Deborah Assayag (Priority Announcement)
The Longitudinal Use of Oscillometry in Interstitial Lung Diseases

Jonathon Campbell
Co-Investigators: Benjamin Smith, Kevin Schwartzman, Dick Menzies, Andrea Benedetti
Functional Outcomes, Lung health, and Livelihood Outcomes among people With Tuberculosis (FOLLOW-TB): a pan-Canadian prospective cohort study

Maziar Divangahi
Harnessing the power of trained immunity in disease tolerance against influenza virus

Elizabeth Fixman (Priority Announcement)
Sex-specific mechanisms by which environmental triggers promote durable changes to the lung to exacerbate type 2 innate and adaptive immunity

Irah King
Mechanisms of tissue-resident T cell activation for intestinal host defense

Larry Lands (Co-Principal Investigator)
Nominated Principal Investigator: Juan Ianowski (University of Saskatchewan)
Function of pulmonary ionocytes and club cells in human airway and their contribution to cystic fibrosis lung disease

Larry Lands (Co-Principal Investigator)
Nominated Principal Investigator: Sze Man Tse (Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine)
Predicting biologic therapy response in children with severe asthma: the Medication response and Asthma Therapy in CHildren with severe Asthma (MATCHA) Study

Sushmita Pamidi
Co-Investigators: Andrea Benedetti, John Kimoff
Sleep-Disordered Breathing During Pregnancy and Long-Term Postpartum Blood Pressure Pattern

Bryan Ross
Co-Investigators: Jean Bourbeau, Jun Ding, Sabah Hussain, Larry Lands
Enhancing the Clinical Benefits of COPD Chronic Management: The SUPplementation with URolithin-A during Pulmonary Rehabilitation in COPD (SUPRA-COPD) Trial

The post CIHR Project Grant Results – Fall 2025 appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

Sami Sedraoui, PhD, is postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Dr. Sabah Hussain. Sami received the Relève étoile Jacques-Genest award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec–Santé (FRQS) for his 2024 publication in the Journal of Physiology, titled “Lack of compensatory mitophagy in skeletal muscles during sepsis.”

Sami’s research explores how muscles manage damaged mitochondria, especially during critical illnesses like sepsis. His study shows that in sepsis, the normal process of clearing out defective mitochondria (called mitophagy) fails, contributing to muscle weakness. This new understanding suggests that boosting mitophagy could become a promising treatment to protect muscle strength in ICU patients.

Dr. Hussain praised Sami’s work, highlighting its potential to shape future therapies aimed at preserving muscle health during serious illnesses.

The Relève Étoile Award celebrates outstanding achievements by young researchers and is named in honor of Dr. Jacques Genest, a pioneer in medical research.

Read More

Relève étoile Jacques-Genest | Avril 2025. FRQ Website.

April 2025 winner of the Relève étoile Jacques-Genest award. Congratulations to Sami Sedraoui, post-doctoral researcher in experimental medicine at the Meakins-Christie Laboratories. The Institute News. May 5, 2025

RI-MUHC researchers identify new autophagy-regulating gene. The Institute News. April 28, 2023.

Read the Publication

Sami Sedraoui, Jean-Philippe, Leduc-Gaudet, Dominique Mayaki, Alaa Moamer, Laurent Huck, Gilles Gouspillou, Basil J Petrof, Sabah Hussain, Lack of compensatory mitophagy in skeletal muscles during sepsis, The Journal of Physiology, 2024 Jun; 602(12):2823-2838.

The post Sami Sedraoui Receives the Relève Étoile Jacques-Genest Award appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

Basil Petrof. Co-Investigator: Jun Ding. The role of trained macrophages in dystrophic diaphragm pathology.

Sabah Hussain.  Co-Principal Investigator: Gilles Gouspillou. Co-Applicants: Jean-Philippe Leduc-Gaudet, Vanina Romanello, Marco Sandri. Regulation of skeletal muscle and peroxisomal homeostasis by Depp1 protein.

See the RI-MUHC website for more information on the Fall 2024 CIHR competition results.

The post CIHR Project Grant Results – Fall 2024 appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

Sabah Hussain. Regulation of skeletal muscle mass and function by long non-coding RNAs

Anne-Marie Lauzon. Smooth muscle biophysics.

Nicole Yee-Key Li-Jessen. Computational Biomodeling in Upper Airway: Particulate Pollutant Toxicity and Mechanistics. (Dr. Li-Jessen is an Associate Member of the RESP Program).

The post NSERC 2024 Research Grants Competition appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

Quazi Sufia Islam (PhD with Carolyn Baglole). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: Le rôle de l’antigène R humain (HuR) dans le développement de la fibrose pulmonaire idiopathique (fpi).

Elizabeth Lapshina (MSc with Maziar Divangahi). Formation de maîtrise FRQS. Title: Le rôle des macrophages péritonéaux dans la défense de l’hôte contre l’infection par la grippe.

Clara MacMahon (PhD with Irah King). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: Caractériser le rôle du métabolisme intestinal de cholestérol alimentaire sur la Maladie D’Alzheimer.

Hamed Shieh (PhD with Dao Nguyen). Formation de doctorat en recherche FRQNT. Title: Conception d’un dispositif colorimétrique rapide pour la détection au point de service d’infections bactériennes et l’antibiogramme.

