Canadian University Press Releases/Newswire

Source: University of Toronto
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/061013-2632.asp

U of T researchers receive $65 million from CIHR

October 13, 2006

Health
Minister Tony Clement on campus for announcement
Oct 13/06
by Jenny Hall

Researchers at the University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals will
receive over $65 million in the latest round of funding from the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Tony Clement, Canada’s minister of
health, made the announcement Oct. 13 at the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy
Building.

Across Canada, 1,633 health researchers won grants worth just over $348
million for their projects, including pandemic preparedness, heart health
and the reduction of waiting times for health services.

"We made this investment because we understand the relation between health
research and prevention, between health research and treatment," Clement
said. Clement was accompanied by University Professor Janet Rossant of
medical genetics and microbiology and obstetrics and gynecology, who
attended in her capacity as a member of CIHR’s governing council.

Professor John Challis, vice-president (research) and associate provost,
hosted the event and stressed in his remarks the link between health
research and social well-being and prosperity. "The Leslie Dan Faculty of
Pharmacy and the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular
Research next door are shining examples of a new era of health research here
at the University of Toronto. Inside these buildings are scientists and
their staffs and students who are conducting research that will change the
way we live. What health researchers are doing here -- and in universities
and hospitals across Canada -- is improving health for people around the
world."
Professor Shirley Wu of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, one of the
researchers whose projects received funding, was on hand to thank the
government and to introduce her research. She is developing biodegradable
nanoparticles to help deliver anti-cancer drugs to hard-to-reach places in
the body. Her work is expected to have an impact on the treatment of cancers
including lung, breast and lymph.

CIHR is the federal government’s agency for health research. Its mission is
to create new knowledge and to translate that knowledge into improved
health, better health services and products and a stronger Canadian health
care system.