Read the full news release here.
Master’s Studentship Awards
Health: Basic Biomedical
Name: Anha Shefa
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Robert Beattie
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institution of Manitoba
Project Title: Analyzing the Role of Fan1 in Regulating Neurodevelopment
Name: John Paul Aguillar
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Christopher Pascoe
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institution of Manitoba
Project Title: Amniotic Fluid As Mediator of the Maternal Environment
Name: Simran Dhaliwal
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Henry Dunn
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institution of Manitoba
Project Title: Exploring the role of ELFN1 in neuronal communication and the mechanistic consequence of pathogenic variants in neurodevelopmental diseases
Name: Kamali Kannon
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Janilyn Arsenio
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Characterization of the effect of sex steroids on CD8+ T-cell differentiation in vitro and after in vivo chronic viral infection
Name: Riley Greenslade
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Thomas Murooka
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Understanding the cellular mechanisms that drive clonal T cell expansion of the HIV reservoir.
Name: Annika Bernacki
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Professor Ji Hyun Ko
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Enhancing the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy using non-invasive brain stimulation.
Name: Dagem Yilma Chernet
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Biniam Kidane & Dr. Christopher Pascoe
Funded by: The Health Science Centre Foundation and the Manitoba Lung Association
Project Title: Lung Proteomic Analysis of Patients with Postoperative Respiratory Failure after One-Lung Ventilation Surgery.
Name: Shamima Anonna
Institution: Brandon University, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Dr. Mousumi Majumder
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Investigating the roles of TXNDC12 in Breast Cancer
Name: Jeba Atkia Maisha
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Liam O’Neil & Dr. Neeloffer Mookherjee
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Investigating the Influence of Cigarette Smoking on Neutrophilic Function and Inflammation
Name: Sanjana Grover
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Benjamin Lindsey
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Identification of Secreted Proteins Composing the Neuroregenerative Environment in the Adult Zebrafish Brain
Name: McKay Lowry
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Christopher Pascoe
Funded by: The Health Science Centre Foundation and the Manitoba Lung Association
Project Title: The Role of EpOMEs and DiHOMEs on the Contractility of Airway Smooth Muscle.
Name: Yina Her
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Paul Marcogliese
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Characterizing the neuronal role of CK2 in Drosophila melanogaster
Name: Huda Rajani
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Abdelilah Soussi Gounni
Funded by: The Manitoba Lung Association
Project Title: Investigate The Role of Semaphorin3E in Asthma-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Using Primary Human Epithelial Cells
Name: Kenneth Osafile
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Professor Jody Haigh & Dr. Cedric Tremblay
Funded by: CancerCare
Project Title: Molecular Crosstalk between LMO2 and ZEB2 in Early Thymic Progenitor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia(ETP-ALL) with the aim of discovering novel therapeutic targets and drug combinations to treat ETP-ALL.
Health: Social Population Health
Name: Adam Brandt
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Medical Microbiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Lynn Scruby
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: The Lived Experiences of Nurses Who Identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ in Providing Nursing Care Within an Urban Prairie Setting: An Interpretive Descriptive Study
Name: Elise Gork
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Medical Microbiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Jason Kindrachuck
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Development of mpox peptide ELISA capable of differentiating natural infection from vaccination for use in serological studies
Name: Tahmina Rahman
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Dylan Mackay
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Type 2 Diabetes Remission: A mixed method approach to Exploring Nutritional strategies that worked through lived experiences (T2DRENu)
Name: Lauren MacGowan
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Community Health Sciences (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Tracie Afifi
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Mental Disorders Among Early and Late Emerging Adults in Canada – A National Study from the Mental Health and Access to Care Survey
Name: Ariel Wilcox
Institution: University of Manitoba, College of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Judith Scanlan
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Rural Nurse Leader Perceptions of Practice Environment Empowerment Structures
Name: Liat Stitz
Institution: University of Manitoba, College of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Nathan Nickel & Dr. Brandy Wicklow
Funded by: The George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation
Project Title: Epigenetics: A Potential Mechanism of Association Between Stress and Albuminuria among Adolescents with Type 2 Diabetes
Natural Science and Engineering:
Name: Madison Chisholm
Institution: University of Winnipeg, MSc in Bioscience, Technology and Public Policy, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Professor Melanie Martin
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Assessing the Precision of MRI Axon Diameter Inferences
Name: Ranjini Mukherjee
Institution: University of Winnipeg, MSc in Bioscience, Technology and Public Policy, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Professor Jean-Pierre Desforges
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Assessing the Impact of Legacy and Emerging Organic Contaminants on Cellular and Immunological Health in Canadian Polar Bears
Name: Shubham Goyal
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Dr. Gerd Prehna
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Molecular characterization of type VI secretion system effector-immunity pairs from diverse Salmonella serovars
Name: Tia Bartel-Ens
Institution: University of Winnipeg, Masters of Environment and Social Change, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Nora Casson
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Characterizing Dissolved Organic Matter in Boreal Forested Catchment Soil Water using Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Name: Muthugala Gunawardhana
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Dr. Savino Longo
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Photon sensor characterization for a high precision test of the weak nuclear force.
