The year has flown by before our very eyes! Twelve months full of discoveries, achievements and fruitful collaborations, always guided by the strong spirit of innovation that inhabits our community. Innovation in our walls takes many forms, whether at the heart of our laboratories and Clinic, among our talented new generation in training, or in the DNA of our support services. With its many scientific publications, advances in care, awards and grants, the IRCM is alive and vibrant.
Here's a brief overview, by no means exhaustive, of all the talent that's looking forward, always in the service of the health of our fellow citizens.
Advances hailed by the scientific community
From vision health to cancer, from the potential of vitamin K to innovative avenues in immunology, genetics, rare diseases and metabolic diseases, our scientists have given life to several studies with therapeutic potential. These contributions to health knowledge were published in some of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. Discover the discoveries and advances of 2024.
360° Media and Public Exposure
Thanks to their expertise and communication skills, the IRCM experts received considerable media attention throughout the year. Our scientists, including those in training, met with top tier media to inform the public about their work and the state of health knowledge.
With an extensive coverage exceeding 1000 single mentions for the year, the IRCM was featured on Tout le monde en parle, les Années lumière, TVA nouvelles, La Presse, CBC Radio-Canada, CTV News, Neomedia, Noovo Info, Radio-Canada première, 98,5, Québec Science, Savoir Media, Globe and Mail, Le Devoir and the Journal de Montréal (several visual stories), to name but a few. These publications featured our researchers: André Veillette, Emilia Liana Falcone, Éric Cohen, Eric Lécuyer, Eric Racine, Frédéric Charron, Jacques Drouin, Jean-François Côté, Martin Sauvageau, Mathieu Ferron, May Faraj, Michel Cayouette, Michel Chrétien, Nabil G. Seidah et Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret.
Always in the spirit of informing the public, the IRCM Clinic also offered a series of informative podcasts on the subject of hypertriglyceridemia shedding light on hopeful care avenues.
A Bold and Structuring Strategic Plan
2024 at the IRCM was marked by innovation, with the adoption of a broad strategic positioning involving everyone, and giving rise to an ambitious five-year strategic plan. As a guide to IRCM's continued growth, this initiative maps out concrete actions for each of the Institute’s sectors of activity. Among other things, this five-year plan is based on the deployment of a bold precision-therapies project with infinite potential for the population’s health, all founded on shared values and a vision that is integrated, coherent and modern.
Innovative, you say?
Visionary collaborations
2024 was marked by collaborations with a multitude of partners on the academic, business and biomedical innovation fronts.
For instance, the Institute is at the forefront of the new RNA Therapy Development and Production Network. Spearheaded by the IRCM, this initiative draws on three platforms: the IRCM Sidney-Altman RNA Therapeutic Hub, the RNomics Platform at the Université de Sherbrooke, and the Therapeutic Messenger RNA Platform at McGill University's RNA Sciences Centre.
A further sign of the IRCM's attraction, the company RNA Technologies & Therapeutics (RNA T&T) moved in our premisses. It will collaborate to the development of three highly promising joint projects in RNA therapeutics, aimed at testing the efficacy of innovative approaches to major diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
New Talents Join Us and Colleagues Are Promoted
The IRCM is attracting research talent, among others. Among new recruits, we welcomed renowned researcher Nathalie Labrecque, who now heads the Institute's T-cell immunobiology laboratory.
In addition, several promotions took place throughout the year in our research teams, including Dr. Emilia Liana Falcone, promoted to IRCM Research Associate Professor, and Dr. Nicole Francis and Dr. Mathieu Ferron, both promoted to IRCM Research Full Professor.
Also, Dr. Patricia Yam at Dr. Frédéric Charron's laboratory and Dr. Julie Lacombe at Dr. Mathieu Ferron's laboratory were promoted to Senior Associate Research Fellows.
We should also note the reappointment of our Emeritus Research Professors Dr. Michel Chrétien, Dr. Paul Jolicoeur and Dr. Peter Schiller.
The Science POP Provincial Competition Becomes a Must
In the wake of the resounding success of its first edition, IRCM held the second edition of its provincial science popularization and communication contest, Science POP, in 2024. In front of a delighted audience, the event featured finalists from 12 Quebec research institutions in high-level contests, at the end of which nine prizes were awarded to the winners of the three challenges. The Institute is already looking forward to the next edition.
