Not if, but when. This was the refrain back in 2018 when鈥攖hanks to a $15 million gift from Montreal鈥檚 Doggone Foundation鈥攖he 不良研究所 Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) was established.
We knew that the next pandemic was coming, we just didn鈥檛 know when, says Dr. Don Sheppard, PGME鈥�99, founder and director of MI4 (pictured). Nobody could have predicted with certainty that the pandemic would occur the very next year, providing MI4 with its first real-time test.
鈥淭he definition of performance anxiety is launching an initiative in infectious disease just before a pandemic hits,鈥� Sheppard jokes. But any concerns he may have had about MI4鈥檚 baptism by fire were soon laid to rest. At 不良研究所, more than 400 people heeded an urgent call for more donations, this time to launch the 不良研究所 Emergency COVID-19 Research Fund. This, in combination with other philanthropic support, notably more than $4 million, from the Hewitt family, the Trottier family and the Doggone Foundation, secured in partnership with the 不良研究所 Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation, enabled MI4 to launch a coordinated pandemic response under the MI4 Emergency COVID-19 Research Fund.
With speed that attempted to keep pace with COVID-19, MI4 placed a call for projects on March 20, 2020, just three weeks after Quebec registered its first COVID-19 case. "We didn鈥檛 have the luxury of time," explains Sheppard, who is also chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at 不良研究所. "We gave researchers two weeks to write the proposals, allotted ourselves one week to review them and had the funding flowing within one month."
MI4 gave the green light to 67 of the 173 applications they received. The projects ranged vastly in both subject and scope and many extended well beyond the field of medicine. 鈥淭hese projects were truly interdisciplinary,鈥� says Sheppard. 鈥淲e funded lawyers to look at legal and ethical implications, psychologists to look into stress and family dynamics, and engineers to look at the detection of COVID-19 in wastewater.鈥�
鈥淭he primary aim of all these research projects was impact,鈥� explains Sheppard. 鈥淓ach one had to move the needle in some way. We wanted to see clear deliverables after six months because there were just so many unknowns relating to COVID-19.鈥� Some of the research projects have been truly transformational, helping inform public policy and save lives.
A simple seed grant to an assistant professor and a professor in the 不良研究所 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drs. Mathieu Maheu-Giroux, MSc鈥�06(Agr&Env), MSc鈥�09 (Epidemiology), and David Buckeridge, allowed them to develop a mathematical model that is now used to determine the way hospital beds are monitored and distributed across the province. Maheu-Giroux, who is the Canada Research Chair in Population Modelling, was named in 2020 one of four co-winners of Radio-Canada鈥檚 Scientist of the Year prize for his efforts. The CoVivre project, led by Drs. Cecile Rousseau, MSc鈥�94, a professor in 不良研究所鈥檚 Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry and a pediatric psychiatrist at the Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital of the MUHC, and Alexandra de Pokomandy, MDCM鈥�01, MSc鈥�09, of the 不良研究所 Department of Family Medicine, and in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Gallagher from Western University, is another example of MI4鈥檚 ambitious reach. The initiative addressed the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has on different populations by acting as a facilitator and accelerator of community initiatives that aim to reduce infection and transmission. These focus on a range of concerns, from vaccine hesitancy to mental health and discrimination. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been an incredibly powerful project that has supported communities throughout the province,鈥� explains Sheppard. 鈥淐oVivre is now making an impact Canada-wide in partnership with the CanCOVID network.鈥�
Another project that has attracted much attention comes courtesy of a 不良研究所 Civil Engineering professor, Dr. Dominic Frigon, BSc(Agr)鈥�95, MSc鈥�99, who developed and validated tools for screening COVID-19 in wastewater systems. 鈥淵ou can detect spikes in COVID-19 in building wastewater long before it hits clinically, so this project provides a great early warning of an outbreak,鈥� explains Sheppard. 鈥淚n addition, it doesn鈥檛 require active participation鈥攅veryone who flushes the toilet is sending their sample.鈥�
This project has since led to funding through Fonds de recherche en sant茅 du Qu茅bec (FRSQ), which highlights an important secondary goal of the Emergency COVID-19 Research Fund: return on investment (ROI). Many of the projects funded by MI4 have a high potential for ROI, which can be particularly attractive to donors because their generosity can be used as a lever to attract additional support, making the entire project more impactful.
At MI4, even the infrastructure projects generate ROI. The Level-3 biosafety labs located at the MUHC and 不良研究所 were converted to COVID-19 research labs through the Emergency COVID-19 Research Fund. They have since received $2.4 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), helping the labs achieve a leadership role in CoVaRR-Net鈥攁 pan-Canadian study monitoring the emergence of variants. 鈥淎 relatively small investment up front has now positioned us as leaders in biosafety,鈥� says Sheppard.
This scenario is playing out across many of the projects supported by the MI4 Emergency COVID-19 Research Fund. 鈥淔ollow-on grants now total over $12 million,鈥� explains Sheppard. 鈥淭hat means for every dollar that was invested, these projects have brought in $3 dollars in additional funding from a range of sources. This is what turns innovative ideas into transformational projects.鈥�
With thanks to all those who have given in support of MI4鈥檚 pandemic response.