Quarterly Highlights: January to March 2019

CELEBRATIONS & SUCCESSES

Congratulations to Sandeep Raha for winning the Ronald G. Calhoun Science Ambassador Award, from Partners in Research. This award recognizes a member of the lay community who has provided outstanding leadership over several years in support of health research. Dr. Raha was nominated for his work as founder and director of the McMaster Children & Youth University, as well as the MCYU in the City Program. 

Congratulations to Efrah Yousuf (PhD Student under the supervision of Dr. Katherine Morrison). Efrah was awarded the Award of Excellent for her Poster Presentation “Exploring the Early Development of the Preterm Gut Microbiome” (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Theme) at the Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting (CNPRM), held in February at the Fairmont Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

Congratulations to Nikhil Pai for being awarded a HAHSO Innovation Grant for “Fecal Microbiota Transplant for the Therapy of Pediatric Crohn’s Disease (PediCRaFT): A Pilot Study.” By modifying intestinal bacteria through FMT, replacing it with a healthier bacterial milieu, we may be able to prevent the cascade of immune disruption that characterizes Crohn’s Disease or at least reduce its severity. This is the first RCT of this kind anywhere in the world, and will provide some of the strongest preliminary data on a novel treatment that may improve the lives of children, and adults with Crohn’s Disease.

IN THE NEWS

In an article about the safety of home births Global News noted a McMaster study by Eileen Hutton and colleagues that showed the risk of adverse birth outcomes is low for both home and hospital births.

Gregory Steinberg (Co-Director for the Centre for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research) was featured in the National Post: Research Brief: A new way to help lower blood sugar

The New York Times and the Globe and Mail featured research by Martin Gibala saying that virtually anyone can improve their fitness, anywhere, any time. 

Martin Gibala, was interviewed by CBC on his latest research which found short bouts of stairclimbing, or “exercise snacks” can have meaningful health benefits. 

PUBLICATIONS

Nikhil Pai and colleagues published a paper entitled “Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection and Other Conditions in Children: A Joint Position Paper From the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition” in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.