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D2R awards $7.3 million to Advance Research in Genomic-Based RNA Therapeutics

Montreal 鈥� September 17, 2024听 McGill University鈥檚 D2R initiative is proud to announce the 23 recipients of its inaugural funding programs, Foundational Projects and Research in Motion. With a total investment of $7.3 million, these awards mark a significant milestone in advancing the field of genomic-based RNA therapeutics.

The Foundational Projects program supports high-risk, early-stage research with the potential for groundbreaking advances within D2R鈥檚 strategic priorities. The Research in Motion program fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and supports new approaches to research along D2R鈥檚 discovery-to-implementation chain. Each awardee from these two programs has been awarded up to $350,000, covering both research and training.

The training portion of these funding programs is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of researchers by offering students valuable training opportunities, internships with industry partners, and the chance to engage in rotations or travel between research labs. Through these two funding programs, it is expected to support eight (8) undergraduate students, 13 master鈥檚 students, 34 doctoral students and eight (8) postdoctoral researchers.

Heather Melichar, Associate Professor at McGill in Microbiology and Immunology and an awardee of the Foundational Projects program, expressed excitement about the support, stating:

鈥淲e are thrilled to receive a D2R grant which provides us the opportunity to pursue the development of cutting-edge technologies that will push the boundaries of traditional research inquiry. This support will enable our translational objectives, particularly in the development, application, and evaluation of advanced immunotherapies.鈥�

J茅r么me Waldisp眉hl, Associate Professor at McGill鈥檚 School of Computer Science and an awardee of the Research in Motion program, noted the impact of the funding on his work:

鈥淭he support of D2R is a unique opportunity to support the expansion of our citizen science in video game initiative to viromics and RNA biomedical research. It will be instrumental to strengthen the multidisciplinary collaborations at McGill, help us to fulfill our scientific mission, and as importantly ensuring its social impact.鈥�

Foundational Projects and Research in Motion听are part of a suite of funding programs that support D2R鈥檚 vision of delivering revolutionary genomic-based RNA therapies for all. D2R is supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, as well as additional support from the Quebec Government and other philanthropic and industry partners.

Mark Lathrop, D2R Scientific Director commented:

"We are excited to support these groundbreaking projects and talented researchers through D2R. These awards reflect our commitment to advancing the field of genomic-based RNA therapeutics and fostering innovative research that has the potential to transform healthcare."

Philippe Gros, Chair of D2R鈥檚 Research Steering Committee added:

鈥淭he diverse range of projects and the caliber of researchers receiving these awards are a testament to the potential of RNA therapeutics. Our investments are designed to push the boundaries of what is possible, accelerate discovery, and deliver meaningful advancements in the development of RNA therapies.鈥�

Below is a list of the principal investigators from McGill University and University of British Columbia, along with their D2R-funded projects:

Foundational Projects (17 projects)

• Raquel Cuella Martin, Deep mutagenesis approaches to decode T cell receptor-antigen recognition
• Pieter Cullis (University of British Columbia), pHREEDOM: A pH-Responsive probe to study Endosomal Escape for RNA Delivery Optimization and Monitoring
• Masad Damha, Engineering a Circular RNA Platform for Cap-Dependent Translation
• Celia Greenwood, Modelling individual differences in patterns of epigenetic regulation
• Yann Joly, A first inclusive study on the ELSI aspects of RNA technologies and therapeutics
• Nathan Luedtke, McGill Brand mRNA Production
• Bruce Mazer, B-cell derived extracellular vehicles with enriched miRNA contents that mitigate Th2 inflammation
• Heather Melichar, Enabling low-cost, massive-scale sequencing of antigen receptors for personalized immunotherapy
• Nicolas Moitessier, RNA-targeting therapeutics to address antimicrobial resistance
• William Muller, Targeting an alternative oncogenic Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 splice isoform
• Hamed Shateri Najafabadi, Single-cell and spatial profiling of RNA splicing to understand tumour heterogeneity
• St茅phane Richard, Defining the role of arginine methyltransferases in the regulation of intronic circular non-coding RNAs in diseases.
• Hanadi Sleiman, DNA Nanoparticles for Targeted Therapy Against Acute Myeloid Leukemia
• Nahum Sonenberg, Live Imaging of mRNA 5鈥� cap Interaction with translation initiation factors
• Maryam Tabrizian, Iron/siRNa-Based Dynamic Delivery System Boosting Ferroptototic Cell Death in Metastatic Melanoma
• David Thomas, Dominant Negative RNA: A novel approach to CFTR gene therapy.
• Lucienne Tritten, Using native gut bacteria to release RNA therapeutics against intestinal nematode infections

Research in Motion (5 projects)

• Guojun Chen, Lung-Targeted Lipid Nanoparticles to Deliver Anti-Viral RNA against Respiratory Viral Infection
• David Juncker, Intelligent screening for next generation LNP design and manufacturing
• Guy Rouleau, CRISPR-Guided Trans-Splicing for RNA Treatment of Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy
• J茅r么me Waldisp眉hl, A citizen science platform for accelerating metagenomic studies in urban built environment
• Ma'n Zawati H., Development of Responsible AI for Genomic Biomarker Identification in the Context of the D2R Initiative

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For additional information on these projects, please visit D2R's funded projects page.听