A collage of 8 headshots featuring the Sunnybrook nominated principal investigators

Awarded nominated principal investigators (from top left to bottom right): Dr. Christine Demore, Dr. Simon Graham, Dr. Stephen Fremes, Dr. Sascha Drewlo, Dr. Gary Yau, Dr. JoAnne McLaurin, Dr. Jamie Near, Dr. Juan Carlos Zuniga-Pflucker

Researchers at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) have been awarded $9.4M in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fall 2025 Project Grants competition. Eight Sunnybrook-led projects were funded in the round. The purpose of the CIHR Project Grant Program is to “capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes.” In total, the Fall competition approved 421 grants nationally, for a total investment of $413M.

Congratulations to all of the awarded SRI-led projects:

Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. Christine Demore
Sunnybrook Principal Investigators: Dr. Iacovos Michael, Dr. Stuart Foster
Funding: $ 1,009,800 over 5 years
Project: Acoustic Reporter Genes: Applications in Cancer Metastasis

Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. Sascha Drewlo
Funding: $ 1,044,225 over 5 years
Project: First-Trimester Molecular Screening to Uncover the Early Origins of Placental Dysfunction Using Single-Cell Analysis

Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. Stephen Fremes
Funding: $ 2,298,824 over 6 years
Project: Randomized comparison of the clinical Outcome of single versus Multiple Arterial grafts – Extended Survival (ROMA-ES)

Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. Simon Graham
Sunnybrook co-investigator(s): Dr. Mark Chiew, Dr. Ben Davidson, Dr. Peter Giacobbe, Dr. Clement Hamani, Dr. Chris Heyn, Dr. Nir Lipsman, Dr. Sean Nestor
Funding: $ 918,000 over 5 years

Project: Parallel Radiofrequency Transmission for Safe 3 Tesla MRI of Patients with Deep Brain Stimulation Devices


Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. JoAnne McLaurin 
Sunnybrook co-investigator: Dr. Carol Schuurmans
Funding: $ 1,530,000 over 2 years

Project: Precision Cellular Reprogramming for Functional Brain Renewal


Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. Jamie Near
Sunnybrook co-investigators: Dr. Agessandro Abrahao, Dr. Krista Lanctôt, Dr. Lorne Zinman
Funding: $883,575 over 5 years

Project: Mapping patterns of brain metabolic alterations in neurodegenerative diseases using ultra-high-field MRSI


Principal investigator: Dr. Gary Yau
Sunnybrook co-investigator(s): Dr. Kullervo Hynynen
Funding: $596,700 over 3 years

Project: Focused Ultrasound for Vitreous Hemorrhage: Preclinical Evaluation of Safety, Efficacy, and Mechanism of Action


Nominated Principal investigator: Dr. Juan Carlos Zuniga-Pflucker
Funding: $1,109,250 over 5 years
Project: Progenitor T-cells as key mediators to re-establish T-cell immunity

Congratulations to Drs. Neill Adhikari, Martin Yaffe, Heather VanderMeulen, Amy Yu, Ivy Cheng, Winny Li, Justin Hall, Neil Rector, Peggy Richter, Lance Hawley, Julie Hallet, Harindra Wijeysundera, Stephen Fremes, Antoine Eskander, and Chris Cheung who were also awarded CIHR grants as co-investigators on collaborative research projects led by other institutions, collectively receiving a total of $11,443,235 in grant funds. See the full list of awardees here

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