Dates to remember
Application
Until 14th december at 3:00 pm
Results
February 2026
Orphan diseases definition
An orphan disease is a pathology that does not have effective therapies, mainly due to the lack of knowledge. These diseases are usually rare, each affecting less than one person in 2000. The small number of cases seen in the clinic also complicates the diagnosis. These rare / orphan diseases are more than 7,000 in the world, 80% of which are of genetic origin. Other causes include infections or intoxications. Most of these diseases are life-threatening and about 75% affect children. According to the Regroupement Québécois des Maladies Orphelines (RQMO), close to one in 20 people would be infected or have a rare disease in Quebec, which is about 500,000 Quebecois. While identifying the genes involved in rare diseases greatly benefits from the Human Genome Project, much research is still needed to understand the pathogenic mechanisms and develop therapies.
Directions
Eligibility
- Each member of the team must be a member of CERMO-FC when submitting the application;
- At least one member of the team must have their primary affiliation with UQAM;
- A principal researcher can only submit one project, but can be co-researcher of other submitted projects;
- The single payment of a maximum amount of $50,000 is valid for two years;
- The application for a project that has already received a CERMO-FC grant must include a half-page annex detailing the use of the first funding and demonstrating the progress of the project;
- The university or institution that will receive the grant on behalf of the researcher must undertake not to retain management fees;
- The results from the project will be presented by invitation at an annual CERMO-FC conference;
- It is expected that each member of the recipient team contributes to the operation of the Center as, for example, committee member, scholarship evaluator or student presentations.
Selection criteria
- Scientific quality and relevance of the research project related to orphan diseases;
- Innovative and multidisciplinary aspect of the proposed research;
- Excellence, dynamism and structuring effect of the team;
- Contribution to the advancement of knowledge on at least one orphan disease or to the development of methodology applicable to the study of orphan diseases;
- Impact on the objectives and missions of CERMO-FC;
- Particular attention will be paid to projects relying on the Center’s technological platforms.
Contribution
Grant value: $25,000 to $50,000 per project
Required documents
- Research grant application form
- Research proposal (description below);
- Curriculum vitae of the researchers applying, common Canadian CV format (CIHR, NSERC, or FRQ).
Please, send all required documents (combined as one PDF file) to cermo-fc@uqam.ca
Laureates
The CERMO-FC External Evaluation Committee and Scientific Committee would like to congratulate all the principal investigators and co-investigators who participated in the competition for the excellence of their applications. Our sincere congratulations to the recipients!
Each year, the CERMO-FC ACCELERATION research grant competition is a great success with the application of about ten projects. Thanks to the support of the Courtois Foundation and the Fondation du Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie, nearly 25 research projects have been launched. An invaluable springboard for research against orphan diseases. Thank you.
To learn more about the research work of the winners, please visit the Research projects page
To learn how to support these research projects, please visit the support page
Laureates - 2024 edition
Claire Bénard (UQAM, Dép. sciences biologiques) et François Dragon (UQAM, Dép. sciences biologiques)
In vivo study a novel ribosomopathy with severe developmental defects using C. elegans models
Éric Samarut (UdeM, CRCHUM), Laurent Cappadocia (UQAM, Dép. chimie) et Martine Tétreault (UdeM, CRCHUM)
Investigating the molecular function of THAP12, a novel gene involved in rare epileptic encephalopathy
Malika Oubaha (UQAM, Dép. sciences biologiques), Nicolas Pilon ( UQAM, Dép. sciences biologiques) et Joel Lefebvre (UQAM, Dép. informatique)
Unraveling the role of Notch1 in endothelial-pericyte communication: Insights into the mechanism driving rare retinopathy
Gilles Gouspillou (UQAM, Dép. sciences de l’activité physique), Jean-Philippe Leduc-Gaudet (UQTR) et Chaney Rémi (UQAM, Dép. sciences de l’activité physique)
Anti-IL-11 therapy for improving muscle regeneration in Marfan Syndrome
Laureates - 2023 edition
Steve Bourgault (UQAM, Dép. chimie), Laurent Cappadocia (UQAM, Dép. chimie) et Tatiana Scorza (UQAM, Dép. sciences biologiques)
Streamlining the treatment of amyloidosis: development of an integrated pipeline for rapid generation of conformational-selective antibodies
