CIHR Projects
Browse 3137 CIHR-funded research projects
Search & Filter Projects
Showing 1-50 of 3137 projects
Umbilical Mesenchymal Stromal Cells as Cellular Immunotherapy for Septic Shock: A Phase II RCT
PI: McIntyre, Lauralyn A; Fox-Robichaud, Alison E; Fergusson, Dean A; Mendelson, Asher A; Stewart, Duncan J; Walley, Keith R
Severe infection with shock (septic shock) in the intensive care unit (ICU) accounts for approximately 20% of admissions, of which 20 to 40% will die. Septic shock is associated with an uncontrolled …
PI: Roberts, Jason D; Cadrin-Tourigny, Julia; Connolly, Stuart J; Gollob, Michael H; Healey, Jeff S; Krahn, Andrew D
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a genetic form of heart disease characterized by abnormal replacement of heart tissue with scar and fat. Affected patients are vulnerable to …
PI: Goligher, Ewan C; Fan, Eddy; Ferguson, Niall D; Heath, Anna; Sahetya, Sarina
In patients with lung failure and low oxygen levels, mechanical ventilation (the 'breathing machine') can be life-saving. However, mechanical ventilation can also injure the lung, delaying recovery a…
PI: Edwards, Jodi D; Menon, Bijoy K; Mercier, Catherine; Sakakibara, Brodie M; Singh, Nishita; Swartz, Richard
Stroke affects Canadians of every age, sex, and ethnicity from all over Canada. Stroke is a disruption of blood flow to the brain, which can result in physical and cognitive impairments and is the le…
PI: Rochwerg, Bram N; Del Sorbo, Lorenzo; Fan, Eddy; Ferguson, Niall D; Goligher, Ewan C
Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF), or acute breathing problems, are one of the most common reasons to require hospital admission, or in the most severe cases, admission to the intensive care…
PI: Jerath, Angela; Cuthbertson, Brian H; Lalgudi Ganesan, Saptharishi; McKinnon, Nicole K; Slessarev, Marat
In children needing life-saving critical care, over 50% suffer from an acute brain disorder called delirium which presents as poor concentration, memory and attention. Unfortunately, delirium has no …
PI: Fowler, Robert A; Adhikari, Neill K; Archambault, Patrick; Bagshaw, Sean M; Binnie, Alexandra; Chasse, Michael; Cook, Deborah J; Daneman, Nick; Fiest, Kirsten M; Fox-Robichaud, Alison E; Goligher, Ewan C; Herridge, Margaret S; Kho, Michelle E; Lamontagne, Francois; Lawler, Patrick R; Lee, Todd C; Marshall, John C; McDonald, Emily G; McNally, James D; Meade, Maureen O; Mehta, Sangeeta; Menon, Kusum; Murthy, Srinivas; O'Hearn, Katharine J; Piquette, Dominique; Rochwerg, Bram N; Russell, James A; Tsang, Jennifer L; Turgeon, Alexis F; Wollny, Krista; Yada, Nicole; Zarychanski, Ryan
To date over 3.6 million Canadians have been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. Of these, 15-20% have been hospitalized, and over one-quarter have been admitted to ICU. Unfortunately, there have been…
Options for Increasing Plasma Supply in Canada: A Health Economic Preference and Modelling Study
PI: Kennedy, Kevin M
Plasma is the liquid component of blood and is collected from donors. It is used for transfusions in hospitals, and for the manufacture of treatments that are used for patients with various chronic a…
PI: Fowler, Robert A; Adhikari, Neill K; Archambault, Patrick; Bagshaw, Sean M; Binnie, Alexandra; Chasse, Michael; Cook, Deborah J; Daneman, Nick; Fiest, Kirsten M; Fox-Robichaud, Alison E; Goligher, Ewan C; Herridge, Margaret S; Kho, Michelle E; Lamontagne, Francois; Lawler, Patrick R; Lee, Todd C; Marshall, John C; McDonald, Emily G; McNally, James D; Meade, Maureen O; Mehta, Sangeeta; Menon, Kusum; Murthy, Srinivas; O'Hearn, Katharine J; Piquette, Dominique; Rochwerg, Bram N; Russell, James A; Tsang, Jennifer L; Turgeon, Alexis F; Wollny, Krista; Yada, Nicole; Zarychanski, Ryan
To date over 3.6 million Canadians have been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. Of these, 15-20% have been hospitalized, and over one-quarter have been admitted to ICU. Unfortunately, there have been…
PI: Goligher, Ewan C; Fan, Eddy; Ferguson, Niall D; Sahetya, Sarina
In patients with lung failure and low oxygen levels, mechanical ventilation (the 'breathing machine') can be life-saving. However, mechanical ventilation can also injure the lung, delaying recovery a…
PI: Sin, Donald; Leung, Janice
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent shortness of breath, cough, and reduced exercise capacity. COPD affects 2.7 million Canadians and accounts for ~11,000 deat…