Name: Indeera Hetti Archchige
Institution: University of Winnipeg, Masters of Environment and Social Change, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Darshani Kumaragamage & Professor Douglas Goltz
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Blended soil amendment effects on phosphorus loss to snowmelt from manured soils
Name: Joshita Sehgal
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Dr. Jillian Detwiler
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Exploring the Role of Oxylipins in Parasite-Induced Host Behavioural Modification
Social Science and Humanities:
Name: Camile Forbes
Institution: University of Winnipeg, Masters of Environment and Social Change, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Ryan Bullock
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Supporting communication between Indigenous communities and their representatives in Natural Resource Management processes
Name: Deric Marcoux
Institution: University of Manitoba, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Richard Kruk
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: The Effects of Language Proficiency and Reading Skill on Cross-Language Activation in Bilinguals
Name: Jayson Gislason
Institution: University of Winnipeg, Joint Masters Program in History, Faculty of Arts
Supervisor: Dr. Sean Carleton
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Land Acknowledgements as Tools of Reconciliation and History Education in Treaty One Territory
Name: Nhu Ngoc Nguyen
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Bailis
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Can Perceptions of Self-Compassion Influence Expressions of Self-Compassion?
PhD Research Studentship Awards
Health: Basic Biomedical
Name: Le An Lac
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Dr. Pingzhao Hu & Professor Carson Leung
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Computational framework integrating statistical models and deep learning algorithms for breast cancer cell segmentation in imaging-based spatial transcriptomics
Name: Azam Asemi Rad
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Hassan Marzban
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Project Title: The Role of Cerebellar Nuclei in Ataxic Motor Impairment
Name: Courtney Marshall
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Mookherjee Neeloffer
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Project Title: Sex as a biological variable in the modulation of airway inflammation by Innate Defence Regulator (IDR) peptides.
Name: Kaihim Wong
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Dr. Chase Figley
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Health Science Centre Foundation
Project Title: Designing a machine learning model using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging to predict lesion evolution
Name: Camila Chacon
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Jeremy Chopek & Dr. Kristine Cowley
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Linking locomotor and autonomic systems in the spinal cord
Name: Testimony Olumade
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Deanna Santer
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Identifying Mechanisms Regulating Type III Interferon Receptor Signaling
Name: Toby Le
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Medical Microbiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Keith Fowke & Dr. Julie Lajoie
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Understanding the effects of a popular injectable birth control on the immune system and its link to increased HIV risk
Name: Alana Slike
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Galen Wright
Funded by: The Health Science Centre Foundation and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Project Title: FAN1 as a Genetic Modifier in Rett Syndrome
Name: Dheerendra Pandey
Institution: University of Manitoba, PhD in Applied Health Sciences Program, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Halayko
Funded by: The Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Project Title: Role of TRPA1 in Oxidized Phospholipid Mediated Airways Inflammation and Remodeling
Name: Samah Ahmed
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Britt Drogemoller
Funded by: The Health Science Centre Foundation and CancerCare
Project Title: The incorporation of automated phenotyping strategies and single cell sequencing data to identify genes, pathways and cells involved in age-related hearing loss
Name: Jasmine Pipella
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Professor Peter Thompson
Funded by: The Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Project Title: Exploring the impact of anti-CD3 immunotherapy on beta cell stress in type 1 diabetes
Name: Nitesh Sanghai
Institution: University of Manitoba, College of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Professor Geoffrey Tranmer
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Discovery of Novel Drugs for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Name: Amarasignhe Mudalige Ovini Amarasinghe
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Immunology (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Cedric Tremblay
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Uncovering Therapeutic Targets in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Health: Social Population Health
Name: Salina Pirzada
Institution: University of Manitoba, Faculty of Graduate Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Harvey Chochinov & Dr. Kelly Christine
Funded by: The George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation
Project Title: Examining the implications of evolving Medical Assistance in Dying practices and policies on vulnerable Canadians
Name: Julie-Anne McCarthy
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Community Health Sciences (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Tracie Afifi
Funded by: Research Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Project Title: Examining associations between protective factors and interpersonal relationship outcomes among youth with and without a child maltreatment history over a five-year period in Manitoba, Canada
Natural Science and Engineering
Name: Huy Luu
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Supervisor: Professor Nediljko Budisa
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Design of Precise Biological Tools to Study Harmful Protein Modifications and Evaluate Their Role in Aging-related Diseases
Name: Volodymyr Shyianov
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. Faouzi Bellili
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Towards a sustainable and multi-functional wireless infrastructure – wideband transceivers design and proof of concept
Social Science and Humanities
Name: Kennedy Link
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Supervisor: Dr. Diane Hiebert-Murphy
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: The Process of Problem Identification and Definition Among Couples with a History of Violence and Abuse
Name: Melissa Krook
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Supervisor: Professor Corey Mackenzie
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Examining social connectedness and mental health among Canadian older adults: A mixed methods study
Name: Alexandria Delaney
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts
Supervisor: Dr. Laura Funk
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Navigating the Care Continuum: Examining Family Caregivers’ Strategies for Securing the Futures of their Care Recipients
Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards
Health – Basic Biomedical
Name: Prasanta Paul
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (Medicine), Faculty of Health Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Rene Zahedi
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Towards improved treatment of CLL patients using proteogenomics
Health – Social Population
Name: Hoda Badran
Institution: University of Manitoba
Supervisor: Dr. Terry Klassen & Dr. Alex Aregbesola
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Using a single dose of dexamethasone at 0.6mg/kg of body weight versus 0.15 mg/kg of body weight for the treatment of croup: an internal vanguard randomized controlled non-inferiority trial
Social Science and Humanities
Name: Honoure Black
Institution: University of Manitoba, Department of City Planning, Faculty of Architecture
Supervisor: Dr. Sarah Cooper
Funded by: Research Manitoba
Project Title: Becoming “This Place”: Potentials to Unsettle Air Canada Park in Treaty One with Public Art and Decolonial Urban Planning