Maryam Youssef (MSc with Larry Lands). Formation de maîtrise en recherche FRQS. Title: Optimisation d’une formulation de nanoparticules lipidiques pour l’encapsulation et la délivrance améliorées d’ARNm.

Maddison Arlen (MSc with Carolyn Baglole). Master’s Award – CIHR. Title: Lung Inflammation Induced by Cannabis Smoke Regulated by Human Antigen R (HuR).

Patrick Greiss (MSc with Carolyn Baglole). Master’s Award – CIHR. Title: The effect of terpenes on immune inflammatory response in the lungs.

Zachary Grimard (MSc with Simon Rousseau). Master’s Award – CIHR. Title: A synthetic biology approach for the production of rare cannabinoids with anti-diabetic properties in yeast.

Kristina Nikolaou (MSc with Maziar Divangahi). Master’s Award – CIHR. Title: The mystery of BCG vaccine in protection against SARS-CoV-2.

Khaled Skaik (MSc with Sabah Hussain). Master’s Award – CIHR. Title: Manipulating Muscle Stem Cells for Health.

The post Spring 2023 Student Awards appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

The Meakins-Christie Laboratories staff would like to extend their congratulations to the following recipients on their CIHR and FRQS 2022-2023 awards:

Bavanitha Thurairajah (PhD with Irah King). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: Déterminants de la fonction des cellules gd17 dans l’intestin.

Jordi Tomer Chaffer (MSc with Sabah Hussain). Formation de maîtrise FRQS. Title: MYTHO: Un nouveau gène dépendant de FoxO qui contrôle l’autophagie et la masse musculaire squelettique.

Eszter Farkas (PhD with Dao Nguyen). Bourses de doctorat en recherche FRQNT. Title: Découverte de nouveaux antibiotiques dans les bactéries canadiennes de l’Arctique extrême.

Lisa Hennemann (PhD with Dao Nguyen). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: L’effet de la pathoadaptation de Pseudomonas aeruginosa sur les interactions hôte- pathogène.

Fatima Hubaishi (PhD with Elizabeth Fixman and Brian Ward). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: Une nouvelle approche pour le traitement de la dermatite atopique: application topique d’un inhibiteur peptidique immunomodulateur dans un modèle murin.

Leonardo Jurado (PhD with Maziar Divangahi). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: Étude du lien entre immunité entrainée innée et adaptative induite par le BCG dans la protection contre le cancer de la vessie.

Jacquelyn Rich (PhD with Dao Nguyen). Bourses de doctorat en recherche FRQNT. Title: L’effet du stress oxydatif sur les adaptations membranaires et l’augmentation de la tolérance aux antibiotiques chez Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Mina Sadeghi (PhD with Maziar Divangahi). formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: La bataille du fer: infection à Mycobacterium tuberculosis dans la moelle osseuse.

Kim Tran (PhD with Maziar Divangahi). Formation de doctorat FRQS. Title: Protection croisée du vaccin BCG dans les infections grippales: immunité entrainée adaptative.

Shradha Wali (PDF with Maziar Divangahi). Formation postdoctorale – Citoyens d’autre pays FRQS. Title: Déchiffrer les mécanismes de tolérance à la maladie dans les infections virales pulmonaires.

Susan Westfall (PDF with Irah King). Post-PhD Fellowship CIHR. Title: Identifying mechanisms of disease tolerance during intestinal helminth infection

Muyang (Michael) Zhou (MSc with James Martin). Formation de maîtrise FRQS. Title: Mécanismes de la formation et les fonctions des nanotubes entre cellules T et muscle lisse.

The post Spring 2022 Student Awards appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

That year, more than 80 awards totaling over $1.6 million were presented to outstanding researchers whose work continues to drive innovation across diverse fields of medicine. These awards highlight how philanthropy and collaboration fuel the breakthroughs that shape a healthier future for all.

Recipients from the RESP Program and the Meakins-Christie Laboratories

The Honourable Hartland Molson Fellowship
Dr. Faiz Ahmad Khan

Strauss Chair in Respiratory Medicine
Dr. Maziar Divangahi

Helen McCall Hutchison Award in Geriatric Medicine
Dr. Sabah Hussain

Read More

2020 Research Awards. MGH Foundation News. October 2020.

The post MCG Foundation 2020 Research Awards appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

Sabah Hussain. Co-investigators: Gilles Gouspillou, Marco Sandri. Title: MYTHO: An uncharacterized FoxO-dependent gene that controls autophagy and skeletal muscle mass.

Jean Bourbeau, Sébastien Gagnon. Co-investigators: Rebecca Colman, James Downar, Dennis Jensen, Hayley Lewthwaite, Bryan Ross. Title: Sublingual Fentanyl for acute relief of breathlessness in patients with advanced COPD : A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design trial.

Kevin Schwartzman, James Johnston. Title: Tuberculosis in Canada: Modeling to Inform Elimination. Ranked 2nd in the Public, Community & Population Health.

The post Three CIHR Project Grants Awarded! appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

The prize was awarded for the following manuscript:

Leduc-Gaudet JP, Reynaud O, Hussain SN, Gouspillou G. Parkin Overexpression Protects from Ageing-Related Loss of Muscle Mass and Strength. J Physiol. 2019 Apr;597(7):1975-1991.

The post 2019 Early Investigator Prize winners appeared first on Meakins-Christie Laboratories.