Exploring New Frontiers in health research

Feature Stories | 08 Jul 2024

Queen’s University research challenging the frontiers of medical science has received a significant investment from the federal government through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF).

Four research projects at Queen’s have secured a total of $1 million – including two featuring researchers from Queen’s Health Sciences:

Preventing loss of skeletal muscle mass: Consuming fish oil is believed to help prevent cardiovascular disease. There is growing evidence that an active ingredient in fish oil – eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) – also has muscle anabolic properties in animals. However, it is unknown if EPA could also potentially enhance skeletal muscle mass and strength in older adults, which is linked to many positive health outcomes. Kimberly Dunham-Snary (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) and Chris McGlory (Kinesiology and Health Studies) are leading a team that will test this hypothesis, potentially opening a new avenue of treatment across a range of diseased states including aging, diabetes, and cancer. At the same time, the team will address a traditional barrier to studying skeletal muscle mitochondria. Typically, invasive procedures and specialist expertise are required to get samples. The team will test the possibility that blood platelet mitochondrial function can mimic that of skeletal muscle, meaning a simple blood sample could be a surrogate to a muscle biopsy. If this connection can be confirmed, then the team’s discovery could become a powerful new tool to revolutionize clinical and experimental practice.
Improving success of implantable medical devices: Some medical devices, whether sex-specific (IUDs) or universal (surgical mesh, hip replacements, etc.), produce harm in women and have bad reputations as the subject of costly legal challenges. However, as the body adapts to the foreignness of a medical device, it is not known if sex and sex hormones undermine device safety or effectiveness. Katrina Gee (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) and Laura Wells (Chemical Engineering) will lead a team to use surgical mesh as a prototype to develop humanized cellular and tissue models to test sex-specific immune responses to implantable medical devices. Their proposal will integrate sex-focused immunological data with a detailed probing of socially accepted definitions of patient outcomes to better define device failure/success. By challenging the conventional 'one size fits all' approach to device manufacturing, their research validates sex as a biological factor in device performance. This effort not only addresses theoretical concerns about greater female inflammatory potential but also seeks to untangle the complexities contributing to device failure in women. Ultimately, their findings could lead to improvements in testing and approval processes for medical devices, despite potential challenges from industry interests.

The NFRF Exploration program inspires high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research. Researchers supported by the program are encouraged to think outside of the box and undertake research that would defy current paradigms, brings disciplines together in unexpected ways, and has the potential to be disruptive or deliver game-changing impacts. The funded projects from Queen’s will receive the maximum value of support, $250,000 over two years.

“Queen’s researchers are pushing the frontiers of research and innovation,” says Nancy Ross, Vice-Principal (Research). “NFRF Exploration provides the critical support needed for our researchers to pursue ideas that defy convention and explore new perspectives to solve the world’s most significant challenges.”

To learn more about these and other NFRF-funded projects, visit the Canada Research Coordinating Committee website.

This story originally appeared in the Queen’s Gazette.

Exploring New Frontiers in health research

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