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On May 16, SCN was pleased to allocate $8.92 million to support 24 research projects and clinical trials across the country, with 23 partner organizations committing $9.44 million of in kind or cash support.
This investment is the result of SCN’s second and final two funding competitions for the 2022-2025 period to support world-class regenerative medicine research and clinical trials. The projects and clinical trials cover 14 different disease areas and illnesses such as, brain disorders, diabetes, heart and lung disease, cancer and spinal cord injury.
As part of this funding competition, which opened in September 2022, 65 applications were received for consideration. These applications were assessed through an international peer review for scientific merit, and then considered for strategic fit by SCN’s Research Management Committee. To read more about SCN’s Research Funding Program and Peer Review Process, click here.
When Round 2 results are combined with the results of SCN’s Round 1 funding competition, a total of $28.4 million will be distributed to support stem cell and regenerative medicine research projects and clinical trials with $31.8 million in partner funding for the 2022-2025 funding period. This is the largest injection of funding into research in SCN’s history.
SCN 2022-2025 Round 2 Funding Results:
Clinical Trials Awards
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucie Germain, Université Laval, Québec | Véronique Moulin (Université Laval), Richard Bazin (Université Laval), Isabelle Burnette (Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont), Clara Chan (Toronto Western Hospital - University of Toronto), Jason Guertin (Université Laval), Bartha Knoppers (McGill University Health Centre), Ralph Kyrillos (Université Laval), Mohib-Wadie (Centre de santé et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais, Hôpital de Hull), Michel Ouellet (Université Laval), Allan Zawati (Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto), Ma’n Zawati (McGill University) | Clinical trial of cultured epithelial corneal autografts for the treatment of Canadians with limbal stem cell deficiency | $603,600 |
| Marc Jeschke, McMaster University, Ontario | A phase I, single-blind, randomized study of safety of cellularized Integra® using autologous burn-derived MSCs | $298,000 | |
| Sowmya Viswanathan, University Health Network, Ontario | Tim Dwyer (Women's College Hospital), Osvaldo Espin-Garcia (The University of Western Ontario), Rajiv Gandhi (University Health Network), Mohit Kapoor (University Health Network), Anthony Perruccio (University Health Network), Lynn Saber (University Health Network), Liz Scheid (University Health Network), Kala Sundararajan (University Health Network), Nick Bansback (University of British Columbia), Jaskarndip Chahal (Women's College Hospital), Christopher Kim (Toronto Western Hospital), Darrell Ogilvie-Harri (University Health Network) | Autologous Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate or Lipoaspirate Concentrate for OsteoArthritis: ABLE OA Clinical Trial | $750,000 |
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
Accelerating Clinical Translation Awards
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Véronique Moulin, Université Laval, Québec | Lucie Germain (Université Laval), Ma’n Zawati (McGill University), Chanel Beaudoin-Cloutier (Université Laval), Sue-Ling Chang (CHU de Québec - Université Laval) | Allogeneic dermis to accelerate the production of a tissue-engineered skin substitute to treat Canadian burn patients | $600,000 |
| Bernard Thébaud, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ontario | Dean Fergusson (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Justin Presseau (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Hartmut Grasemann (University of Toronto), Matthias Griese (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, LMU), Manoj Lalu (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Hanns Lochmuller (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute Inc), Lawrence Nogee (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine), Maria Pierro (M. Bufalini Hospital Ausl Romagna), Nicolaus Schwerk (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover), Kednapa Thavorn (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute) | AAVenger-B: Adeno-Associated Virus Engineered Gene Epithelial progenitor cell Regeneration for surfactant proteinB deficiency | $599,800 |
| Bruce Verchere, University of British Columbia, British Columbia | Francis Lynn (University of British Columbia), Timothy Kieffer (University of British Columbia), Megan Levings (University of British Columbia) | Genetic engineering of hESC-derived insulin-producing cells to improve graft outcomes in type 1 diabetes | $600,000 |
| Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Ontario | Jonas Mattsson (University Health network), Donna Wall (The Hospital for Sick Children) | Production of progenitor T cells for immune-reconstitution and targeted immunotherapies (ProTIMM) | $599,875 |
| Peter Zandstra, University of British Columbia, British Columbia | Yale Michaels (CancerCare Manitoba), Roser Vento-Tormo (Wellcome Sanger Institute) | PSC-derived immune cells as an advanced delivery vehicle for protein therapeutics | $400,000 |