COVID-19 is an acute respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 has caused > 223 million infections and >4.1 million deaths. Most infected people are mildly symptomatic; however, ~5% suffer r…
PI: Kim, Paul Y
Maintaining the balance between blood clotting and removal is important. Upon vascular damage, blood clots must be formed to stop the initial blood loss. Afterwards, these clots are removed (fibrinol…
PI: Shoamanesh, Ashkan; Salman, Rustam A
ASPIRING aims to improve the care of patients who survive stroke due to bleeding in the brain, known as "hemorrhagic stroke". Hemorrhagic strokes happen when weakened blood vessels rupture and cause …
PI: Kim, Keekyoung
Vascularization is an indispensable requirement of fabricating large solid tissues and organs. The vascular networks in the human body differ among the organs and tissues. In a typical network, the b…
PI: KOSCHINSKY, Marlys L; Boffa, Michael B
Diseases of the human vascular system remain leading causes of disability and death in the Western world. These diseases largely arise from atherosclerosis, which involves the formation of diseased a…
The chemotherapy drug doxorubicin is a highly effective drug to treat a number of human cancers. However, a major side effect of this drug its toxicity to the heart muscle. In fact, the cells of the …
Ventricular Tachycardia (VT, sometimes colloquially referred to as "V-Tach"), a heart rhythm disorder, is often caused by abnormal electrical activities within the diseased muscular wall of the ventr…
PI: Goligher, Ewan C; Fan, Eddy
In patients with lung failure and low oxygen levels, mechanical ventilation (the 'breathing machine') can be life-saving. However, mechanical ventilation can also injure the lung and the diaphragm (t…
Ischemic stroke, caused by blood vessel occlusion, is the third leading cause of death in Canada and a leading cause of disability. Rapid reestablishment of vascular function is critical, as the rest…
PI: Martel, Guillaume; Fergusson, Dean A
Blood transfusions are commonly given to patients during surgery. Although blood transfusions can be lifesaving, they can also cause serious side effects such as allergic reactions and infections. Re…
PI: Cypel, Marcelo; Keshavjee, Shaf
Currently, lungs donated for transplantation are preserved in an ice cooler at a temperature of around 4 °C. While on ice, several deleterious processes may occur, rendering organ viability after a s…
PI: Mazwi, Mjaye L; Goodfellow, Sebastian D
Critically ill children suffer preventable injury and death as a result of abnormal heart rhythms. Detecting these abnormalities is challenging for doctors and nurses. Machine learning (ML) models ha…
PI: Maynes, Jason T; Cheng, Hai-Ling M; Coles, John G
Heart failure has a universally poor outcome, with only 50% of patients surviving a further five years after diagnosis. The medications that are available for heart failure have little impact on pati…
The efficient uptake of oxygen by the lung is dependent on maintaining a thin but highly efficient barrier between the air spaces and the blood. This barrier is comprised of a thin layer of endotheli…
Before birth, blood flow to fetal lungs is minimal and oxygen (O2) is provided by the placenta. The ductus arteriosus (DA), an artery connecting the pulmonary artery (PA) and aorta, allows blood from…
PI: Nair, Girish M; Andrade, Jason G; Birnie, David H; Essebag, Vidal; Wells, George A
STATEMENT OF THE HEALTH PROBLEM: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a heart rhythm disturbance that affects over a million people in Canada and the USA. If left untreated AF can cause strokes, heart failure…
PI: Fowler, Robert A; Murthy, Srinivas
Severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) is a major public health problem. Recent outbreaks of pandemic influenza viruses and coronaviruses have taught us not only that these viruses can lead to sev…
PI: Fowler, Robert A; Adhikari, Neill K
Historically, approximately 70% of people in Africa infected with Ebola virus have died. Most commonly, people develop vomiting and diarrhea, become severely dehydrated, their blood pressure falls, a…
PI: Haas, Tara L
Critical limb threatening ischemia (CLTI) is a significant unresolved health issue for a growing percent of the population. In this disease, arterial blockage reduces blood flow to the muscles of the…
Pain is an important but difficult part of patient management after heart surgery. Besides the obvious humane need to avoid suffering, uncontrolled pain slows recovery and increases complications. Op…
