[ Press Release 2005-29 ]

Dr. Lorne Allan Babiuk
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization,
University of Saskatchewan

Total grant amount: US$5.6 million

( Grand Challenge No. 1: Create Effective Single-Dose Vaccines that can be Used Soon After Birth
Project Title: Linking Innate and Specific Immunity to Develop Single Dose Vaccines for Neonates
Childhood vaccination represents one of the most effective means of reducing illness and death in young children worldwide, yet a number of factors prevent the delivery of vaccines to newborns. Whooping cough, or pertussis, represents one of the most devastating diseases of newborn children in developing countries and is a leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths. It is an acute infection of the respiratory tract caused by B. pertussis, resulting in 200,000 to 400,000 deaths per year. However, for this disease and many others, vaccine delivery is complicated by factors including the infant's immature immune system, interference from the mother's antibodies, the need for multiple immunizations, and restricted access to vaccines. A team of researchers, led by Dr. Babiuk, will strive to identify new vaccine additives that stimulate innate immunity and lead to protective responses in the newborn child. Vaccines will be delivered via the mucosal lining of the nose or mouth, stimulating immunity at the surfaces where most disease-causing agents enter the body. The team hopes to develop novel formulations that can be used alone or in combination to induce long-lasting immune responses in newborn infants following only a single-shot vaccination, an outcome that would allow effective and inexpensive administration on a worldwide level.

Photo courtesy of CDC
Figure shows an image of a young child affected by whooping cough

Photo courtesy of National Microbiology Laboratory
Bordetella pertussis, Bacteria that causes Whooping cough
Electron microscope image, labelled with antibody-gold (dark round spots)

History of CIHR Support:

Brief Biography of Dr. Lorne Babiuk:

Dr. Babiuk is a world expert and often sought after speaker globally in infectious diseases and their control, specifically by vaccination. Currently, he is the Director of the Vaccine & Infectious Disease Organization, Canada Research Chair in Vaccinology, and Professor at the University of Saskatchewan. He is a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and European Academy of Sciences. He has published over 400 manuscripts and 800 book chapters or review articles in infectious diseases. He has received numerous competitive grants from national and international agencies, one of the most recent was a $27 million grant awarded in 2002 from Genome Canada to study host pathogen interactions at mucosal surfaces. After completion of a $19 million expansion of VIDO in 2004, he began working on a $75 million level III laboratory to allow VIDO scientists to work on level III agents such as SARS, avian influenza, and West Nile virus, etc. In addition to managing VIDO, he acts as an advisor to many biopharmaceutical companies and government organizations, as well as serves on the board of directors of biotechnology companies.

Dr. Frank Plummer
Department of Medical Microbiology,
University of Manitoba

Total grant amount: US$8.3 million

( Grand Challenge No. 6: Learn which Immunological Responses Provide Protective Immunity
Project Title: Comprehensive Studies of Mechanisms of HIV Resistance in Highly Exposed Uninfected Women
HIV, the life-threatening virus that attacks the immune system and progressively leaves infected people vulnerable to debilitating infections and cancers, still affects millions of people around the world. The rare cases of HIV resistance, however, in those highly exposed, yet uninfected, are very important in the study to combat HIV infection. Dr. Plummer and his team of researchers will study a wide range of factors in both susceptible and resistant women, attempting to characterize correlates of protective immune responses to HIV in both categories of women. More specifically, to determine if genotype/phenotypes associated with resistance, or with a favourable response to the model vaccinogen protect against HIV infection in a prospective study of HIV serocoversion in sexworker and non-sexworker cohorts. With this, their study will focus on the factors associated with resistance in resistant women and their families, in hopes of discovering the true mechanism of HIV resistance.

Photo courtesy of CDC / A. Harrison, P. Feorino, and E. L. Palmer Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), co-cultivated with human lymphocytes.

History of CIHR Support:

Brief Biography of Dr. Frank Plummer:
Dr. Plummer is a native of Manitoba. He graduated from Shaftesbury High School in 1969 and received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 1976. After post-graduate training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Southern California, the University of Manitoba, the University of Nairobi, and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, he joined the University of Manitoba faculty in 1984 to direct the university's research projects in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Plummer has been an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences in the USA, a consultant to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Governments of Kenya, India and Lesotho. He has received a number of awards and honours including the Rh Institute Award, an Achievement Award from the American Venereal Disease Association, a Scholarship from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, Fellowship, Scholarship, Scientist and Senior Scientist awards from the Medical Research Council of Canada, Senior Investigator of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, I.S Ravidin Award in the Basic Sciences from the American College of Surgeons, an honorary and has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. In 2001, he was named Canada Research Chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is currently Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Medical Microbiology, as well as Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Plummer also assumes the positions of Director General of the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Ottawa, Scientific Director General of National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and Senior Scientific Advisor of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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Dr. Barton Brett Finlay, PhD, FRSC, FAAM
Michael Smith Laboratories,
University of British Columbia

Total grant amount: US$8.7 million

( Grand Challenge No. 10 - Discover drugs and delivery systems that minimize micro-organisms
Project Title: Novel Therapeutics that Boost Innate Immunity to Treat Infectious Diseases
The rampant and abundant infectious diseases existing around the world are major sources of illness that threaten people of every age, gender and race. The innate response of the immune system is the body's first line of defense against these infectious agents, and its success is seen through the body's maintenance and health. Dr. Finlay and his team hope to bolster this success by examining innate responses to various pathogens, in order to discover and develop new strategies, innovations, and drug therapies that will enhance and amplify these innate responses and, hence, help fight infectious disease. With this study, a database of innate responses to infectious agents will be collected and made publicly available.

Photo Courtesy of University of British Columbia
Figure shows a photo of Dr. Brett Finlay battling infectious diseases

History of CIHR Support:

Brief Biography of Dr. Brett Finlay:

Recipient of the Michael Smith Award in Health Research
Dr. B. Brett Finlay is a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratory and the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia and the Peter Wall Distinguished Professor at the University of British Columbia. Hailed as a national treasure, Dr. Brett Finlay has made important contributions to the molecular understanding of Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli.. In 1997, Dr. Finlay discovered how the E.coli 0157:H7 bacterium binds to its host cell. He later developed a vaccine for cattle that is successfully destroying this strain of the bacterium, reducing the human toll of E. coli outbreaks such as the one that took place in Walkerton, Ontario in the summer of 2000. As an undergraduate, Dr. Finlay studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Alberta. In 1986, he completed his PhD in biochemistry and went on to become a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. In 1999, Dr. Finlay was the first Canadian to present the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Holiday Lectures, reaching 15,000 North American high schools. The author of more than 250 highly respected scientific articles; he is also a CIHR Distinguished Investigator. Dr. Finlay is co-founder of Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and is the recipient of numerous awards, including four Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar awards.