Dr. Veronica Marcoux, from Saskatoon, received a one-year $20,000 Research Fellowship for 2016-17.
The fellowship sought to partially fund of a 12-month ILD Fellowship Program. Dr. Marcoux sought to develop a Pulmonary Fibrosis Program in Saskatoon and Dr. Kerri Johannson and Dr. Charlene Fell were committed to providing Dr. Marcoux with advanced clinical ILD training and mentorship for setting up a functioning program in Saskatoon.
During her fellowship, Dr. Marcoux was engaged in multiple research projects at the University of Calgary. She has an interest in quality assurance and relished the opportunity to start building a database of Saskatchewan people affected by pulmonary fibrosis, so that further research can be facilitated and potentially benefit patients in the future.
The University Hospital of Edmonton, Alberta, was awarded a $100,000 Grant in 2016, in order to fund a dedicated ILD speciality nurse practitioner at the KEC Multidisciplinary ILD Clinic to work directly with Dr. Meena Kalluri the clinic director.
This initiative helped fill a significant care gap in Alberta for pulmonary fibrosis patients. The grant was awarded by CPFF in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim.
Patients benefited by decreased wait times to see a Pulmonary Fibrosis specialist as well as increased patient support and satisfaction for patients and caregivers, thus optimizing outcomes.
CPFF funded the nurse-coordinator position for the clinic for two years, with the understanding that the position would be funded by Alberta Health Services going forward. CPFF funding on March 31, 2019.
St Joseph’s Hospital, Hamilton, was awarded a $30,000 Research grant to study the Role of Heath Shock Proteins in IPF.
While the role of heath shock proteins in ILDs continues to be studied, here’s an excerpt from the latest abstract from a study by Dr. Martin Kolb, Dr. Pierre-Simon Bellaye and 5 other researchers named “Extracellular Heat Shock Proteins as Therapeutic Targets and Biomarkers in Fibrosing Interstitial Lung Diseases“.
Given the vast number of progressive fibrosing Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILDs) and the disparities in clinical patterns and disease features, the course of these diseases is heterogeneous and cannot accurately be predicted for an individual patient. As a consequence, the discovery of novel biomarkers for these types of diseases is a major clinical challenge. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperons that have been extensively described to be involved in fibrogenesis.
Their extracellular forms (eHSPs) have been recently and successfully used as therapeutic targets or circulating biomarkers in cancer. The current review will describe the role of eHSPs in fibrosing ILDs, highlighting the importance of these particular stress proteins to develop new therapeutic strategies and discover potential biomarkers in these diseases.
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In 2016, the St Joseph’s Hospital Foundation was awarded a $25,000 research grant for stem cell research and $2,500 research grant for general research.
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The International Colloquium on Lung and Airway Fibrosis (ICLAF) was awarded a $5,500 Sponsorship for clinical researchers in 2016.
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In 2016, The University of Calgary was awarded a $20,000 Grant for hiring of research clinician.
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