The Government of Canada has announced an investment of over $552 million to support high-impact research infrastructure projects through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Delivered through CFI’s Innovation Fund, this major investment supports 92 research infrastructure projects at 32 institutions across the country—including four at UHN. 

UHN researchers were awarded over $8.6 million in funding across two UHN-led projects and two projects led by collaborating institutions. The following UHN-led research teams received funding for large-scale infrastructure-supporting projects on advanced preclinical models and AI-driven drug discovery: 

Dr. Michael Laflamme | Senior Scientist, UHN’s McEwen Stem Cell Institute

Dr. Laflamme is the lead on a project that received $3.4 million for enabling advanced preclinical modelling for the translation of biomedical innovations. By enhancing these models, researchers aim to strengthen the evaluation of new therapies, medical devices, and complex procedures, helping move promising discoveries safely toward patient care. UHN project members include Drs. Alyssa Goldstein, Christoph Haller, Shaf Keshavjee, Sonya MacParland, Kumaraswamy Nanthakumar, M. Cristina Nostro, Stephanie Protze, Paul Santerre, and Sara Vasconcelos. 

The University of Toronto (U of T) is the collaborating institution on this project. At U of T, Dr. Laflamme is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology.

Dr. Benjamin Haibe-Kains| Senior Scientist, UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre & Dr. Hui Peng | Affiliate Scientist, UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre 

Drs. Haibe-Kains and Peng are co-leading a project that received $2.7 million to advance drug discovery through the generation of chemical data and the development of AI models shared on a new cloud-based open platform, AIRCHECK. This project combines advanced experimental technologies with artificial intelligence to make drug discovery faster, more efficient, and more accessible to researchers worldwide. UHN project members include Drs. Cheryl Arrowsmith, Levon Halabelian, Rachel Harding, Matthieu Schapira, and Bo Wang. Dr. Haibe-Kains is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science at U of T. Dr. Peng is an Associate Professor in U of T's Department of Chemistry. 

UHN also received $2.4 million through projects led by collaborating institutions. Dr. Arash Zarrine-Afsar, Senior Scientist at UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM), is the co-lead on a project developing a comprehensive image-guided biomarker discovery platform. Dr. Michael Brudno, Senior Scientist at PM, is a collaborating researcher on a project focused on gathering vital real-time health data for clinical trials, artificial intelligence, and a learning health system, also known as the VITAL project.

Congratulations to all UHN award recipients. Read a full list of funded projects here.