CIHR Catalyst Grants
November 14, 2024
Three University of Victoria scholars have been awarded $100,000 for one year through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Catalyst Grant program “Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections Research in Canada: Beyond HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.”
Catalyst Grants fund original projects to generate observations, data or knowledge as a first step before applying for larger grants.
These projects form a constellation of scholarship at UVic which, along with other existing projects, aims to make important advances against syphilis, one of the world’s first global diseases, and other sexually transmitted infections. They support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good health and well-being.
Javier Alfaro
An adjunct assistant professor in the department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Javier Alfaro is a computational immunologist focused on applying biomedical artificial intelligence in the context of immunotherapy and vaccine design. He leverages multi-omics to better understand how immune systems interact with disease and utilizes AI to accelerate vaccine development strategies.
In “Eliminating Syphilis: a community resource for syphilis vaccine development,” he will develop the EliminateTP platform, which integrates molecular data about both the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum, and the host response to it.
“With my colleagues Caroline Cameron and Simon Houston, we’ll amalgamate and make accessible published datasets and newly acquired primary data to aid in the development of a vaccine that is effective against all T. pallidum strains,” Alfaro says.
“Importantly, we will ensure the data is inclusive and available in formats suited to researchers in all disciplines, including bioinformatics and biomedical AI communities, who are instrumental in modern vaccine development pipelines and have traditionally not been involved in the syphilis field.”
Alfaro, Cameron and Houston intend to openly share the resources developed in the hopes of harmonizing global efforts to develop a vaccine.
“In addition to working on syphilis,” Alfaro adds, “this grant provides a general framework that we intend to expand to other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections.”
David Goodlett
“We have evidence of lipidome dysregulation in people with syphilis and in the rabbit model,” says Helena Petrosova, group leader at UVic Genome BC Proteomics Centre and an adjunct assistant professor in UVic’s Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology.
In “Lipidomic profiling of human and rabbit serum for development of novel tools to combat syphilis,” David Goodlett, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology and director of the UVic Genome BC Proteomics Centre, and the research team will design novel lipid-based tools — assays — for syphilis diagnosis and for use during vaccine and drug testing in rabbits.
The cross-disciplinary team connects expertise on mass spectrometry, the biology of Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, rabbit model of syphilis, and clinical diagnostics.
“This award will support the training of multidisciplinary, highly qualified personnel versed in analytical chemistry and infectious disease research,” says Goodlett. “It will also support early career researchers, such as Dr. Petrosova, as they continue their research programs on syphilis.”
The team’s ultimate goal is to translate the assay into clinics and to vaccine and drug testing trials, helping to decrease and eventually eliminate syphilis in Canada and around the world.
Nathan Lachowsky
Nathan Lachowsky, professor in UVic’s School of Public Health and Social Policy, and post-doctoral fellow Aki Gormezano will use this award for “Exploring the Uptake and Suitability of Doxy for STI Prevention among Gay, Bisexual and Queer Men Who Have Group Sex,” studying the prophylactic use of the antibiotic doxycycline (“doxy”) to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections among gay, bi and queer men who participate in group sex.
“Syphilis,” Gormezano says, “is a sexually transmitted infection that is disproportionately high among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Therefore, there’s great potential preventive benefit from this antibiotic for this group.”
Lachowsky and the research team will use diagnoses for syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea as the quantitative outcome measure. As well, qualitative interviews will help them understand how doxycycline is (and is not) used in group sex contexts alongside other bacterial infection prevention measures.