Grants advance diabetes and tuberculosis research

Foundation grants have been awarded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to two McMaster University researchers.

Zhou Xing, professor of pathology and molecular medicine, has a $2.5 million grant over seven years to decipher the immune mechanisms underlying the failure of the body to effectively control tuberculosis and to apply that knowledge in developing robust vaccination strategies to combat it.

This is needed because, despite decades of vaccine and antibiotics, tuberculosis is a leading infectious disease in developing countries and parts of some developed countries including Canada.

“We have confidence that our research program will ultimately lead to the commercialization of novel effective TB vaccines and technologies for human applications, hence contributing to the global battle to effectively control or even eliminate TB,” Xing said in the application.

Jonathan Schertzer, assistant professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, will receive just less than $1 million over five years for his work on obesity, diabetes and a better understanding of how bacteria in the gut can be used to stop or slow prediabetes.

In the application, he said: “This research may lead to new ways to target insulin and the development of prediabetes which are different from the current drugs that focus on blood glucose.”

A total of $200 million was awarded in the 2016-2017 national competition.