The following 13 researchers and groups affiliated with VCHRI have recently received $2.66 million through Canadian and international competitions. Congratulations to the following trainees who won awards and scholarships.

Dr. Xuesen Dong, The Prostate Centre at VGH, received a three-year Terry Fox Foundation Grant for New Investigators of $372,500 for research on steroid receptor corepressors, PSF and p54nrb, in prostate cancer.

Dr. Janice Eng, GF Strong Rehab Centre, received a $375,000 grant from the Heart and Stroke of BC and Yukon to conduct the Supplementary Program in Repetitive Activity for the Leg (SPIRAL) during inpatient stroke rehabilitation.

Dr. Andrei Krassioukov, GF Strong Rehab Centre and ICORD, is the recipient of the Alan T. Brown Foundation SCI Research Award from the American Spinal Injury Association. He is recognized for his work in autonomic dysfunction following spinal cord injury. The award is accompanied with a one-year grant of $7,500.

Dr. Brian Kwon, ICORD, received a two-year grant of $250,000 USD from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation to continue research in acute spinal cord injury, looking at CSF pressures and CSF biomarkers.

Dr. Teresa Lui-Ambrose, Centre for Hip Health and Mobility and ICORD, received a strategic grant of $499,995 from the Canadian Stroke Network to investigate the role of exercise on cognition and function in seniors with vascular cognitive impairment.

Dr. Brian MacVicar, Brain Research Centre, UBC Hospital, in collaboration with researchers in Philadelphia and Paris, received funding from the Human Frontier Science Program to investigate two-photon monitoring and modulation of cerebrovasculature and neuronal excitability. Dr. MacVicar's share of the three-year grant is $350,000 (USD).

Dr. Alan So, The Prostate Centre at VGH, received a two-year grant of $218,380 from the Canadian Cancer Agency for research the treatment of bladder cancer.

Dr. Haishan Zeng, Photomedicine and Optics Lab at VGH (and BC Cancer Agency), in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Lam, Centre for Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine, received a three-year grant of $173,287 from the Canadian Cancer Agency to conduct a clinical study of the accuracy and usefulness of a laser technology to detect early signs of lung cancer.

Through their Charity Golf Tournament, Coast Capital Savings raised funds for depression research and held its first competition. The following VCHRI affiliated principal investigators received grants:

• Dr. Lakshmi Yaham, Mood Disorders Program and Brain Research Centre, in collaboration with Dr. David Bond, received $30,000 to investigate treatment of bipolar depression.
• Dr. Raymond Lam, Mood Disorders Program and Brain Research Centre, in collaboration with Drs. Andrew Clark, Errica Frank and Dorothy Shaw, received $54,000 for "EXCITED" (Extending Care using Internet Treatment for Employees with Depression).
• Dr. Jon Stoessl and post-doctoral fellow, Bradley Vines, Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre and Brain Research Centre, received $30,000 to research treating depression in Parkinson's disease.

UBC Hospital MS Clinic received a three-year grant of $300,000 from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada for a new "Western-Pacific" research and training centre. The centre, led by Dr. Peter Rieckmann, is a collaboration of research groups, including ICORD, from BC and Saskatchewan.

VCHRI Trainees

Kudos to the following trainees affiliated with VCHRI who have won awards and scholarships.

Elaine Kingwell has received a post-doctoral fellowship from the MS Society of Canada. Elaine works with Dr. Helen Tremlett in the Brain Research Centre at UBC Hospital. Her research interests are pharmacoepidemiology and multiple sclerosis.

Philip T.T. Ly is a PhD candidate with Dr. Weihong Song in the Brain Research Centre at UBC Hospital. Philip has been awarded the NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship. He is conducting research in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis.

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships which are worth $50,000 a year for up to three years to support their graduate studies have been awarded to:

• Alicia McMurchy is a PhD candidate studying with Dr. Megan Levings in the Immunity & Infection Research Centre at VGH. The topic of her thesis is Ex vivo generation of antigen-specific human T regulatory cells with in vivo suppressive capacity.
• David McVea is a MD/PhD candidate in Psychiatry. He is studying with Dr. Tim Murphy in the Brain Research Centre at UBC Hospital. He is testing the role of muscle spindles in plasticity of neural circuits.

