Research Office - Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Do supervised consumption sites bring increased crime? Study suggests that’s a myth

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:39:38 +0000

Overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites in Toronto are not associated with long-term increases in local crime, �鶹��ý��վ researchers have found.

Over 10 years, crime reports remained stable or declined in neighbourhoods where sites opened, the researchers said. Their findings land amid debates across Canada about how harm reduction services intersect with public health and safety.

New light-triggered microneedle patch could make IVF hormone delivery painless and automated

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:38:34 +0000

A �鶹��ý��վ research team has developed a painless, automated way to deliver in vitro fertilization (IVF) hormones using a light-activated microneedle patch, an innovation that could ease one of the most stressful parts of fertility treatment and open new possibilities for other diseases that require frequent, time-sensitive injections.

IVF patients must inject themselves with hormones daily at specific times in the weeks leading up to egg retrieval, a process that can be physically and emotionally taxing.

Low-dose peanut therapy may help protect more children with peanut allergies

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:37:32 +0000

Children with peanut allergies may not need large doses of peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) to build protection to the allergen, finds a new study led by the Montreal Children’s Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).

New evidence challenges understanding of Parkinson’s disease

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:36:35 +0000

A �鶹��ý��վ-led study is challenging a popular theory about how dopamine drives movement, a discovery that could shift how scientists think about Parkinson’s disease treatments.

Published in Nature Neuroscience, the research found dopamine does not set the speed or force of each movement, as had been thought. Instead, it appears to act as the underlying support system that makes movement possible.

International ERDERA funding awarded for novel autism treatment research

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:35:28 +0000

An international research team led by Gabriella Gobbi, MD, PhD, a Senior Scientist at The Institute, has been awarded highly competitive funding through the European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA) Joint Transnational Call (JTC) 2025 for a preclinical project focused on a novel therapy for autism spectrum disorder associated with Fragile X syndrome and Phelan-McDermid syndrome.

�鶹��ý��վ researchers awarded funding to strengthen national capacity in metaresearch

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:34:04 +0000

Sam Harper and Arijit Nandi have received funding to help strengthen national capacity in metaresearch through the Research-on-Research joint initiative, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Michael Smith Health Research BC (MSHRBC).

Cancer Research Society invests in �鶹��ý��վ discoveries

Health e-News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:31:31 +0000

Twenty-two FMHS researchers have received funding from the Cancer Research Society (CRS) through its Operating Grants competition, announced on November 20.

Four �鶹��ý��վ studies make Québec Science’s list of the Top 10 Discoveries of the Year

Health e-News — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:04:18 +0000

Québec Science magazine has published its list of 2025’s Top 10 breakthroughs by Quebec researchers. Four �鶹��ý��վ research papers, including one from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, are listed.

Their topics range from prehistoric fossils to female fertility, highlighting the range of expertise at the University.

US spends nearly twice as much as Canada on immigrant cardiac research

Health e-News — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:44:46 +0000

A new international study led by researchers at The Institute provides the first comparative analysis of national research funding for the cardiovascular health of immigrants in Canada and the United States. Published in JAMA Network Open, the cross-sectional study examined grants awarded between 2005 and 2023 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Fine particles in pollution are associated with early signs of autoimmune disease

Health e-News — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:43:07 +0000

A new study has linked air pollution exposure and immune-system changes that often precede the onset of autoimmune diseases.

�鶹��ý��վ researchers analyzing Ontario data found that fine particles in air pollution are associated with higher levels of a biomarker linked with autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus.