research projects abroad with industry partners in any country except the United States. Applicants are encouraged to apply by June 9, 2017, for travel in Fall 2017.

Students from the following countries can do research in Canada:

• France

To learn more about these initiatives, visit the Globalink web page or contact Mitacs International at international@mitacs.ca.

Canadian Blood Services is pleased to announce its 2017 MSM Research Grant Program competition. The objective of the MSM Research Program is to ensure the generation of adequate evidence-based research for alternative screening approaches for blood or plasma donors, which could evolve the current deferral policy for men who have sex with men (MSM) while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.

 

For detailed information about the Program competition, please refer to www.blood.ca. The deadline is February 26, 2017 to submit a registration form as an indication of your intent to submit an application. Applications will be due April 30.