Office of the Vice President Research
Partnerships
January 2014 Update
VP Research Recognized For Leadership
Tom Roberts (Industry Liaison Office) taught a
3-credit graduate course on intellectual property
law at Hawassa University, Ethiopia from
November 21 to December 13. He also worked on
expanding Hawassa and the U of S’s long-standing
relationship to include collaborations in the areas of
law and research administration.
Vice-President Research Karen Chad and former U
of S board of govenors chair Nancy Hopkins were
recently selected as among the top 100 female
leaders in the country by Women’s Executive
Network. Chad was named to the 2013 Canada’s
Most Powerful Women: Top 100 list as one of the
highest-achieving female leaders in the public
sector and was cited for her work building major
research partnerships.
Agreements Signed with International Partners
Sharing Research Administration Expertise
The U of S signed five agreements with four
international partners in December:
Susan Blum, Amit Shukla, and Kevin Rogers
(Research Services) led presentations at the
CAURA West conference (Canadian Association of
University Research Administrators), in Edmonton
from November 28-30. The U of S was acknowledged
for successful advocacy which led the Canada
Foundation for Innovation to revise requirements
for an upcoming funding competition.
Staff Member Returns from Teaching in Ethiopia
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on
December 9 with the Shiraz University of Medicine in
Iran.
An exchange agreement was signed on December 9
with the University of Bologna in Italy.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on
December 11th with the China Scholarship Council in
China.
An Agreement on Academic Exchange and an
Addendum to the Agreement on Student Exchange
were signed on December 18 with Osaka University in
Japan.
Other
Student Research Gets Public Profile
Innovative research of 14 U of S graduate students
and their supervisors was featured in the Saskatoon
StarPhoenix over the fall. This was the ninth year for
the weekly Young Innovators series, a partnership
between the OVPR and the StarPhoenix, which
highlights research impact in U of S signature areas.
The stories, written by graduate student interns, are
also picked up by national media outlets, research
funding agencies, and MPs in the students’ home
constituencies.
SHR Aligns Research Policy with U of S
The Saskatoon Health Region approved a new
policy on the responsible conduct of research on
November 29, bringing SHR’s procedures in line
with those of the U of S. The policy is available at:
http://www.saskatoonhealthregion.ca/about_us/
policies/7311-100-002.pdf
Funding Successes
Additional Funding for Sri Lankan Collaboration
Ted Leighton (Western College of Veterinary
Medicine) was awarded an additional $130,600 from
the International Development Research Centre
(IDRC) for the project “Building Research Excellence in
Wildlife and Human Health in Sri Lanka”, bringing the
U of S’s total funding amount to $400,100. Leighton
co-leads the $873,200 project with researchers from
the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.
OVPR January 2014 Update 1
Office of the Vice President Research
January 2014 Update
Beef Researchers Secure Over $2 Million
Funding for Student Internships
U of S researchers have secured funding for an
additional seven research projects from the
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association as part of the
Growing Forward 2 program. The U of S has received
a total of $3,158,292 from the program thus far.
U of S researchers received funding from Mitacs to
support 34 internships with industry partners for
their graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
The internships give students experience applying
their research in a work environment and further
connections between the industrial partners and
the U of S. The awards include:
Greg Penner (Animal & Poultry Science) was awarded
$657,135 for the project “Understanding the Physiology
Behind Charges in Feed Efficiency Throughout the Finishing
Period” and $385,708 for the project “Improving The
Barrier Function of the Gut: An Approach to Minimize
Production Limiting Disease.”
Bruce Coulman (Plant Sciences) was awarded $454,200
for the project “Development of Native Plant Material
(Grasses, Legumes) and Mixtures for Forage Production in
the Prairie Region” and $94,290 for the project “Building
Long-Term Capacity for Resilient Cow-Calf Production
Systems Through Creation of a Forage Industry Chair
Supporting Training and Research in Evaluation and
Utilization.”
Neil Chilton (Biology) was awarded $342,036 for the
project “Geographic Variation in Abundance and Genetics
of the Anaplasmosis Vectors Dermacentor Andersoni and
Dermacentor Variabilis.”
John McKinnon (Animal & Poultry Science) was
awarded $83,433 for the project “Nutritional Evaluation
of Barley forage Varieties for Silage.”
Philip Griebel (VIDO) was awarded $74,290 for the
project “Identifying Mycobacterium Aviums Subsp.
Parathberculosis (MAP) Exproteome Components
Recognized Early During Infection to Develop Diagnostic
and Vaccine Targets.”
