Summer 2010 – III Newsletter

Message from Marc Ouellette
III Science Director

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

My first few months as Scientific Director (SD) of the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity (III) have been a fascinating learning experience. The Ottawa based staff with their corporate memory facilitated the transition between the London and Québec based operations. The Québec City Institute staff is now in place and is working with the Ottawa based staff to continue the outstanding work our predecessors performed for the III research community.

As SD I am a part of the CIHR Scientific Council (SC) where I meet on a regular basis in Ottawa with my other SD colleagues and the high level CIHR management team. This council deals with a number of important issues including two that will be discussed in this newsletter. CIHR is moving forward with its 2009-2014 strategic plan and III will align our institute priorities with this strategic plan. One goal of this plan is to have fewer, bigger requests for applications (RFAs) with increased collaborations between institutes. As a result, under the leadership of the SC, there are a number of concept papers that are currently under development that will build strong cases for these new funding opportunities. These will lead to RFAs and hopefully to new partnerships and potentially new funds. I will keep you posted in the months to come on the progress of these concept papers and business cases.

The second important item that requires most of our energy at this time is the international review. As CIHR reaches its tenth anniversary, the CIHR Governing Council is coordinating a second review of CIHR and its thirteen research Institutes. The review provides an opportunity to assess the accomplishments of CIHR over the past five years with the ultimate goal of ensuring continued excellence of health research in Canada. The 2011 review will take place in Ottawa on February 8-10, 2011, and will begin with the Institute Reviews conducted by 13 expert review teams. During the Institute reviews, these expert review teams will meet with researchers and stakeholders from that Institute's community. The International Review Panel meeting will follow the Institute Reviews and will take place on March 30-31, 2011. This meeting will be conducted by an international panel of health research leaders and be chaired by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, former Director of the National Institutes of Health Research. The International Review Panel will meet with senior officials, researchers, knowledge users, and stakeholders from across the Canadian Health research landscape.

If you have any comments or questions about the International Review, please do not hesitate to send them to the International Review Team at InternationalReview@cihr-irsc.gc.ca. You can also consult the International Review website.

We had the first Québec-led institute advisory board meeting in Québec City on May 5-7 where former board members were invited to participate in a science day with current members where they shared their experience and insight. Collectively, we discussed and examined some of the pressing research gaps in the field of infection and immunity. The current board members are now working on developing potential strategic funding opportunities. This will be further discussed during our next board meeting in September that will be held in St. John's Newfoundland and I hope to then be able to provide further details on upcoming initiatives. The III and its IAB through its Institute community support program, has established the Bhagirath Singh New Investigator Award in Infection and Immunity to honour the outstanding work of III's inaugural Scientific Director. This prize will be awarded annually to a new investigator (under five years as PI) in the field of Infection and Immunity with the highest ranking (by %) in the Fall and Spring operating grant competition.

I also had the opportunity to be in Montreal for my first CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Advisory Committee (CHARAC) meeting on May 26, 2010 where I had the opportunity to meet with members of the HIV researcher community. I have also been present at National scientific meetings and visited a number of institutions throughout Canada. I have enjoyed meeting with several principal investigators and trainees and I plan to continue to be active on these fronts for the years to come. Part of my job is to relay your queries to the Scientific Council. You can also certainly contact me (see coordinates below) if you have suggestions to help make III an even more vibrant entity.

I look forward to very fruitful interactions with you in the future,

Best wishes,
Marc Ouellette

III Funding opportunities

There are a number of III funding opportunities currently inviting applications including:

• Team Grants: HIV/AIDS Vaccine Discovery and Social Research
• Operating Grant: Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• New Investigator Salary Award: Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• Fellowships: Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• Operating Grant: HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research
• Catalyst Grant: HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research
• Doctoral Research Award: HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research

Canada-UK Team Grant Program on Antibiotic Resistance will be posted on the CIHR website this September.

Please review the CIHR Funding Opportunities website for further information on these and other funding opportunities. Additional opportunities will be launched in August 2010 so check the website often.

Meetings of interest

Canada-China Joint Health Research Initiative taking place Wednesday, September 29 to Saturday, October 2, 2010 in Ottawa.

AIDS Vaccine 2010, Atlanta Georgia, Sept 28-Oct 1, 2010.

Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Annual Meeting: Outcomes, impacts and Lessons learned, November 12-13, 2010 - Montréal, Qc.

Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) 2010 Conference, Toronto, Ontario, November 15-16, 2010.

IGH's 10th anniversary conference: Innovations in Gender, Sex, and Health Research, taking place in Toronto on November 22nd to 23rd, 2010.

Spring 2011 meeting of the Canadian Society for Immunology April 8 - 11, 2011, The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Lake Louise, AB.

International Microbiome Meeting - March 2011
Vancouver, BC