E-newsletter - March 2011

In this issue of Grey Matters

• Message from the Scientific Director
• Kudos
• Institute News
• Research News
• "The Brightest Minds"
• Rising Stars
• Public Engagement
• IA-Affiliated Meetings
• Current Funding Opportunities
• Student and Trainee Opportunities
• Did You Know?
• Send Us Your News

---

Message from the Scientific Director

Welcome to this year's Spring issue of Grey Matters, in which we report on national activities related to Institute strategic initiatives, as well showcase the talents of the emerging generation of Canadian researchers in aging.

The 10-year International Review of CIHR has been conducted over the past few months. In February, the Institute's reviewers, Fiona Stanley, Carol Brayne, and Kyriakos Markides (see the CIHR website for details), met with me and representatives of our research and stakeholder communities to explore a wide range of issues related to the goals and associated activities of the Institute. My thanks go to the following people who met with the Review Panel: Jane Rylett, Dot Pringle, and Chris Patterson, representing the Institute; Karim Khan, Ken Rockwood, Parminder Raina, who represented our research community; and Louise Plouffe, Debbie Benczkowski, Michael Wolfson, and Janice Keefe, who spoke on behalf of our stakeholders. In addition to individual Institute feedback, the CIHR organization will receive a formal International Review Panel report in late June.

This Spring, IA will be co-hosting a new program, "Statistical Methods in Aging, Analytical Research Training (SMAART): Longitudinal Analysis 2011" with the Centre on Aging at the University of Victoria. Designed to help build national capacity for research using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) data platform, this training opportunity will be open to both trainees and established researchers. From May 16^th through May 20^th, participants will explore a broad range of concepts related to longitudinal design and analysis, including hands-on application of current statistical approaches. For more information, go to University of Victoria - Centre on Aging.

The IA 2011 Summer Program in Aging (SPA 2011) will be held in partnership with the Quebec Network of Researchers in Aging (RQRV) at the Chateau Bromont, Quebec, May 31^st to June 3^rd. Twenty-five trainees from Quebec and 25 from the rest of the Canada will be selected to participate in this year's bilingual program.

The process of transition to the next administration of the Institute of Aging has now begun. The official announcement and advertising of the Scientific Director position took place in January, with the announcement of an appointment expected in May. I look forward to introducing the new Scientific Director to you in the July issue of Grey Matters.

Kudos

Dr. Pringle, inaugural chair of the Institute of Aging Advisory Committee and currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto's L.S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, was honoured twice in 2010.

She received the University of Illinois Distinguished Nurse Alumna Award at the May 2010 commencement, Established in 1977, this award recognizes graduates who have been involved in creative work, distinguished achievements and service, and important contributions to nursing or other endeavors. It is the highest award presented by the College of Nursing Alumni Association.

Dr. Pringle was the 2010 recipient of the Award for Contribution to Gerontology from the Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG), in recognition of her longstanding leadership in nursing education, gerontology and health policy. She has been an excellent mentor to novice researchers and has significantly advanced knowledge about the care of elderly people and their caregivers. The award was presented to Dr. Pringle on December 4, 2010, at the 39th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting of the CAG in Montreal, Quebec.

 

Dr. Anne Martin-Matthews

Dr. Anne Martin-Matthews, IA Scientific Director, received an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law on December 6^th, 2010, from Newcastle University in England. Dr. Martin-Matthews, a distinguished international scholar, was recognized for her contributions to the fields of aging and health.

Institute News

IA's CIHR Affiliates

In this section, we introduce you to some of the CIHR Ottawa staff affiliated with the Institute.

Yumna Choudhry is a Senior Knowledge Translation Specialist in the Knowledge Translation (KT) Branch at CIHR. She is the KT Branch contact for the Institute of Aging, acting as a resource to provide guidance and information on KT initiatives, resources, and funding opportunities. She is also the strategic lead for CIHR's Knowledge to Action and Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grants funding opportunities. She has been involved with the development of several KT resources including an End-of-Grant KT Casebook and grantscraft webinars.

Since joining CIHR in 2001, Yumna has worked in various areas including the Ethics Office, Strategic Services, and the Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine Initiative. She has been with the KT Branch since June 2009.

Yumna can be reached at yumna.choudhry@cihr-irsc.gc.ca, or by phone at 613-954-1944.

Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Conference

Honoring CIHR's and the Institute's 10^th anniversary, IA hosted two symposia and a reception at the GSA conference in November, 2010. The first symposium, "Canada's Roadmap for Research on Aging: A Decade Review and Forward Agenda for the Institute of Aging of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research" presented by senior IA staff, outlined the strategies and successes of IA's major initiatives. The second symposium featured Dr. Paul Burton (University of Leicester, UK), Dr. Jinkook Lee (RAND, U.S.A.), Dr. Isabel Fortier (P3G Consortium, Montreal), and Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) Principal Investigator, Dr. Susan Kirkland (Dalhousie University), who spoke on "Harmonizing Cohort Studies to Advance the Science of Aging." The symposium was followed by an IA-hosted reception for Canadian attendees at the GSA meeting.

Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG) Annual Meeting

The 2010 CAG Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting presented an opportunity for IA to advance collaborations among U.K. colleagues, Canadian researchers, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, through a number of sessions examining the built environment focus of our Mobility in Aging initiative. Professor Graeme Evans, Director of the Cities Institute, (London Metropolitan University, UK) presented a keynote on "Designing Environments for Aging Populations" and was a contributor to the "Age-Supportive Built Environments" symposium convened by Professor Peter Lansley (University of Reading, UK and member of IA's advisory board). Professor Evans's participation was made possible through the generous support of the Science and Innovation Unit of the British High Commission.

In recognition of the 10^th year of CIHR and IA, Dr. Alain Beaudet, CIHR President, Dr. Rejean Hebert, IA's inaugural Scientific Director, and Dr. Anne Martin-Matthews presented a plenary session examining the Institute of Aging's evolution and accomplishments.

Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF)/ Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR)

Canada's first baby boomers celebrate their 65^th birthdays this year, so it is no surprise that many organizations are turning their attention to this segment of the population, particularly in the context of health care demand.

The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) held regional consultations "Better with Age: Health Systems Planning for the Aging Population", throughout the fall of 2010, to examine the key challenges and knowledge needs in health service delivery for older Canadians. In February 2011, the annual conference of the internationally known UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) (link to: http://www.chspr.ubc.ca/), this year titled "Boomerangst", explored the myths and realities of health care for an aging population.

Institute Advisory Board and staff members of the Institute of Aging were significantly involved in both these programs. IA-hosted "Boomerangst" keynote speakers, Dr. Jay Olshansky, Professor, School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Vasanthi Srinivasan Assistant Deputy Minister, Health System Strategy Division, at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long‐Term Care and Senator Sharon Carstairs. Dr. Anne Martin-Matthews co-chaired the conference with Dr. Kim McGrail.

IA's collaborations in these events have informed IA's Advisory Board discussions of research priorities for the Institute's next strategic initiative, Health Services and Systems for an Aging Population

Research News

Ethics

Since 2009, IA has hosted 'Profile', a special section of peer-reviewed articles published twice annually in the Canadian Journal on Aging (CJA). 'Profile' offers an invited platform for cross-disciplinary, widely accessible commentary and analysis on current issues in aging, aging research, and knowledge transfer.

The IA Profile in the December 2010 issue of CJA (Volume 29, Issue 4, pp 577 -580) is titled, 'Ethics, Health Research, and Canada's Aging Population'. It was written by Nola M. Ries of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta and inaugural member of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues committee advising the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Exercise : The Fountain of Youth

IA-funded doctoral student, Adeel Safdar of McMaster University, has found that the fountain of youth may be a bout of endurance exercise every other day. Using a mouse model of accelerated aging, Safdar put the animals through an endurance training protocol three times a week. The mitochondrial DNA defects that ordinarily accelerate aging in these animals – and that are believed responsible for much of 'normal' aging in humans – were reversed among his exercised animals.

The study, published in the prestigious science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that premature aging in nearly every organ in the body was completely prevented in mice that ran on a treadmill three times a week for five months.

These mice were genetically engineered to age faster due to a defect in a gene for polymerase gamma (POLG1) that alters the repair system of their mitochondria – the cellular powerhouses responsible for generating energy for nearly every cell in the body.

Mitochondria are unique in that they have their own DNA. It has been thought that lifelong accumulation of mitochondrial DNA mutations lead to energy crises that result in a progressive decline in tissue and organ function, ultimately resulting in aging. But the study on genetically-disadvantaged mice found those who had endurance exercise training three times a week looked as young as healthy mice while their sedentary siblings were balding, graying, physically inactive, socially isolated and less fertile.

Mr. Safdar says, "I believe that we have very compelling evidence that clearly show that endurance exercise is a lifestyle approach that improves whole body mitochondrial function which is critical for reducing morbidity and mortality. Exercise truly is the fountain of youth."

