Crohn’s and Colitis Canada has awarded $2.7 million in grants to support nine Canadian researchers studying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The grants include seven Grants-in-Aid of Research, intended to advance prevention, health policy and new treatments, and two Innovations in IBD Research Grants, which fund pilot studies to test innovative, high-risk/high-reward ideas.
Each year, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada awards new grants to research projects it considers best align with the charity’s goal of improving treatment and care for people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. So far this year, the initiative has supported 23 projects.
“Funding research is at the very core of our mission to find cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis,” Mina Mawani, president and CEO of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, said in a news release announcing the new awards.
“As one of the top charity funders of Crohn’s and colitis research in the world, we are proud to provide our 2018 Grants-in-Aid of Research and Innovations in IBD Research Grants to Canada’s most innovative researchers,” she said.
The recipients come from all over Canada, including the University of Calgary, University of Manitoba, Université de Sherbrooke, CHU Sainte-Justine, Vancouver Island Health Authority, the University of Windsor, and McMaster University.
The grants will finance research ranging from the study of the underlying mechanisms of pain and mental health issues associated with IBD to clinical trials evaluating new potential treatments, including vitamin D add-on therapy, gut transplants, and new IBD-modifying therapies.
“We’re confident the research these grants support will not only result in improvements to the scope and breadth of treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, but that it will ultimately lead to cures,” Mawani said.
Supporting research is one of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada’s many activities to help reach its goal: to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and improve the lives of those affected by the chronic diseases.
The organization is one of Canada’s largest volunteer-based organizations and one of the world’s top health charity funders of Crohn’s and colitis research, with a combined investment of over $115 million in research so far.
For more information on Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, visit the website.