Marie-Claude Sincennes (Unité mixte INRS-UQAC), Martine Tétreault (CRCHUM) et Lekha Sleno (UQAM, Dép. chimie)
Myopathies associées à des variants de MLIP: mieux comprendre la fonction moléculaire de MLIP dans les cellules musculaires
Lucie Germain (Université Laval), Manuel Caruso (Université Laval), Julie Fradette (Université Laval) et Lekha Sleno (UQAM, Dép. chimie)
Développement de greffons d’épiderme autologue en combinant thérapie génique et génie tissulaire pour traiter l’épidermolyse bulleuse jonctionnelle
Lekha Sleno (UQAM, Dép. chimie) et Claire Bénard (UQAM, Dép. sciences biologiques)
Molecular perturbations involved in mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) in C. elegans models
Laureates - 2022 edition
Laurent Chatel-Chaix, Kessen Patten (INRS), and Nicolas Pilon (UQAM, Dép. Sciences Biologiques)
The transcriptomic study of Zika virus neuropathogenesis using a new in vivo infection model based on zebrafish
Elise Duchesne (UQAC), and Gilles Gouspillou (UQAM, Dép. Sciences de l’activité physique)
Therapeutic potentials of strength exercise program on skeletal muscle and mitochondrial function in DM1 patients
Christophe Faure, Anu David (CHU Sainte-Justine), and Nicolas Pilon (UQAM, Dép. Sciences Biologiques)
Benoit Vanderperre and Benoit Barbeau (UQAM)
In search of new therapeutic targets against a rare leukemia
Rodolphe Soret, Nicolas Pilon, Steven Kembel, Mircea Alexandru Mateescu, and Christophe Faure (CHU Sainte-Justine)
Understanding and treating very early inflammatory bowel disease
Laureates - 2021 edition
Acceleration grant
Claire Bénard and Nicolas Pilon (UQAM, Biological sciences department)
Mechanisms of genetic compensation in CHARGE syndrome models: Molecular bases for different phenotypic consequences associated with mutations in Fam172a
Lekha Sleno (UQAM, Chemistry department) and Nicolas Pilon (UQAM, Biological sciences department)
Multi-omics analysis to identify predictive biomarkers of treatment response in mouse models of Hirschsprung disease
Éric Samarut and Martine Tétreault (CRCHUM)
Deciphering the pathogenic mechanisms of CANVAS, a rare late-onset ataxia combining genetics and functional genomics approaches.
NIRC grant
Marc Lussier, Laurent Cappadocia, et Lekha Sleno (UQAM, Dép. Chimie)
Implementation of a BioID-AlphaFold pipeline to study the neuronal impact of RNF13 variants linked to developmental and epileptic encephalopathies
Said Kourrich, Véronik Lachance (UQAM, Dép. Sciences biologiques) et Marc Lussier (UQAM, Dép. Chimie)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and FrontoTemporal Dementia: Focus on Rare Variants of Sigmar1 Gene, Neuronal Excitability & Behavior
Laureates - 2020 edition
Acceleration grant
Geneviève Pépin and Krista Heinonen (INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie)
Targeting STING-driven inflammation in Fanconi Anaemia to rescue hematopoietic defects.
Laurent Cappadocia and Marc Lussier (UQAM, Chemistry department)
Outils moléculaires pour promouvoir la SUMOylation des variants de la protéine MeCP2 et faciliter le traitement du Syndrome de Rett
Benoit Vanderperre and Claire Bénard (UQAM, Biological sciences department)
In vivo functional study of an alternative protein encoded by the gene ZYX/zyx-1 with implications for dystrophinopathies
NIRC grant
Benoit Barbeau, François Dragon (UQAM, Dép. Sciences biologiques) et Lekha Sleno (UQAM, Dép. Chimie)
Identification of nucleolar proteins and RNAs interacting with the HTLV-1 HBZ protein
Marc Lussier, Laurent Cappadocia (UQAM, Dép. Chimie) et Said Kourrich (UQAM, Dép. Sciences biologiques),
Impact of altered RNF13-AP3 complex binding on neuronal activity: an underlying mechanism of early infantile epileptic encephalopathy 73
Laureates - 2019 edition
Acceleration grant
Stéphane Lefrancois (INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie) and Nicolas Pilon (UQAM, Biological sciences department)
Développement et caractérisation d’un modèle novateur pour étudier le Syndrome MEDNIK
Philippe Campeau (CHU Sainte-Justine, Pediatrics) and Marc germain (UQTR)
Caractérisation du rôle de TBC1D24 dans la fonction mitochondriale
Gilles Gouspillou (UQAM, Physical activity sciences department) and Marc Lussier (UQAM, Chemistry department)
Investigating the therapeutic potential of Parkin to attenuate muscle dysfunction in a mouse model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
NIRC grant
François Dragon (UQAM, Dép. Sciences biologiques) et Kessen Patten (INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie)
Implementation of a zebrafish model to study a novel rare disease with severe developmental defects
Rodolphe Soret, Nicolas Pilon, Mohammad-Ali Jenabian, Steven Kembel (UQAM, Dép. Sciences biologiques) et Mircea Alexandru Mateescu (UQAM, Dép. Chimie)
Understanding and treating very early inflammatory bowel disease.