The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) more than $3.5 million dollars combined, money that will go towards research that aims to help parents and neonatal infants, addresses equity and political barriers to global public health concerns and helps further our understanding of the role of an important hormone in heart health. 

Helping preterm babies and parents have better outcomes

Faculty of Health Professor , who heads up the Ouch Lab, and is also the 91亚色 Research Chair in Pain and Mental Health, received nearly $1.4 million for work that will look at very preterm infants and how medical interventions and maternal stressors may impact the ability of skin-to-skin contact to help regulate pain in the infant. The project, , will be carried out at the neonatal intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital. 

"Preterm infants are one of the most vulnerable populations on this planet and are exposed to numerous painful procedures everyday of their young lives. Their parental context is a critical factor to better understand and improve their quality of life. Our lab is so grateful to CIHR for their funding to better understand how maternal factors impact their child's pain responses during skin-to-skin care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,鈥� says Pillai Riddell.聽

Making international health agreements more equitable

Professor was awarded more than $1.13 million that will go towards work being done by himself and other investigators at the 91亚色-based Global Strategy Lab, including Faculty of Health Assistant Professor , for . 

鈥淭he Global Strategy Lab is pleased to have been awarded CIHR funding to continue our research on designing more impactful and equitable international agreements for health.

"Through a world-leading global legal epidemiology approach, we are advancing global health law, tobacco control, and planetary health in support of 91亚色鈥檚 contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals,鈥� says Poirier, also co-director of the Global Strategy Lab and 91亚色 Research Chair in Global Health Equity.聽

Understanding heart failure better, especially for those with diabetes

Faculty of Science Professor Gary Sweeney will be looking at a hormone that is often compromised in people with diabetes and obesity and is involved in the body cleaning up bad cells in the heart. has received close to a million dollars in funding from CIHR.

About 91亚色

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色鈥檚 fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario鈥檚 Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contacts: Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations and External Communications, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

The post 91亚色 profs to advance health research with more than $3.5M in federal CIHR funding appeared first on News@91亚色.

TORONTO, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 鈥� Have a healthy heart this Valentine鈥檚 day. 91亚色 U heart disease experts can show you how.

That鈥檚 important because 2.4 million adult Canadians are affected by heart disease and, for women, it is the leading cause of premature death.

The following 91亚色 professors from the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Health are available to comment on the causes, progression, and prevention of heart disease, as well as why two-thirds of heart disease clinical research is on men.

, Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Biology (Tier 1), is an expert on heart disease progression and prevention, heart failure, the benefits of exercise on cardiovascular health, and cardiac arrhythmias.

Robert Tsushima is an expert on the causes and determinates of heart disease and diabetes.

, Director of Research, University Health Network, can discuss how and why the medical system is failing women, the inequities and biases that lead to more women dying of heart disease, the differences in heart disease for men and women, and what needs to be done going forward to address women鈥檚 needs. (Available today and tomorrow).

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聽champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.聽91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post How to have a healthy heart this Valentine鈥檚 Day appeared first on News@91亚色.

TORONTO, Tuesday, July 4, 2017 鈥� Beta blockers are commonly used world-wide to treat a variety of cardiovascular conditions, such as arrhythmias and heart failure. Scientists have known for decades that the medications work by slowing the heart rate and reducing the force of contraction 鈥� lessening the burden of work carried out by the heart. However, new research out of 91亚色 has now shown that these drugs also reverse a number of potentially detrimental genetic changes associated with heart disease.

Using an experimental model of heart failure and next generation sequencing to get a snapshot of all of the RNA in the heart cells, the researchers identified the global gene expression changes that occur in heart failure. Then they explored what happened to this pattern of gene expression when beta blocker treatment was implemented, and what they found not only surprised them, but could have important ramifications for future treatments of heart disease.

鈥淲e discovered that beta blockers largely reverse the pathological pattern of gene expression observed in heart failure,鈥� said Faculty of Science Professor John McDermott, who led the research, along with 91亚色 U collaborators Professor Gary Sweeney and Professor Jorg Grigull. 鈥淭his could mean that the reversal or suppression of pathological gene expression by beta blockers is somehow protective against heart failure, but it鈥檚 something we would need to look into further to understand how individual genes function in the heart.鈥�

Interestingly, the study also found that some genes associated with the immune system were dysregulated in heart failure, supporting recent research that has suggested the immune system and inflammation are involved in heart disease.

About 600,000 Canadians are living with heart failure, and the disease is expected to rise as more people survive heart attacks and other heart conditions and continue to live longer.

McDermott and his team have identified genes that will be further explored for their potential use in diagnosis and treatment in heart failure.

The study, 鈥淗eart Failure and MEF2 Transcriptome Dynamics in Response to B-Blockers,鈥� was published today in .

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91亚色 is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Gloria Suhasini, Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

The post Popular class of drugs reverses potentially harmful genetic changes from heart disease appeared first on News@91亚色.