PI: Suuronen, Erik
Heart diseases are the #1 cause of mortality worldwide, with over 17 million deaths per year. In Canada, over 2 million people aged 20+ live with heart disease. Procedures such as bypass surgery rest…
PI: Rozenberg, Dmitry; Reid, Wendy D
People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have an increased work of breathing and this extra effort can make them breathless. Breathlessness is rated as moderate to severe in people wi…
Peripheral arterial disease and diabetic foot ulcer are a major risk factor for lower-extremity amputation and a major cause of morbidity and premature death in patients with diabetes. Evidence sugge…
Coronary bypass grafting and valve repair are common cardiac surgeries which are performed daily in almost every large hospital in Canada. Yet, despite everyone's best efforts, serious adverse events…
PI: Carlsten, Christopher; Mookherjee, Neeloffer
Facts have shown that people made sick by smoking for years are made worse by bad air outside. They also often need to go to the hospital if they get a bug. One of the main drugs they take for this s…
PI: Kahr, Walter H
Each drop of blood contains millions of platelets, tiny cells that patrol the bloodstream and trigger clotting when they encounter cuts. Platelets can also be triggered by infections, inflammation an…
Aldosterone blockade for Health Improvement Evaluation in End-stage kidney disease: Extension
PI: Walsh, Michael W
Almost 3 million people worldwide need dialysis to sustain their lives after their kidneys fail and this number is projected to double in the next 15 years. Almost half of patients that require dialy…
PI: Karoubi, Golnaz; Haykal, Siba
Cancer, trauma and narrowing of long segments of the airway are very difficult to reconstruct and require novel solutions. Attempts at transplantation of donor airway and tissue engineered constructs…
Cardioprotection during hypertensive heart disease is mediated through anti-viral cytokine pathways
PI: Epelman, Slava
High blood pressure is a common risk factor for patients to develop a weak and/or stiff heart. When the heart develops problematic changes in response to high blood pressure, heart failure can occur …
PI: Seow, Chun Y
If healthy people are prohibited from taking deep breaths or deep inspirations (DI) for ~30 min, they will develop asthma-like symptoms. Fortunately, these symptoms will disappear once they are allow…
PI: Gross, Peter L
Blood clots cause many diseases. Thus blood thinners are commonly used medications, especially in those over 75 years old. Until 8 years ago the most common blood thinner was warfarin. Warfarin needs…
RYR2-targeted Gene Therapies for Treating Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia
PI: Roberts, Jason D
Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a form of electrical heart disease that is associated with a risk of sudden death. The majority of CPVT patients have an abnormality in…
PI: Karsan, Aly
During the development of blood vessels in the embryo some of the blood vessel lining cells, called hemogenic endothelial cells, become blood stem cells, which then create the circulating blood syste…
PI: McGuire, John J
A healthy circulation is essential to good health and depends on the functioning of blood vessels, especially the endothelial cells lining the inside of the vessels. Preventive therapies such as diet…
According to the 2018 Global Asthma Report, 339 million people have asthma worldwide, causing 1000 deaths daily. Asthma is an inflammatory disease resulting in airway narrowing due to excessive airwa…
PI: Joza, Jacqueline; Essebag, Vidal; Healey, Jeff S; Verma, Atul
Pacemakers are life-saving devices for patients who develop very slow heart rates. If a patient is completely dependent on the pacemaker without electrical signals of their own, they can develop a we…
PI: Gill, Heather L
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a condition where the major artery in the abdomen becomes larger than usual. Over time, as it continues to grow, the wall of the artery weakens and there is a risk tha…
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disease where the heart muscles stiffen and become abnormally thick, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. This disease severely impacts infants…
PI: Light, Peter E
In Canada it is estimated that 1 in 60 individuals live with heart failure (HF) and rates are increasing. Importantly, HF patients have poor quality of life and are 6X more likely to die prematurely,…