Eric Sayre has received a post-doctoral fellowship award from the Canadian Arthritis Network. Eric will pursue his research in osteoarthritis with Drs. Jacek Kopec and Jolanda Cibere at the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada in fall 2009.

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has awarded a research fellowship to Ada Tang. The two-year post-doctoral salary will allow her to study the question, Aerobic Training after Stroke: Is there a dose-response relationship? Ada will be begin her post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Janice Eng, GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre in December 2009.

Congratulations to the following researchers and groups affiliated with VCHRI who have recently received awards through Canadian and international competitions or recognition in their field of expertise.

Dr. Michael Cox, The Prostate Centre at VGH, received a three-year grant of $382,500 from the Canadian Cancer Society to investigate how prostate tumour cells adapt to use insulin-like growth factor to become resistant to chemotherapies. His research will test how new therapeutic agents specifically target insulin-like growth factor signaling can compliment conventional chemotherapies to treat advanced prostate cancer.

Dr. John Steeves, ICORD, received a $357,246 Leading Edge Fund grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to research innovative technologies for improved functional outcomes and quality of life after spinal cord injury.

Dr. Thomas Oxland, Centre for Hip Health & Mobility and ICORD, has been elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He holds a Canada Research Chair in Spine Biomechanics and a joint appointment with the department of orthopaedics (Faculty of Medicine) and mechanical engineering (Faculty of Applied Science) at UBC. He is an expert in biomechanical aspects of the spine, spinal injury, orthopaedic implants and surgical techniques. The ASME is a prestigious society founded in 1880 to promote the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences throughout the world. The Fellow Grade recognizes significant engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession.

In April, the CIHR, NSERC and the US Prostate Centre announced the following funding awards, totaling nearly $1.9 Million. Congratulations to all, and our apologies should we have missed anyone.

Funding Program: Collaborative Health Research (Partnership between CIHR and NSERC)

• $492,336 to Aziz Ghahary, VCHRI Immunity and Infection Research Centre, and Frank Ko, UBC Engineering.
  Title: Development and Application of Nanofibres Releasing Anti-Fibrogenic Factors for treating Dermal Fibrosis
• $295,169 to Tim Salcudean (UBC Engineering) and a team of VCHRI co-investigators from the Vancouver Prostate Centre: Larry Goldenberg, Silvia Chang, Christopher Nguan, and Piotr Kozlowski.
  Title: Image guidance for radical prostatectomy
• $600,063 to Kenichi Takahata (UBC Engineering) with a team of co-investigators including VCHRI's York N.H. Hsiang.
  Title: Smart Stents for Wireless Monitoring of Vascular Disease

Funding Program: CIHR New Investigator Award

• $300,000 to Dr. Maureen Ashe, Centre for Hip Health and Mobility
  Title: Mobilizing Evidence into Action to Improve Health Outcomes of Vulnerable Seniors

Funding Program: CIHR Operating funds, Other: Knowledge to Action

• $200,000 to Erin Michalak, Brain Research Centre, and coPI Sagar Parikh (University Health Network, Toronto) and a team of co-investigators
  Title: Quality of life, stigma and bipolar disorder: A collaboration for change

Funding Program: CIHR Team Grant Letter of Intent: Sleep and Circadian Rhythms

• $10,000 to Najib Ayas to develop a full proposal to this Team Grant competition. His team of co-investigators includes VCHRI's Stirling Bryan, Mark Fitzgerald, John Fleetham, John Mancini, Frank Ryan.
  Title: Respiratory Sleep Disorders Research Team

Funding Program: U.S. Prostate Cancer Foundation

• Amina Zoubeidi, Vancouver Prostate Centre
  Title: Durden Foundation Young Investigator Award