Funding for China-Canada Health Research
U of S partnerships in China continue to develop as
Daniel Chen (Mechanical Engineering) and Weiming
Tian (Harbin Institute of Technology) were awarded
a CIHR China-Canada Joint Health Research
Initiative Grant of $225,000. The project “Injectable
Hydrogels Encapsulating Living Cells for Myocardial
Infarction Repair” includes co-investigators Dean
Chapman (Anatomy and Cell Biology), Michael Kelly
(Surgery), Grzegorz Sawicki (Pharmacology) and is
a collaboration with the National Natural Science
Foundation of China.
22 Mitacs Accelerate Internships worth a total of
$355,000. Ralph Deters (Computer Science) was
successful in securing 12 of these internships.
12 Mitacs Accelerate Cluster grants worth a total of
$493,333 for larger scale student research projects. Ajay
Dalai (Chemical and Biological Engineering) secured
three of these internships for the project “Selective
Removal of Neutral Nitrogen Compounds from Heavy
Gas Oil and Its Impact on Hydrotreating Performance.”
Members of the International Centre for Northern
Governance secured internships for 9 of their students
with partner Cameco Corp.
Over $200,000 for Water Research
10 U of S researchers were successful in receiving
Canadian Water Network funding:
Markus Hecker (Toxicology Centre) was awarded
$149,996 for the project “Aquatic Impact Assessment of
Municipal Effluents (AIME)” with co-investigators: John
Giesy (Veterinary Biomedical Sciences), Natacha Hogan
(Animal and Poultry Science), Paul Jones (Toxicology),
Steve Wiseman (Toxicology Centre). $126,241 is awarded
directly to the U of S researchers.
Robert Innes (Native Studies) was awarded $48,000 as
co-investigator on the project “Sustainable Water and
Wastewater Treatment Systems Through a BottomUp Participating Technology Development Process”
led by Khosrow Farahbakhsh at Guelph University.
Patricia Gober (J-S Public Policy), Philip Marsh
(Geography and Planning), John Pomeroy (Geography
and Planning), and Howard Wheater (SENS) were
awarded $2,850 each in travel support for the project
“Water Knowledge Application Network (WatKAN)” led by
Wilfred Laurier University.
OVPR January 2014 Update 2
Office of the Vice President Research
Funding Spinal Cord Research
2 U of S researchers were awarded a Saskatchewan
Health Research Foundation (SHRF) Spinal Cord
Injury Research Grant:
Kristin Musselman (Physical Therapy) and Alison Oates
(Kinesology) were awarded $146,412 for the project
“Walking balance control and falls in the community
after incomplete spinal cord injury” with co-investigators
Catherine Arnold (Physical Therapy), Joel Lanovaz
(Kinesiology), Gary Linassi (Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation) and Stephan Milosavljevic (Physical
Therapy).
Valerie Verge (Anatomy and Cell Biology) and Gillian
Muir (Veterinary Biomedical Sciences) were awarded
$100,000 for the project “Acute Intermittent Hypoxia therapeutic potential for cervical spinal cord injuries.”
January 2014 Update
Sonia Vanderby (Medical Imaging) was awarded
$30,000 for a Phase I grant to develop the group “Quality
in Medical Imaging (QIMI)”.
Andrew Freywald (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
and Scott Leary (Biochemistry) are co-leads with Mohan
Babu (University of Regina) on a $3,000 Phase I grant to
develop the “Cancer Systems Biology Group”.
Support for Health Research Groups
Eight U of S projects were awarded a Saskatchewan
Health Research Foundation (SHRF) Health
Group Grant:
Nazeem Muhajarine (Community Health and
Epidemiology) received a $749,335 Phase III grant to
support the established group “Saskatchewan Population
Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU)” ) co-lead
by Bonnie Jeffery (University of Regina).
Susan Whiting (Nutrition and Dietetics) received a
$717, 881 Phase III grant to support the development
of the “Community and Research Alliance for Quality of
Life in Older Adults (the QOL Team)” co-lead by Thomas
Hadjistavropoulos (University of Regina).
Helen Nichol (Anatomy and Cell Biology) was awarded
$250,000 for a Phase III grant to support the established
group “Gene Expression Mapping using Synchrotron Light.”
Mary Buhr (Animal and Poultry Science) was awarded
$299,977 for a Phase II grant to support the group
“University of Saskatchewan Prostate Research Team”.
Jose Tellez-Zenteno (Neurology), Farzad MoienAfshari (Neurology), and Lisa Kalynchuk (Medicine)
were awarded $30,000 for a Phase I grant to support
the development of the group “Saskatchewan Epilepsy
Research Initiative”.
Paul Babyn (Medical Imaging) and Baljit Singh
(Veterinary Biomedical Sciences) were awarded $30,000
for a Phase I grant to develop the group “One Health
Imaging (OHI).”
OVPR January 2014 Update 3