Thirty-two McGill research project have received new funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for investments in research infrastructure to support their innovative projects, for a total federal investment of $9.7 million.
These grants will be matched by the Quebec government, doubling their value.
The awards, from the CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), helps Canadian universities recruit and retain outstanding researchers and acquire the tools that enable the innovative work of leading researchers. As announced today, the CFI is providing $115 million to support research infrastructure projects across 47 post-secondary Canadian institutions through the JELF program.
“From advancing breakthroughs in quantum science and technology, to tackling chronic lung disease through new therapeutic approaches, these investments empower McGill’s researchers to create solutions with lasting impact on society”, said Dominique Bérubé, McGill’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation. “I thank the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Government of Quebec for their generous support, and I congratulate the McGill researchers whose exceptional work is being recognized today.”
Pioneering new strategies for healthier music careers
Canada's rapidly growing music industry is driving demand for training and professional practices that can support a healthier, more sustainable workforce—and in turn ensure that Canadian audiences continue to benefit from music’s transformative effects.
With JELF funding, Liliana Araújo, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Music Research and Music Performance, with Andrea Creech, Professor in the Department of Music Research, will establish the Applied Performance Sciences Lab, featuring the first music performance simulator in Canada and a music-specific fitness and health lab.
The facility will support applied research that can directly translate into musicians’ practice and will train the country’s first generation of researchers in music performance sciences. By pioneering new strategies for sustainable musicianship, Araújo and Creech’s lab will position Canada as a leader in this emerging field.
Expanding McGill’s research capacity in quantum science and technology
David Cooke, Professor in the Department of Physics, with Bradley Siwick, Associate Professor in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Dynamic in Complex Materials, will use JELF support to expand McGill’s facilities for quantum material growth, sample preparation, and characterization.
High-quality samples are critical to advancing discoveries in this field, which underpins transformative technologies such as quantum computing, advanced sensing, and next-generation energy systems. The upgraded facility will permit the synthesis and study of a wide range of quantum materials such as topological insulators, 2D materials, and unconventional superconductors, while complementing the new CFI-funded Quantum Dynamics Laboratory—led by Cooke and Siwick—officially opening this year.
By providing a centralized hub for materials growth and characterization, the facility will foster interdisciplinary collaboration across among physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and engineers, and provide hands-on training for the next generation. The result will be a major boost to McGill’s research capacity in quantum science and technology.
Tackling chronic lung disease with cutting-edge tissue engineering
Darcy Wagner, Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine, will use JELF funding to advance the development of bioengineered human lung tissue. Chronic lung diseases affect over 60 million people worldwide and are the third leading cause of death, with lung transplantation as the only curative option. Yet donor shortages mean that just 7,000 transplants are performed globally each year.
Wagner is tackling this urgent challenge by utilizing advanced human tissue manufacturing approaches recently pioneered in her lab to generate transplantable alveolar tissue units—the air sacs in the lungs that facilitate gas exchange—which can be administered using a bronchoscope. Her project will develop clinical-grade biomanufacturing protocols and biomaterials to derive alveolar cells from stem cells, test tissue functionality, and apply cutting-edge 3D imaging using light sheet fluorescence microscopy and RNA sequencing technologies to refine therapies and advance them towards first in-human trials.
Wagner began her tenure at McGill in 2023 as Canada Excellence Research Chair in Lung Regenerative Medicine.
List of CFI JELF-funded projects at McGill
Applied Performance Sciences Studio Lab
Professor Liliana Araújo, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Music Research and Music Performance
Andrea Creech, Professor in the Department of Music Research
$409,970
Revealing the hidden peripheral drivers of painful temporomandibular disorders: A multimodal and AI-driven approach
Professor Carolina Beraldo Meloto, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences
$80,000
Sustainable and resilient tall mass timber construction: Development of performance-based wind design approaches
Professor Matiyas Bezabeh, Department of Civil Engineering
$316,328
Visualizing essential macromolecular complexes in their native environment
Professor Khanh Huy Bui, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
$356,044
Facility for quantum material growth, sample preparation and characterization
Professor David Cooke, Department of Physics
Professor Bradley Siwick, Associate Professor in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry
$403,118
Environmental Nucleic Acids Discovery Hub
Professor Melania Cristescu, Department of Biology
$800,000
EdTech for effective and equitable education
Professor Adam Dubé, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
$370,627
Optimizing body composition analysis to investigate new treatments for tissue loss syndromes
Professor Gustavo Duque, Department of Medicine
$120,000
New paradigms for the evaluation of human movement biomechanics
Professor Philippe Dixon, Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education
$782,485
Understanding the causes and impacts of water cycle biases in the Canadian Earth System Model for model improvement
Professor Robert Fajber, Department of Amospheric and Oceanic Sciences
$100,332
Discovery of patient-specific therapies for brain cancers
Professor Jérôme Fortin, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery
$167,000
Understanding chronic inflammatory haematopoiesis and its role in cancer promotion
Professor Hannah Garner, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
$449,704
A helium-free nuclear magnetic resonance facility for sustainable agricultural and environmental research
Professor Matthias Klein, Department of Animal Science
$111,639
Dual function materials for selective capture of CO₂ and conversion to fuels
Professor Jan Kopyscinski, Department of Chemical Engineering
$327,381
RACE4NbCS: Rapid assessment of carbon emissions for nature-based climate solutions
Professor Sara Knox, Department of Geography
$133,261
A multiscale, open-science approach to digital cognitive phenotyping in transdiagnostic psychiatry
Professor Katie Lavigne, Department of Psychiatry
$99,083
A multi-component integrative platform for studying highly pathogenic respiratory RNA viruses
Professor Guanqun Liu, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
$256,059
Long-term health consequences of e-cigarette use
Professor Koren Mann, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics
$210,000
Mapping tumour microenvironment interactions with spatial biology
Professor Luke McCaffrey, Department of Oncology
$239,559
Multiscale structural biology of biomineralization
Professor Marc McKee, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences and Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
$338,277
Advancing high-resolution translational brain research with cutting-edge single-cell methods
Professor Corina Nagy, Department of Psychiatry
$379,805
Organic electronic materials for energy and quantum applications
Professor Dmitrii Perepichka, Department of Chemistry
$283,097
Aquatic infrastructure for novel experimental studies in behaviour, ecology and evolution
Professor Simon Reader, Department of Biology
$212,288
Genomic medicine in renal cell carcinoma
Professor Yasser Riazalhosseini, Department of Human Genetics
$236,938
Advancing nanoscale research for improved infection control and therapeutic applications
Professor Petra Rohrbach, Institute of Parasitology
$391,904
Robotic fabrication for sustainable and autonomous construction
Professor Yi Shao, Department of Civil Engineering
$338,646
Inter-brain synchrony as a novel social biomarker of psychiatric illness and treatment response
Professor Eszter Szekely, Department of Psychiatry
$174,904
MiniHub for Engineering and Producing Viruses and Virus-like Particles (MHVEP)
Professor Silvia Vidal, Department of of Human Genetics
$255,257
Complex fluid characterization and fragmentation in disease transmission
Professor Caroline Wagner, Department of Bioengineering
$310,020
Bioengineering and monitoring the development of transplantable human lung alveoli using microfluidic-based approaches
Professor Darcy Wagner, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine
$800,000
2-photon tools to map cerebellar circuits in health and disease
Professor Alanna Watt, Department of Biology
$173,600
Laboratory for synergistic design and development of shared automated electric mobility systems
Professor Jiangbo Yu, Department of Civil Engineering
$80,000