Printed with permission of McMaster University

"The Brightest Minds"

Here we feature the ongoing achievements of past winners of Institute of Aging trainee awards and prizes, and past participants in IA trainee programs.

Brent Richards

 

Brent Richards, MD, MSc, an assistant professor at the Lady Davis Institute of McGill University, won a Fellowship Recognition Prize from the Institute of Aging in 2006, and was an Age+ winner in 2008.

"The Institute of Aging has played a major role in helping me begin my research career", says Dr. Richards. "Support from the Institute enabled me to undertake a postdoctoral fellowship in the UK that allowed me to begin studies in the genetic epidemiology of aging."

Dr. Richards' current research program is aimed at identifying the genetic determinants of aging related disease. Using large populations of carefully selected individuals, he and his collaborators have employed genome-wide genotyping techniques to identify the genetic determinants of several aging-related diseases and traits, such as osteoporosis, telomere length and features of the metabolic syndrome.

"Since returning to Canada from the UK, the Institute of Aging has facilitated my work as a young PI, by inviting me to present at the 2008 Institute of Aging and Institute of Genetics joint New Principal Investigators' meeting. Further, as a member of the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging and the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study, I hope to expand my contributions to the study of aging in Canada."

In 2009, Dr. Richards received a two-year CIHR operating grant to identify the genetic determinants of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. This has led to publications in Nature Genetics, The Lancet and the American Journal of Human Genetics. Support for his graduate students, who have also won Institute of Aging sponsored awards, has allowed his team to grow to now include 4 postdoctoral fellows and 3 part-time research assistants.

Says Dr. Richards, "Aging is a fascinating biological phenomenon, which remains poorly understood. Most aging-related diseases are moderately heritable, and we are excited to have contributed to identifying some of the reproducible genetic determinants of aging-related disease. Such knowledge helps to understand physiologic control points in disease etiology, as well as provide needed drug targets."

Rising Stars

CIHR-IA/RQRV Student Poster Competition Prizes

IA partnered with the Quebec Network on Research in Aging/Réseau québécois de recherche sur le vieillissement (RQRV) to host the Student Poster Competition at the Canadian Association on Gerontology Annual Meeting on December 3, 2010.

We congratulate the winners:

• Jeannette Lindenbach, Laurentian University
  Master's Category
  Poster title: Contribution to the Validation of an Adapted Screening Tool for Community Nurses: The RFEM
• Jessica McAnulty, Lakehead University
  Master's Category
  Poster title: A Model for Organizational Change in Long Term Care to Improve Implementation of Palliative Care Delivery
• Paula Rushton, University of British Columbia
  Doctoral Category
  Poster title: Reliability and Validity of the Wheelchair Use Confidence Scale (WheelCon)
• Ed Giesbrecht, University of Manitoba
  Doctoral Category
  Poster title: Prevalence and Predictive Factors of Wheelchair Seating Need Among Long Term Residents
• Kimberly Wilson, Canadian Coalition for Seniors' Mental Health
  Doctoral Category
  Poster title: Examining the Role of Gerontological Theory in Government Commissioned Health Papers Related to Issues of Aging
• Alexandra Jasmine Fiocco, Baycrest Centre
  Postdoctoral Category
  Poster title: Sodium Intake Impacts on Global Cognitive Function in Older Adults Over 4 Years Depending on Level of Physical Activity: The Nuage Study

CIHR-IA Age⁺ Prize winners

The CIHR Institute of Aging Age+ Prize is awarded to the author of a published, scientific article on aging, and recognizes excellence in research on aging carried out in Canada by graduate and postdoctoral students and clinical residents from all disciplines.

The Institute of Aging is pleased to announce the latest winners:

• Meredith Lilly, University of Toronto
  Meredith Lilly, Audrey Laporte, Peter C. Coyte. Do they care too much to work? The influence of caregiving intensity on the labour force participation of unpaid caregivers in Canada. Journal of Health Economics. 2010, doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.08.007
• Jennifer Davis, University of British Columbia
  J. C. Davis,C. A. Marra & M. C. Robertson & K. M. Khan & M. Najafzadeh & M. C. Ashe & T. Liu-Ambrose Errorless learning of computer-generated words in a patient with semantic dementia. Osteoporos Int DOI 10.1007/s00198-010-1356-5.
• Andrew Costa, University of Waterloo
  Costa, A.P., Hirdes, J.P. (2010) Clinical Characteristics and Service Needs of Alternate Level of Care Patients Waiting for Long-term Care in Ontario Hospitals. Healthcare Policy, 6(1): 32-46.
• Karen Campbell, University of Toronto ,
  Campbell, K., Hasher, L., & Thomas, R. C. (2010). Hyper-binding: A unique age effect. Psychological Science, 21, 399-405.
• Nigel Gopie, Rotman Research Institute,
  Gopie, N., Craik, F.I.M., & Hasher, L. (2010). Destination memory impairment in older people. Psychology and Aging. doi: 10.1037/a0019703.
• Nathan Rose, Washington University in St Louis Nathan S. Rose, Peter G. Rendell, Mark A. McDaniel, Ingo Aberle and Matthias Kliegel. Age and Individual Differences in Prospective Memory During a "Virtual Week": The Roles of Working Memory,
• Vigilance, Task Regularity, and Cue Focality Psychology and Aging © 2010 2010, Vol. 25, No. 3, 595–605.
• Regina Jokel, University of Toronto
  Regina Jokel, Elizabeth Rochon, Nicole Anderson, Errorless learning of computer-generated words in a patient with semantic dementia. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 20(1), 16-41, 2010.

For information and how to apply for the Age+ Prize, visit the IA website.

Public Engagement

Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF)

IA joined the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) in its February 21st public consultation on healthcare for older Canadians. Fifteen informants who represented either caregivers or older healthcare users discussed their perspectives on key issues arising from the CHSRF 'Better with Age' Roundtables, namely service integration and age-discrimination in the system. The gathered information reinforced findings of IA's Regional Seniors Workshops on Research series held between 2004 and 2006, and will inform Institute initiatives focusing on health services and systems for an aging population.

CIHR-IA Café Scientifique on "A City to Grow Old With: Is Gatineau an Age-Friendly City?"

Aligning with its Mobility in Aging initiative, IA partnered with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in hosting a Café Scientifique in Gatineau, Quebec, on March 1^st. The panel, moderated by Dr. Martine Lagacé of the University of Ottawa, included Sonia Bisson, from the City of Gatineau; Institute of Aging Associate, Sharon Nadeau; and Dr. Louise Plouffe, Manager of Knowledge Development for the Division of Aging and Seniors, PHAC. Café participants, representing local seniors' organizations, civic employees and politicians, debated issues well past the Café's closing time.

"There are many ways of becoming an age-friendly city", said Dr. Plouffe, "By installing public benches, clean and safe toilets; having well maintained sidewalks, safe and enjoyable green spaces, pedestrian walkways, affordable housing, a good transportation system, opportunities to participate in civic life and in leisure; and for seniors to have the respect and support of the community."

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Age-Friendly Cities project has been adopted in 22 countries world-wide, with 300 Canadian municipalities now participating. Gatineau is one of 166 municipalities in Quebec where one-quarter of the population will be over the age of 65 within the next two decades. Recognizing the need to be ready to face the challenge that this presents, the city has applied to the Québec Ministère de la Famille et des Aînés to be recognized as an Age-Friendly Municipality.

Research evidence to inform these local and global age-friendly projects will be just one of the outcomes of IA's recently funded Emerging Team, "Walk the Talk: Transforming the built environment to enhance mobility in seniors". This group of investigators, based at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility in British Columbia have been awarded $1.5M over the 5-years of the grant.

Stakeholder Judges at the 2010 CIHR-IA/RQRV Student Poster Competition

As was mentioned in the last issue of Grey Matters, IA now invites stakeholders in aging research to serve on the judging panel of its student poster competition held annually at the Canadian Association on Gerontology meeting. Their role is to evaluate the knowledge translation aspect of each student's research and its display. IA and the Quebec Network on Research in Aging/Réseau québécois de recherche sur le vieillissement jointly hosted the competition in 2010, and are grateful to the following stakeholders who gave of their time and made an invaluable contribution to this endeavour:

• Pierre Allard, Légion Royale Canadienne
• Anne-Cécile Desfaits, CIHR's Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health
• Marilyn Desrosiers, Deputy Director of CIHR's Targeted Initiatives Branch
• Daphne Nahmiash, National Seniors Council
• Kathy Paddock, Public Health Agency of Canada
• Maryse Savoie, Veterans Affairs
• Lily Shatsky, Past Chair, Maimonides Geriatric Hospital Clinical Ethics Committee
• Joanne Veninga, Public Health Agency of Canada

The contributions of the following scientific judges are also gratefully acknowledged:

• Dr. Maureen Ashe, University of British Columbia
• Dr. Veronique Boscart, University of Toronto
• Dr. Philip Clark, University of Rhode Island
• Dr. Louise Demers, University of Montreal
• Dr. Chantal Dumoulin, University of Montreal
• Dr. Kara Hawkins, York University
• Dr. Abdel Khalil, University of Sherbrooke
• Dr. Lisa Koski, McGill University
• Dr. Mélanie Levasseur, University of Sherbrooke
• Dr. José Morais, McGill University
• Dr. Ben Mortensen, Simon Fraser University
• Dr. Chris Patterson, Hamilton Health Sciences Centre
• Dr. Michelle Ploughman, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Dr. Jane Rylett, University of Western Ontario
• Dr. Andrée Sévigny, Centre d'excellence sur le vieillissement de Québec
• Dr. Bryna Shatenstein, University of Montreal
• Dr. Blossom Wigdor, University of Toronto
• Dr. Walter Wittich, McGill University
• Dr. Christina Wolfson, McGill University

IA-affiliated Meetings

The Institute of Aging is proud to be associated with the following conferences:

Canadian Gerontological Society (CGS) Annual Meeting
April 14-16, 2011, Vancouver, BC

Physicians and allied health professionals working with seniors will be gathering to discuss topics of interest and concern with a focus on translating research into clinical practice. As a partner in this meeting, IA is pleased to:

• support keynote speaker, Dr. Edward R. Marcantonio, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• present the 2011 Réjean Hébert Prize in Geriatric Research, for the best scientific presentation by a Medical Resident in a core residency training program.
• enable nine trainees to attend the meeting, by way of $500 travel awards.

For more information about the conference, visit the website Canadian Geriatrics Society 31st Annual Scientific Meeting.

Festival of International Conferences on Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology (FICCDAT 2011)
Toronto, June 5-8, 2011

IA is pleased to once again be involved in the Festival of International Conferences on Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology (FICCDAT 2011). We look forward to meeting researchers from across the country and our international colleagues at the Institute's exhibit booth. In association with FICCDAT, IA will be co-hosting with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Association on Gerontology, an invitational meeting on advancing the research evidence to support policies relevant to the Age-Friendly Communities.

Visit the FICCDAT website for more information.

Current Funding Opportunities

• Operating Grant: Secondary Analysis of Databases
  Secondary analysis grants are intended to provide an opportunity for expert analysis of existing data sets and by doing so, improve the evidence for decision-making and create new knowledge. The CIHR Institute of Aging will provide funding for applications that are determined to be relevant to the five priority topics for research on aging and health.
  Application deadline: April 15, 2011
  
• The Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) Program
  This program supports focused interdisciplinary collaborative research projects involving any field of the natural sciences or engineering and any field of the health sciences. The Institute of Aging will consider co-funding applications that are determined relevant to the Institute's strategic initiative on Mobility in Aging.
  Letter of Intent deadline: May 1, 2011
  
• Team Grant: China-Canada: Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders
  This funding opportunity supports joint team grants in the field of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (ARD). Within CIHR, the joint program will be part of the International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease (ICRSAD) whose agenda focuses on the early events in ARD including risk factor identification, early diagnosis, early intervention, and prevention. For Canadian researchers, the maximum amount per project is CAD $250,000 per year for up to four years.
  Application deadline: May 6, 2011

For all CIHR funding opportunities, visit the CIHR Funding Database.

Student and Trainee Opportunities

• Age+ Prize
  The Age+ Prize is aimed at graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and residents from all disciplines, working in the field of aging. Applications are accepted 3 times a year.
  Approximately 10 to 15 awards are offered annually to meritorious authors of published, scientific articles on aging.
  Next application deadline: May 1, 2011

For all the funding opportunities for trainees offered by the Institute of Aging, visit the Students and Trainees web page.

Did you know?

Life expectancy is increasing by five hours or more a day

Life expectancy from birth is increasing worldwide. "In the richer countries around the world it lengthens five or more hours every day, and in many developing countries that are catching up the rate quickens still faster."

Source: Thomas Kirkwood, Scientific American, September, 2010

Send Us Your News

The Institute of Aging would like to hear from you. Send us an e-mail aging@interchange.ubc.ca if you have interesting research news you would like to share.

Also let us know if you have any comments on our newsletter, or if you would like more information about the Institute of Aging.

CIHR - Institute of Aging
6303 NW Marine Drive
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1Z1
Tel: 604-822-0905
Fax: 604-822-0304
Email: aging@interchange.ubc.ca