River Philip Foundation provides $1.25M in grants to support innovative University of Ottawa medical research

The family foundation has generously committed funding to support the bold and innovative work of �糵�� Faculty of Medicine investigators.

The University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine is focused on empowering its world-class interdisciplinary teams to unlock bold research ideas with the potential to transform the lives of patients and their families.

Now, with new $1.25M grant funding from the , that’s precisely what teams of �糵�� Faculty of Medicine basic scientists and clinicians will seek to accomplish with a series of high-impact research projects.

Research collaborators will use the generous grant funding to pioneer ways of improving health outcomes with new microbiome-informed nutritional strategies, explore boosting skeletal muscle repair during aging, and investigate how specialized cells impact stroke recovery, among other goals.

“This year’s investments at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine are intended to fuel transformative medical research and to improve health outcomes for Canadians.”

Deborah Shaffner

— River Philip Foundation trustee

Awardees were selected following a competitive and thorough review process by a diverse, interdisciplinary committee of reviewers from across Faculty of Medicine departments and research institutes, chaired by Dr. Jocelyn Côté, Vice Dean for Research. The chosen projects were based on scientific merit and their alignment with the Foundation’s priorities.

As part of its mission to fund transformative medical research at Canadian universities and medical schools, the River Philip Foundation’s investments of $1.25M has established two grant programs at the �糵�� Faculty of Medicine. The “Transformational Medical Research Grant” will fund one project with $1M over three years, and the “Sustaining Excellence Grant” will be awarded to five projects with $50,000 each for one year.

“When it comes to advancing medicine, River Philip is focused on directing funding that has the potential to be truly transformative and make a significant difference in people’s lives. This year’s investments at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine are intended to fuel transformative medical research and to improve health outcomes for Canadians,” says Deborah Shaffner, a trustee with the foundation established in 2005.

Balanced Gut Microbiome, Better Health

With the $1M in grant funding, the Transformational Medical Research Grant will launch a study that will bring together a team of Faculty of Medicine clinicians and basic scientists at the pinnacle of their fields.

Led by principal investigator Dr. Alain Stintzi, the collaborative project titled “Precision Dietary Strategies to Rescue Gut Microbiome Function and Improve Health Outcomes” aims to harness the power of “food as medicine” in health conditions where current treatments are limited.

“Our unique ecosystem allows us to move discoveries from the lab bench to patient care more quickly and ensures that our research directly addresses the real needs of patients and families.”

Dr. Alain Stintzi

— Principal investigator for the $1M Transformational Medical Research Grant

“By studying the gut microbiome across very different diseases – from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Myotonic Dystrophy Type-1 to Neuroblastoma and Glioblastoma – we aim to identify common microbial imbalances and use tailored nutrition to restore healthier microbiome functions. This could offer safe, accessible, and personalized dietary approaches that meaningfully improve patients’ quality of life,” Dr. Stintzi says.

How does he expect to define success for the team’s research project over the next three years?

“Success will mean demonstrating that we can identify nutritional compounds that beneficially shift the microbiome and that these shifts translate into improved biological markers in preclinical and pilot human studies,” says Dr. Stintzi, Full Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology and the Director of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Dr. Stintzi credits Ottawa’s broad and highly collaborative research ecosystem – bolstered by close partnerships with affiliated hospitals and research institutes – with making their ambitious work possible.

“Our unique ecosystem allows us to move discoveries from the lab bench to patient care more quickly and ensures that our research directly addresses the real needs of patients and families,” he says.

‘Sustaining excellence’ with pioneering research

With grant funding of $50,000 each, the Sustaining Excellence Grant is intended to drive innovations in promising new projects as they scale up.

Following is a list of the principal investigators and the title of the projects they are leading:

Dr. Morgan Fullerton “Metabolic regulation of anabolism suppresses atherogenesis”
Dr. Mireille Khacho “Redox signaling via protein S-glutathionylation in muscle stem cell function and muscle regeneration”
Dr. Diane Lagace “Harnessing the potential of astrocytes to improve stroke recovery”
Dr. Aymeric Ravel-Chapuis “Staufen1 as a Universal Regulator of Muscle Atrophy and Its Potential as a Therapeutic Target
Dr. Vahab Soleimani “Molecular characterization of a novel age-disrupted communication between muscle stem and niche cells mediated by NREP and TGF beta signaling: Implications for boosting skeletal muscle repair during aging”