Researchers from The Ottawa Hospital are involved in four new projects funded through the Exploration stream of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund. The fund is designed to support high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research. 

Dr. Baptiste Lacoste is leading a project that will open new doors for research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by investigating the link between neurovascular deficiencies, neuronal maturation and metabolic regulation in ASD. 

Dr. Xiaohui Zha is leading a project that could contribute to new therapies for disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Her project, which is a collaboration with Dr. Xiaoyi Bao and Dr. Michael Schlossmacher, involves applying advanced optical fibre techniques to non-invasively detect neuronal diseases at early stages. 

Dr. John Woulfe is co-investigator on a project led by Dr. Fabio Variola that is focused on developing a personalized therapeutic screening platform for Parkinson’s disease, using microfabrication techniques and 3D neuronal stem cell cultures. 

Finally, Drs. Richard Bergeron, Dylan Burger and Caroline Gilbert are co-investigators on a project led by Dr. Marc-André Langlois, that involves identifying novel extracellular vesicle biomarkers for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. 

In total, researchers from the University of Ottawa and affiliated hospitals were awarded 12 grants worth $3 million.  

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. 

Media Contact 
Jenn Ganton
613-614-5253
jganton@ohri.ca