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
Fueling Biotechnology Partnerships Awards
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| C. Florian Bentzinger, Université de Sherbrooke, Québec | Mobilizing endogenous repair in muscular dystrophy | $398,600 | |
| Michael Fehlings, University Health Network, Ontario | Mohammad Khazaei (Inteligex Inc.), Michael Laflamme (University of Toronto – University Health Network) | Translation of cGMP grade oligodenrogenic NPCs (oNPCs) for the treatment of traumatic cervical spinal cord injury | $400,000 |
| Massimiliano Paganelli, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Québec | Christopher Rose (Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal) | iPSC-derived Encapsulated Liver Tissue: extending the indication to acute-on-chronic liver failure | $400,000 |
| Fabio Rossi, University of British Columbia, British Columbia | Bettina Willie (McGill University), Frank Rauch (McGill University) | Bone targeted EP4 agonists as therapeutics for muscular dystrophy | $399,821 |
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
Impact Awards
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yan Burelle, University of Ottawa, Ontario | Gilles Gouspillou (Université du Québec à Montréal), Mireille Khacho (University of Ottawa) | Targeting mitochondrial quality control to promote muscle regeneration | $224,520 |
| Colin Crist, Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Québec | Jonathan Britt (McGill University) | Shining light on muscle regeneration: MuSC mediated delivery of optogenetic contractile properties to skeletal muscle | $250,000 |
| Junio Dort, University of Ottawa, Ontario | C. Florian Bentzinger (Université de Sherbrooke) | Novel therapeutic compounds targeting G-coupled receptors to enhance muscle stem cell function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy | $250,000 |
| James Ellis, The Hospital for Sick Children, Ontario | Augusto Zani (The Hospital for Sick Children), Karun Singh (University Health Network), Ji-Young Youn (The Hospital for Sick Children), Steven Kushner (Columbia University Irving Medical Center) | Extracellular vesicles transport molecular cargo from stem cell derived healthy astrocytes to rescue Rett syndrome neurons | $250,000 |
| Kristin Hope, University Health Network, Ontario | Thomas Kislinger (University of Toronto), Eric Lechman (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (Hillman Cancer Center, UPCI), Mark Minden (University Health Network), Eugene Yeo (University of California – San Diego) | Harnessing developmentally-guided post-transcriptional HSC drivers to advance in vivo hematopoietic regeneration | $250,000 |
| Zachary Laksman, University of British Columbia, British Columbia | Gil Bub (McGill University), Craig Simmons (University of Toronto), David Vocadlo (Simon Fraser University) | Development of high-throughput assays to stratify cardiotoxic drug risk by sex and genotype | $249,997 |
| Arvind Mer, University of Ottawa, Ontario | Alexandre Blais (University of Ottawa), Fabien Le Grand (Institut National de la Santé et la Recherche Medicale- INSERM DR PARIS VI), Trung Nghia Vu (Karolinska Institutet) | Decoding Alternative Splicing Regulatory Networks in Myogenic Stem Cell Function | $250,000 |
| Yale Michaels, CancerCare Manitoba | David Knapp (Université de Montréal), Cedric Tremblay (CancerCare Manitoba), Peter Zandstra (University of British Columbia) | Cellular engineering to enhance T cell production from pluripotent stem cells | $249,957 |
| Shinichiro Ogawa, University Health Network, Ontario | Boyang Zhang (McMaster University) | Sustained liver engraftment with bioengineered functionally complete liver tissues | $249,233 |
| Martin Post, The Hospital for Sick Children, Ontario | Andras Nagy (Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai Hospital), Ming Tsao (Princess Margaret Hospital) | Enhancing the production of human alveolar-like macrophages for lung cancer therapy | $250,000 |
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
Impact Awards: ELSI Stream
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Guertin, Université Laval, Québec | Véronique Moulin (Université Laval), Lucie Germain (Université Laval) | Supporting the use of early economic evaluations within the regenerative medicine field | $200,000 |
| Manoj Lalu, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ontario | Jonathan Kimmelman (McGill University), Dean Fergusson (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Agnes Grudniewicz (University of Ottawa), Harold Atkins (Ottawa Hospital), Kevin Hay (University of British Columbia), Natasha Kekre (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Lauralyn McIntyre (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Kelley Parato (Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada), Duncan Stewart (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Bernard Thébaud (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), David Thompson (University of British Columbia) | Developing guidance to translate promising cell therapies to early phase clinical trials | $200,000 |
| Principal Investigator | Co-Investigators and Collaborators | Project Title | SCN Funds Allocated |