Search Results for The Science Olympiads

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Canada

Ivan Litvinov’s project aims to co-create with Indigenous partners and implement a culturally sensitive dermatological care system in the Cree territories in Quebec, one of Canada’s First Nations. Dermatologic care for Canadian Indigenous populations is severely lacking currently. While many safe advanced treatments are available for debilitating diseases, including atopic dermatitis that affects ~15-20% of First Nations in Quebec, these treatments are not accessible in the Northern remote regions due to a lack of established care.

Ivan Litvinov’s proposed implementation science project will be centered on meaningful engagement of patients, health care providers (HCPs) and wider communities, continuous monitoring, analysis, and feedback based on collected data to the members of the steering committee and to the Cree Health Board/Elders overseeing the effort with the goal of achieving the Quintuple Aim (improved patient experience, better outcomes, lower costs, clinician well-being and health equity) for the region.

Ivan Litvinov’s project will leverage the existing RUISSS (Réseau Universitaire Intégré de Santé et de Services Sociaux) infrastructure to establish in-person care in 3 key Cree communities and will 1) establish a Learning Healthcare System (LHS); 2) collect quantitative and qualitative data on skin diseases, barriers and treatments; 3) recruit and support healthcare professionals to the region to foster a community of practice and promote a community of concern amongst patients through Patient and Public Involvement, knowledge mobilization and educational activities.

The impact of the project will be a co-creation of a culturally sensitive sustainable dermatologic care in the region. Results of this work will be shared with other specialties working in the region, other First Nation communities in Quebec in Canada and in other countries (e.g., Greenland).

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

The project supports the 2023 Biotech Academy Camp which is a week-long science camp for 30 high school students in October. The camp combines theory and lab work, and this year’s program is focused on societal challenges. It is free of charge and also covers participants’ transportation to the camp, has been executed annually since 2008, and is run by master’s and bachelor students from the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

Joshua Moreau’s project investigates the potential role of B cells (antibody-producing immune cells) in the inflammatory skin disease, hidradenitis suppurativa to create a foundation for future therapeutic approaches.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a painful skin disease characterized by highly inflamed lesions. While the causes of lesion progression are not well understood, this inflammation is often marked by accumulation of an immune cell subset called B cells. In certain contexts, B cells cause damage to the body and perpetuate inflammatory responses, however, for this to happen these cells need to undergo a process of maturation to become antibody-producing plasma cells. In this project, Joshua Moreau aims to understand if B cells accumulating in HS affected skin mature into disease perpetuating plasma cells.

To do this, Joshua Moreau and his team will utilize a technique called spatial transcriptomics technology that allows them to track B cell maturation across a skin sample. This, in turn, will allow them to determine if plasma cells originate at the site of inflammation in the skin.

Additionally, the team will explore avenues for blocking B cell maturation specifically within the skin using advanced human skin tissue culturing approaches.

Collectively, these experiments may provide currently missing insight into the disease-causing potential of B cells in HS and form a foundation for targeting them therapeutically.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

“Danske Stjerner” (translated to Danish stars) is a series of children’s books about important Danish scientists. The series is for kids of aged 4-8 years. The books’ stories are illustrated, and their tales begin  when the scientists are the same age as their young readers. They then follow the scientists into adulthood, exploring their lives and discoveries. The aim of the series is to increase children’s interest for science, and to inspire them through role models. So far, the series consists of eight published books, illustrating the lives of, amongst others, physicist Niels Bohr, seismologist Inge Lehmann, and astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

The grant is for DKK 380,000 and supports the publishing of four additional books to the series, including one about Morten Peter Meldal, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2022 for the development of “click chemistry”, and one about Elise Sørensen, creator of the colostomy bag, which today is used globally.

Visit The Children’s Book Publisher’s webpage

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2024

Geography: Japan

To strengthen the interactions between young scientists a collegiality night and a symposium are arranged in conjunction with the 49th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID).

The mission of JSID  is to advance the position of dermatology in the interdisciplinary world and to enhance the quality of science and research presentations in dermatology for the purposes of maintaining healthy skin and further advancing the treatment of skin diseases.

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