Synergy grants are open to CF academic researchers across Canada, for the purposes of pilot studies and initial data generation using any or all of the resources available in the program. All CF academic researchers in Canada may apply to the Small Synergy Grants competition worth $ 40,000 for 1 year. Micro Synergy Grants are available to CF academic trainees and are valued at up to $ 20,000.

Information on any future Synergy Grant competitions will be posted here when available. 

Past winners of the Small and Micro Synergy Grants:

2019:
Small Synergy

A Patient-Centered Tool to Characterize Disease Severity in CF, Sanja Stanojevic, Hospital for Sick Children

Micro Synergy Grant:

Does microbe infection influence nasal epithelial cell culture quality?, Hong Ouyang and Theo Moraes, Hospital for Sick Children

2018:
Small Synergy

Investigating the Adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus to the Cystic Fibrosis Nasal Epithelium, Georgina Cox, University of Guelph

Head-to Head comparison: intestinal organoids versus nasal cells, Tanja Gonska, Hospital for Sick Children

Micro Synergy Grant:

Utilizing photoaffinity labelling probes to identify secondary targets of CFTR modulators in CF patient nasal epithelial cells, Michael Hamilton, Simon Fraser University

Restoration of CFTR function by antisense oligonucleotides as a therapy for CF patients bearing the W1282X mutation Onofrio Laselva, Hospital for Sick Children

Optimization of definitive endoderm differentiation in human pluripotent stem cells, Zoe Ngan, Hospital for Sick Children

2017:
Small Synergy

Metabolomics for Precision Medicine in Cystic Fibrosis, Philip Britz-McKibbin, McMaster University.

Rectification of Class I CFTR mutations by cytoplasmic delivery of wild-type mRNA encapsulated within novel cationic pH-sensitive liposomes, Nurlan Dauletbayev, McGill University.

Testing a novel approach to generate airway epithelial cells from induced pluripotent cell (iPSC) lines for CFTR functional assessment, Herman Yeger and Theo Moraes, Hospital for Sick Children.

Micro Synergy

Validating CFTR gene editing in CF iPSC and airway basal stem cells, Huibi Cao, Hospital for Sick Children.

Establishing iPS-derived neutrophils for personalized medicine studies, Meraj Khan, Hospital for Sick Children.

2016:
Small Synergy

ABCC4 inhibition and CFTR potentiation, Jeremy Hirota, University of British Columbia.

Modeling CFTR mediated secretion in 3D biliary and pancreatic organoids differentiated from induced pluripotent cells, Shinichiro Ogawa, University Health Network.

Generating lung organoid models from human pluripotent stem cells to study lung development, disease and therapies, Amy Wong, Hospital for Sick Children.

Congratulations to our colleagues and we wish them every success as they complete their research!

Small Synergy Grants:

All CF academic researchers in Canada may apply to the Small Synergy Grant Competition (Principle Investigators, Trainees, Technicians and Research Associates).

These grants, valued at up to $40,000 for one year are aimed at promoting the use of the program’s resources to advance the goal of individualized therapy in CF. Where applicable, each applicant must indicate how their proposed research will employ one or more of the following resources of the program:

  • Stem cell resource
  • Primary nasal cell resource
  • Genetics resource
  • Drug profiling resource
  • Clinical phenotyping resource

Application requirements:

  1. Completed Synergy grant application form.
  2. Applicant CV.
  3. Research plan, up to three pages including figures and references indicating, if applicable, how you will use the resources available in the Program to answer a Cystic Fibrosis-relevant research question. Open to PI’s and trainees in CF research. If you are a postdoctoral fellow or research associate, also indicate your role and the role of your co-investigator (3 pages max).
  4. Budget with justification. Where there is more than one applicant, indicate the total budget and breakdown for each applicant (1 page max). All successful applicants will be required to agree to SickKids policies regarding the use of grant funds before funds will be released.
    The 2018 Synergy Grant competition is now closed.

Micro Synergy Grants:

Note: The Micro Synergy Grant competition is open only to trainees (Graduate students, Postdoctoral Fellows), Research Technicians and Research Associates.

These grants, valued at up to $20,000 for one year are aimed at promoting the use of the programs resources to advance the goal of individualized therapy in CF. Each applicant must indicate how their proposed research will employ one or more of the following resources of the program:

  • Stem cell resource
  • Primary nasal cell resource
  • Genetics resource
  • Drug profiling resource
  • Clinical phenotyping resource

Application requirements:

  1. Completed Synergy grant application form.
  2. Applicant CV.
  3. Research plan, up to 2 pages including figures and references indicating, if applicable, how you will use the resources available in the Program to answer a Cystic Fibrosis-relevant research question. Open to trainees in CF research.  If you are a trainee or research associate, also indicate your role and the role of your co-investigator (2 page max).
    1. Budget with justification.  Where there is more than one applicant, indicate the total budget and breakdown for each applicant (1/2 page max). All successful applicants will be required to agree to SickKids policies regarding the use of grant funds before funds will be released.

Synergy Grants Application Form

Trainees may also be interested in applying to the trainee travel awards.  Information can be found on the training programs page.