Queen’s University researchers have secured a total of $7.5 million in federal health funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant competition. Among the recipients is Dr. Brian Amsden, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Associate Vice-Principal (Research), who has been awarded $569,924 to advance research into treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
AMD is a chronic degenerative disease affecting the retina, leading to central vision loss, and is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness globally, impacting over 1.5 million Canadians. Dr. Amsden's research focuses on a drug that inhibits the body's inflammatory response to damaged cells, a suspected cause of dry AMD. His team aims to determine the dosing requirements to slow or halt the progression of dry AMD and to develop an implantable drug delivery system as an alternative to the current method of repeated eye injections. The outcomes of this project may also have implications for treating other ocular diseases.
Dr. Amsden joined Queen's University in 2000 as an Assistant Professor in Chemical
Engineering and has since built strong research connections within Queen's and externally, as well as with industry. He has collaborated with researchers at other Canadian universities as part of an NSERC CREATE Program in Soft Connective Tissue Regeneration/Therapy (CONNECT), which he established and directed, as well as with researchers in New Zealand, Germany, and the United States. Dr. Amsden has received funding from several sources, including NSERC, CIHR, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the CFI Leaders Opportunity Fund, and the Ontario Centres of Excellence.
In November 2023, Dr. Amsden began a five-year term as Associate Vice-Principal (Research), focusing on the natural sciences and engineering. In this role, he contributes to the strategic vision and development of research initiatives internally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Working closely with faculties, he provides institutional leadership for the coordination and attraction of resources and partnerships to enhance Queen's natural sciences and engineering research strategy and profile.
Dr. Amsden's recent CIHR Project Grant is a testament to his ongoing commitment to advancing health research and improving patient outcomes.
Source: https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/queen-s-researchers-secure-75m-federal-health-funding