Julie MV Nguyen
Three winners of the PHRI-based transdisciplinary research grant program in Hamilton, Canada (new this year) – called Transforming Tomorrow Today, – have been selected. The grant recipients, who are currently not full members of PHRI, each receive a research development operating grant of up to $200,000 per year for three years, with a 50% contribution from PHRI matched by a similar contribution from Hamilton Health Sciences or other source.
In each case, the successful grant applicant will be partnered with a PHRI Scientist or Senior Scientist throughout their research project.
Julie My Van Nguyen, of Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre, Hamilton, and team – The FARGO study: Frailty Assessment for Risk Prediction in Gynecologic Oncology patients undergoing surgery and chemotherapy. This research program will strengthen the collaboration between PHRI’s perioperative and surgery research group (mentored by PHRI Scientist Maura Marcucci), and other McMaster research groups/institutes including the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA), the ICES hub at McMaster, the Departments of Surgery and OBGYN, the CRLB-GMEL laboratory, as well as other Canadian centres of research.
Katherine Morrison
Katherine Morrison, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, will co-lead A Clinical Platform for Discovering Novel Regulators of Energy Expenditure addressing a critical, persistent clinical problem in adults and in children – obesity and associated health impacts. This project brings together a team of clinicians, pre-clinical scientists and researchers specializing in bioinformatics discovery.
Morrison and Gregory Steinberg, co-directors of McMaster’s Centre for Metabolism, Obesity & Diabetes Research (MacMODR) will be mentored by Hertzel Gerstein and Guillaume Paré. The team also includes Joyce Obeid (energy expenditure measurement), Marie Pigeyre (bioinformatics, protein biomarker), Nik Pai (energy extraction), Zubin Punthakee (clinical trials), Jonathan Schertzer (energy extraction) and Michael Surette (gut microbiome).
Aristithes Doumouras, Department of Surgery, McMaster will lead the research program, Microbiome, Eating Risk Factors, and Genetic Biomarkers (MERGE) obesity study. He will be mentored by PHRI Senior Scientist Guillaume Paré, and Mehran Anvari, head of the Centre for Surgical Invention & Innovation.
Ari Doumouras
The MERGE study will demonstrate the feasibility of combining blood biomarkers, gut microbiomic, genetic, psychological, nutritional, and socioeconomic variables from individuals in the established clinical Ontario Bariatric Registry. Co-investigators/collaborators on MERGE include PHRI Investigator Marie Pigeyre as well as Michael Surette, Iris Balodis, Jean-Éric Tarride.
