Congratulations to our faculty and their research collaborators who received Spring 2026 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grants.
The CIHR Spring 2026 competition approved 439 research grants for a total investment of over $412 million. In addition, 19 priority announcement grants were funded for a total of $1.9 million.
Read more about the research projects that received CIHR support:
Dr. Stan Floresco, a professor in UBC’s department of psychology, received funding towards the research project Prefrontal-subcortical network mechanisms underlying risky decision making.
Impairments in decision making entailing cost/benefit evaluations about risks and rewards have been observed in a number of disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and drug addiction. The cognitive dysfunction associated with these disorders are thought to be due in part to dysfunction in pathways linking the frontal lobes to subcortical systems and neurochemical imbalances in brain dopamine levels. However, is unclear how these different brain systems work in concert to regulate different aspects of risk/reward decision making. We intend to clarify these issues using animal models of "gambling" behaviour. We will use cutting-edge techniques that can manipulate brain pathways with exquisite cellular precision, combined with those that allow us to monitor neurochemical release to elucidate how distinct neural networks are engaged the decision process to promote adaptive vs maladaptive decisions, and some of the neurochemical mechanisms related to dopamine that can influence these decisions. These studies will provide important new information about how different brain circuits interact to solve these types of risk/reward decision making problems. Furthermore, the information provided by these studies may yield important insight into the brain dysfunction that underlies impairments in this form of cognition associated with a number of psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Daniela Palombo, an associate professor in UBC’s department of psychology, received funding towards the research project Mental Health, Resilience, Memory and Memory Sharing in the Aftermath of Pregnancy Loss.
Dr. Palombo’s collaborators are Dr. Samantha Dawson, Dr. Mohamed Ali Bedaiwy, Dr. Larissa Rossen, Victoria Wardell, and Cheryl Dowling.
In Canada, almost 1 in 4 women and people with uteruses will experience pregnancy loss. Pregnancy loss is associated with profound grief, sadness, hopelessness, confusion, shame, relationship strain, and mental health risk. These negative outcomes pose significant public health concerns. Despite how common pregnancy loss is, it remains unclear what factors influence one's ability to cope with such a loss. Crucially, what protects a woman or person with a uterus from more severe mental health or relationship outcomes post-loss? The overarching aim of this project is to explore how pregnancy loss relates to changes in mental health and relationship satisfaction over time and whether intrusive memories of the loss are associated with worse mental health and relationship outcomes. We will also examine factors that may protect against the negative effects of loss, including whether greater prior knowledge around pregnancy loss and sharing memories of the loss are associated with better mental health and relationship outcomes post-loss. Using an intensive longitudinal prospective design, we will follow 350 women and people with uteruses who experience pregnancy loss and 350 who do not experience pregnancy loss for a period of two years to test our hypotheses. Our work will identify key psychological and social factors that predict outcomes following pregnancy loss, filling a critical gap in academic research and healthcare practices. Specifically, findings from this work will inform the development of targeted resources to support mental health and well-being following pregnancy loss.
Dr. Palombo also received a Fall 2025 CIHR Priority Announcement Grant to support this research.
Dr. Kiran Soma, a professor in UBC’s department of psychology, received funding towards the research project Effects of maternal sucrose consumption on offspring hormones, neural circuits, and behaviour in rats.
Dr. Soma’s collaborators are Dr. Tamara Bodnar, Dr. Angela Devlin, and Dr. Stan Floresco.
Added sugars such as sucrose (table sugar) are extremely common in the diet, in Canada and across the globe. The World Health Organization advises that added sugars should be 5% or less of daily calories for adults, and avoided entirely by children under 2 years of age. However, most Canadian adults and children exceed these recommendations, and millions of Canadians get 20% or more of their calories from added sugars. Of particular concern, added sugars during early development might disrupt hormones, rewire brain circuits, and alter behaviours over the long term. This project will use an animal model to experimentally reveal how maternal sucrose consumption during pregnancy and lactation affects the offspring. This project will examine the long-lasting effects on critical hormones, brain chemicals, and behaviours. The results will allow us to better understand how maternal diet "programs" stress hormones, the brain's reward system, and sugar-seeking behaviours in the offspring. The work will help identify and understand new ways in which added sugars contribute to diet-related diseases in people, which will be communicated to researchers, health care providers, the general public, and specific groups.