Rewarding Excellence
Despite an increasingly competitive environment, the IRCM is holding its own, thanks to the excellence of its scientific teams, well supported by a motivated administrative staff.
- To begin with, the Institute welcomed $54,426,939 in funding, announced by the then Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE), Mr. Pierre Fitzgibbon, to support part of the Institute's operating costs until March 31, 2027. Thanks to this support, the IRCM will be able to maintain its research activities in order to accelerate the discovery of cutting-edge diagnostic tools, prevention methods and treatments. The funding comes from the Quebec Research and Innovation Investment Strategy 2022-2027.
- IRCM also highlights the exceptional success of its researchers in the 2024 competitions of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grants program, with the awarding of several grants, for an overall success rate of 33%. IRCM scientists also enjoyed excellent results in the CIHR Spring Project grant competition, where they achieved an enviable 32% success rate, compared with the national average of 15% for this edition. In addition, our scientists in training stood out in 2024. Four of them were awarded doctoral or postdoctoral fellowships in this prestigious pan-Canadian competition, following a rigorous peer-review process based on excellence.
- The IRCM also stood out in the latest salary and training grant competitions held by the Fonds de recherche du Québec en santé (FRQS) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT), in which researcher Emilia Liana Falcone and several members of our next generation of students distinguished themselves. Similarly, researcher Eric Racine and his partners from Université de Montréal, UQAM, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and ÉNAP, obtained a joint grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec- Société et Culture (FRQ-SC) to set up a new provincial research network entitled Réseau de recherche sur les savoirs citoyens et les approches cocréatives (RéSCits). Last but not least, the Réseau de recherche en sciences de la vision (RRSV), housed at the IRCM and headed by Dr. Michel Cayouette, was one of 15 major thematic research networks to be supported by the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé, with an annual grant of $900,000.
Several Big Prizes in Our Trophy Case (non exhaustive)
- IRCM’s research physician Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret is the recipient of the prestigious Prix d'excellence en soins 2024 from the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), a recognition intended to honour outstanding medical specialists or innovative projects that have contributed to improving the access, the efficiency, the quality or the safety of healthcare offered in Quebec, by promoting interdisciplinarity.
- Dr. Eric Racine and Bénédicte D'Anjou, along with several members of the IRCM Clinic, have been awarded a prestigious Prix Hippocrate, in recognition of their Living Ethics Laboratory project (É-LABO). The innovative project was singled out in the Prix-Amélioration de l'expérience des usagers category for having developed an open, inclusive and constructive reflection on the psychological distress that people with complex or rare chronic illnesses can experience.
- Dr. Ovidiu Jumanca, Director of Animal Care at the IRCM, received the Harry C. Rowsell Award, presented by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), in recognition of dedicated individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the CCAC and who have demonstrated the highest standards of care and ethical use of animals in science in Canada.
High-flying synergistic meetings to propel advances
The first-ever IRCM symposium on the untapped potential of RNA therapeutics took place on May 23 and 24, 2024, with over 200 attendants. Under the theme RNA-based medicine and innovation: an essential dialogue for tomorrow's therapies, the meeting brought together leaders in the field to explore both the scientific angles of RNA therapeutics’ potential and the challenges of commercialization.
The most recent joint retreat of the Université de Montréal Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) and the IRCM, held in the magnificent setting of the Auberge du lac Morency during the month of November, proved an ideal opportunity for participating researchers to update each other on their work and the most innovative trends in biomedical research.
A Synergistic and Innovative Forum for a close-knit internal community
On May 30 and May 31, 2024, over 160 members of the IRCM's in-house community - researchers, students and professionals - gathered at the annual IRCM Forum, in the idyllic setting of the Grand Lodge Mont-Tremblant, to share their latest work, exchange ideas and talk science. Nearly 31 oral presentations were given, as well as 56 poster presentations on a wide variety of interesting subjects relating to medical biology and innovative ways of improving current health knowledge.
A Pivotal Year for Our Foundation
It was already in the big league, but in 2024, the Foundation team shifted up a gear. In particular, it succeeded in giving the IRCM an impressive record amount of $4 million to boost research. And that's not counting the resounding success of the 2024 Annual Gala, which raised over a million dollars!
