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Grant valued at nearly $100,000 awarded for research into infant lung condition


November 5, 2014

Dr. Bernard Thébaud has been awarded $99,000 by the Stem Cell Network to study pre-clinical optimization of umbilical cord-derived cells for infant (neonatal) lungs. Currently there is no treatment for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease and the most severe complication for babies born too early. BPD also adversely affects the brain and can lead to blindness in newborns. Dr. Thébaud’s lab was the first to show that cells from human umbilical cords can repair the lungs of newborn rats with experimental BPD induced by exposure to high oxygen. Umbilical cords have numerous advantages over bone marrow as a source of repair cells, especially for neonatal indications. Dr. Thébaud plans to test the repair capacity of clinical grade human umbilical cord cells in a unique large animal model that exists only in one facility in the world and mimics the human disease like no other. This information will be used to prepare for a first-in-human study.

About the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. OHRI includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

Media contact
Paddy Moore
Communications and Public Relations
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
613-737-8899 x73687
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