The University of Montreal receives $40 million to finance innovative projects

Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, was on the campus of the University of Montreal, at Polytechnique Montréal, to announce, on behalf of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, the results of the second stage of the competition for the Canada Biomedical Research Fund and the Biological Sciences Research Infrastructure Fund, at the end of which more than 575 Millions of dollars will have been invested. The Eastern Canada Pandemic Preparedness Hub (PPPeC), led by the University of Montreal, has obtained nearly $100 million for four projects from establishments brought together under its leadership in partnership with industry and several other partners .

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that links must be established between the driving forces of university research establishments, industry, non-profit organizations and various government agencies in order to implement in Quebec, in the Atlantic provinces and Canada a robust and agile ecosystem to face future pandemics and emerging health crises. The PPPeC, like the other four hubs elsewhere in the country, aims to significantly increase the agility, connectivity and growth of the biomanufacturing and life sciences sector while considering monitoring, designation new threats and the adoption by the population of possible solutions so that Canada is ready to face pandemics and health crises in the future.

The pandemic has led to an unprecedented mobilization of research teams around the world. UdeM and its partners are no exception and today’s announcement demonstrates even more concretely how, with multidisciplinary teams, research can go further and how discoveries can be accelerated, for the benefit of the community.
— Daniel Jutras, rector of the University of Montreal

Intelligent discovery of new antibiotics

The discovery of antibiotics is one of the most important advances in modern medicine. However, recent decades have also seen an alarming rise in antimicrobial drug resistance among bacteria, rendering many antibiotics ineffective against previously treatable infections. Not to mention the misuse of antibiotics in both human and animal health, which leads to the emergence of new superbugs resistant to antibiotics, thus worsening the situation. This shadow pandemic is responsible for the deaths of more than 5 million people each year across the world. This number could reach 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken.

It is these challenges that the research project led by Yves Brun, professor in the Department of Microbiology, Infectiology and Immunology at the University of Montreal and researcher at the Center for Biomedical Innovation of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal, aims to tackle. ‘UdeM, which received funding of $21 million. By creating new partnerships with researchers from various disciplines such as artificial intelligence, microbiology, pharmacology and chemistry, Yves Brun’s team and its partners will design a rapid response platform to accelerate the discovery of new antibiotics to combat drug-resistant bacteria with the aim of preventing possible pandemics.

The team’s main strategy will be to apply in silico, that is, computer-assisted, design of new drugs. This way of doing things is made possible thanks to the latest advances in artificial intelligence. The team is also considering a unique approach: applying a range of cutting-edge microscopic, biochemical and pharmacological assays to test and train the drug design model in silico to continually optimize its predictions.

POPCORN collaborative research platform

Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, the POPCORN platform, led by D^D Caroline Quach-Thanh, professor at UdeM and microbiologist-infectious disease specialist at CHU Sainte-Justine, brought together the scientific community of the 16 Canadian children’s hospitals and the country’s pediatric networks by promoting a multidisciplinary approach to pediatric research. However, despite the colossal work carried out by this “network of networks”, some challenges remain in the ability to respond to a future pandemic in Canada. The inability to quickly conduct clinical trials in children and pregnant people, the lack of real-time data to inform evidence-based policy decisions, and the difficulty in capturing the full trajectory of a child’s illness are obstacles that the second version of the POPCORN platform intends to overcome.

The D team^r Quach-Thanh received new funding of $16 million. Researchers will therefore leverage this unique research structure to rapidly identify and comprehensively study emerging infectious diseases in children and pregnant women to maximize the capacity and readiness needed to include these populations in trials. clinics. By becoming a national Source for maternal and child disease surveillance and facilitating collaboration between the public and private sectors, the POPCORN platform will significantly contribute to Canada’s biomanufacturing and life sciences strategy, thereby accelerating discovery and development. therapies and vaccines for vulnerable populations.

The project evaluation committee mentioned in its report that the proposals from researchers Brun and Quach-Thanh complemented each other strategically in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their monitoring, a positive element for the two professors who are already collaborating. Which concretely demonstrates the transdisciplinarity of the UdeM research teams.

Polytechnique Montréal and Laval University projects also funded

In addition to the two projects led by UdeM researchers, the Eastern Canada Pandemic Preparedness Hub was awarded funding for the projects of two other research establishments. Thus, Gregory De Crescenzo, professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, will lead a research project on the accelerated mass production of biological products in the context of a health emergency. His team received nearly $20 million to advance work in this direction. The D^r Jérôme Estaquier, professor at Laval University, obtained $42 million to set up the infrastructure that will become the National Center for Primatology for Pandemic Preparedness.

About the Eastern Canada Pandemic Preparedness Hub

The Eastern Canada Pandemic Preparedness Hub brings together 58 partners from the life sciences sector in Quebec and the Atlantic under the direction of Yves Joanette, associate vice-rector for research, discovery, creation and innovation at the University of Montreal. The Center is co-directed with Laval and McGill universities. Partners include academic establishments, public organizations and numerous bio-innovation and biomanufacturing companies. In March 2023, five hubs were formed in Canada to bring together players in the life sciences research and innovation ecosystem and increase the capacity to deal with future pandemics. The five Canadian centers work together and in a complementary manner to ensure that Canada is better prepared for future pandemics and health crises.