Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital are exploring more than 50 research projects to support the world-wide effort to find better ways to treat and prevent COVID-19.  

The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund is providing seed funding for a number of these projects.

Dr. William Stanford and his colleagues are using human tissue models to understand why COVID-19 makes some patients severely ill. They also hope to identify and test new drugs that can reduce the severe lung damage that typically kills people with COVID-19. 

First, they will rapidly test two cellular pathways involved in causing this lung damage. Then they will rapidly screen for drugs that have already been approved by Health Canada and the FDA that are able to block these pathways, and potentially reduce disease severity and death. 

Their research may also reveal biomarkers that can identify which patients with COVID-19 are most likely to require intensive care.

• Research team at The Ottawa Hospital/uOttawa: Dr. William Stanford
• External collaborators: Drs. Amy Wong (SickKids), Molly Shoichet (University of Toronto), Scott Gray-Owen (University of Toronto), Stephen Juvet (Toronto General Hospital Research Institute).
• Core Resources at The Ottawa Hospital: High Content Imaging Core, Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Facility StemCore Laboratories, Bioinformatics Core Facility

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa. 

Media Contact 

Amelia Buchanan
Senior Communication Specialist
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Office: 613-798-5555 x 73687
Cell: 613-297-8315
ambuchanan@ohri.ca