uOttawa News

OTTAWA, December 22, 2014  —  The Government of Canada announced today that a team of researchers affiliated with the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute (uOBMRI) has been awarded a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to explore a possible genetic link between Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease and leprosy.

This grant is part of the funding to finance nine new research projects aimed at investigating the relationship between inflammation and chronic disease.

The projects will receive $21.9M over five years from the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and its partners, namely the Arthritis Society of Canada and Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. The projects will be part of the CIHR Roapmap Signature Initiative on Inflammation in Chronic Disease.

Read the Government of Canada press release.

More on uOBMRI study

While the body’s immune system is known to play a role in multiple human disorders, the way it responds is complex and not fully understood. The grant will allow the team, led by Drs. David Park and Michael Schlossmacher, to test an intriguing hypothesis: that there is a common immune system link among these three seemingly unrelated diseases, a gene called LRRK2, believed to regulate immune system function.

Thus far, evidence collected by the uOBMRI team suggests that particular variants of the LRRK2 gene can result in abnormal immune response and subsequently lead to the development of Parkinson’s, Crohn’s or leprosy.

Dr. David Park is uOBMRI director and a professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Michael Schlossmacher is a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and director of the MD/PhD Program at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine.

The University of Ottawa: A crossroads of cultures and ideas
The University of Ottawa is home to almost 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and disciplines, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities — our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe.

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

Media inquiries:

Kina Leclair
Media Relations Officer
University of Ottawa
Office: 613-562-5800 (2529)
Cell.: 613-762-2908
kleclair@uOttawa.ca

Paddy Moore
Communications and Public Relations
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
613-737-8899 ext. 73687
613-323-5680 (cell)
padmoore@ohri.ca