Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA)

Strategic Training Initiatives in Health Research (STIHR)

Cell Signaling in Mucosal Inflammation & Pain

Director: Richard P. Ellen, University of Toronto, Faculty of Dentistry
Website: cellsignals.ca

The program's mission is to educate a new generation of investigators who will apply transdisciplinary approaches to generate new concepts of management for inflammatory conditions and associated pain by targeting the cell signaling systems from which they arise.

Major objectives

1. Implement a transdisciplinary training network, pro-active and virtually linked, that focuses on cell signaling events that regulate mucosal inflammation and associated pain, and on how modulation of these signaling pathways may be used to improve human health.
2. Provide training opportunities that bridge fundamental science and clinical health outcomes research, using teams of mentors poised at the interface of medicine, dentistry, and biomedical engineering.
3. Foster an evidence-based research philosophy so trainees will be committed to open and ethical dissemination of their ideas

Our target is also to promote excellence among our trainees, to ultimately facilitate their placement in challenging, meritorious health research careers. Through our national and international network and our partnerships with health advocacy groups and research funding agencies, the strategic training program in Cell Signaling in Mucosal Inflammation & Pain expects to provide its graduating trainees a menu of diverse research career opportunities in academic institutes, hospital research centers, industry, and health services. Thus, one of our targets is to engage academic, health advocacy, and industrial partners who share our interest in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases, in direct, joint support of our trainees' activities.

Key strategic partners are The CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) and the Arthritis Society of Canada, two organizations whose mandates involve oral health, inflammation, and pain as major elements. Other CIHR partners include the Institute of Infection and Immunity (III) for its mandate in mechanisms of host-parasite interactions and inflammation; the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH) for its mandate to address inflammatory respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR) for its interest in training in psychosocial aspects of health research and the delivery of preventive and therapeutic services to susceptible individuals; and the Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) for its interest in the connection between systemic health and oral health.