Who am I? A Brief Bio PhD with John Schrader at The Biomedical Research Centre (UBC) Undergrad at Simon Fraser University Genetics: 3 summers in a Drosophila genetics lab Biochemistry: Cytokine signal transduction PDF with Maria Grazia Roncarolo at the Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET-HSR) in Milano Cellular immunology: cell and gene therapy 2003 UBC Department of Surgery (transplant immunology) and VCHRI 2010 Moved to CFRI to join the Diabetes & Immunology Clusters

What is my area of research? how do Tregs normally work? can we find “biomarkers” to track the function of Tregs in patients can Tregs be given back as a cellular therapy to restore immune regulation? how can Tregs become dysfunctional and contribute to diseases? Primary immunodeficiencies, transplantation (organs & stem cells), diabetes, obesity, Inflammatory bowel disease, other autoimmune diseases….

Why did I accept this position? I love working at CFRI Great colleagues Core support (RTOD, training, core facilities etc) Amazing opportunities for research & impact Want to “give back” and contribute towards: -enabling research across the campus -the evolution of CFRI into internationally-known research institute -making CFRI an even more dynamic and fun place to work

CFRI Strategic Framework The combined activities of all the groups within a theme should enable the over-arching institute goals: 1.Increase research capacity 2.Increase research excellence 3.Impact on children’s health

Childhood Disorders Theme includes Groups that are focused on studying childhood diseases and disorders. focus on understanding mechanisms of health versus disease, as well as identifying and testing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Theme Opportunities Specific goals to be defined during the planning process, some initiatives to explore: Increase national & international recognition - Support participation in international conferences - Start a new theme level seminar series Enable investigator-initiated clinical trials -Interventional (therapies) & observational (biomarkers & diagnostics)

Theme Opportunities Facilitate multi-disciplinary research - Enable cross-group interactions Support existing and new cores/platforms Training in translational research (not only for trainees) - Biobanking - iPS cells - Exome sequencing and bioinformatics - Humanized mouse models, other model organisms - Standardized immune monitoring

As of May 4 th : 52 PIs selected Childhood Disorders as their primary theme (35% of respondents) Purpose of today: start the transition from clusters to groups under over arching themes 145 out of ~300 CFRI members responded to the visioning survey Of the 300 CFRI members: 232 are on site 152 hold funding with CFRI as primary institution Aim is for this to be a “grass roots” process

The Main Task ahead: defining “groups” A group is: ~10-20 investigators who want to work together because they see the potential benefit for themselves and the success of a larger program of research  Enable research in the context of a large scale funding opportunities (Foundations, CIHR-SPOR, Genome Canada, CFI, etc)  Optimize the potential for multi-disciplinary Research, training and mentoring in a common area of research  Optimize the development, implementation and use of a common technology (e.g. immune monitoring, iPS cells, imaging) some examples of reasons to form a group:

Keep in mind as we begin to define groups Groups are dynamic and meant to evolve Groups can cross themes Each group will have a leader Type 1 activity: feasible with current resources Each group will outline specific activities they wish to accomplish: Type 2 activity: made possible with new resources

Possible Groups Michael Cuccione Childhood Cancer Childhood Cancer Childhood cancer and blood disorders Cancer and Blood Research Childhood Cancer and Blood Research CancerDiabetes Childhood Obesity & Cardiometabolic Disease Diabetes ~ 30 groups suggested on the visioning web site

Possible Groups Variations on infection & immunity in kids Childhood Immunity Infectious Diseases Inflammatory disorders Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases Chronic Inflammatory Diseases Rheumatology Research Unit CUPIC

Possible Groups Pediatric Transplantation Cell therapy and transplantation Cell and Gene Therapy Variations on therapies Therapeutic discovery Variations on rare diseases Rare Diseases Systems Biology and Rare Disease Translational Research Hub for Rare Mendelian Disease

Other Group Suggestions Mechanisms of Disease - cross-cutting groups? Theme level activity? Surgery - how to best group surgeons (critical aspect of disease research [e.g. biobanking] and many therapeutic approaches [e.g. transplantation]) Obstructive Sleep Disorders - where to place specific diseases/disorders that fall outside large grouping (need to understand approaches and what is needed to enable research) How best to group other suggestions:

What will happen from here ? 1. Series of facilitated focus sessions with the goal of: 2. Facilitated session with group leads to: - Formalizing groups and identifying group leads - Identifying the first type 1 (possible now) and type 2 (possible with more resources) activities - Define theme level initiatives / goals - Ensure we do not re-create cluster “silos” - Ensure we do not have theme “silos”