June 2016—CEGIIR mem-

bers completed the follow-

ing accomplishments:

Faculty

Academic Promotion to

Associate Professor with

Tenure: Dr. Constantine

(Dean) Karvellas

Promotion to Associate

Clinical Professor: Dr.

Shalaan (Jesse) Siffledeen

Promotion to Assistant

Clinical Professor: Dr.

Vijeyakumar Selvarajah

Special Recognition: Dr.

John McKaigney

Special Recognition: Dr.

Eric Semlacher

The RE Fraser

Award for Excellence

in Teaching: Dr. Troy

Perry (General Sur-

gery)

Trainees

Listed below are CEGIIR

students who have success-

fully defended their Mas-

ter’s theses in Spring 2016.

Natalie Klostermann: “An

individualized and multi-

faceted transition interven-

tion is needed for pediatric

patients with inflammatory

bowel disease” Natalie is off

to the University of Toronto

to pursue her medical de-

gree.

Braden Millan:

“Fecal microbio-

ta transplanta-

tion: how it can

be expanded for

the use in treat-

ment of other diseases and

manifestations” He will be

attending medical school at

the University of Calgary.

Candace Beilman: “Cost-

effectiveness of anti-TNF

therapy for the manage-

ment of inflammatory bow-

el disease” Candace has

accepted a position as a

Research Coordinator for

Drs. Halloran and Kroeker

beginning in September.

Congratulations!

Department of Medicine Research Day CEGIIR Winners

Thursday, May 19, 2016-

The annual DoM Research

Day was held. Attended by

CEGIIR graduate students,

medical residents, and

postdoctoral fellows.

The Translational Research

Fellowship 2016 award

was given to Dr.

Heekuk Park (left) and

Braden Millan for “FMT

reduces antibody response

genes in patients

with recurrent C.

difficile infec-

tion”.

The Best Poster

2016 award was

given to Vojislav

Jovanovic for his

work, “Micro-

array analysis of

Crohn’s disease and corre-

lation with clinical and

histological features.”

Congratulations!

Did you know?

Catgut, used in musical instruments and sutures

since 3 BC (and now used in high-end tennis rack-

ets), is not from cats. The word is either an abbrevi-

ation of “cattlegut” or misinterpretation of kit

(meaning fiddle) in “kitstring”.

Catgut is made from the small intestines of animals

(e.g., cow, sheep, or goat). The cleaned, scraped,

and chemically treated guts are twisted together in

groups of 3 to 20. They are then dried and polished

before use.

Kimberley Homes Golf Classic—Annual Fundraising

Event for the IBD UNIT

2

Multi-talented CEGIIR Members Wow Donors 2

Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2016—Highlights 3

New and Noteworthy Publications 3

General Updates! 4

Inside this issue:

CE

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Volume 1, Issue 3

June 29, 2016

L-R: Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, Dr. Heekuk Park, Braden

Millan, and Dr. Barbara Ballerman.

Vojislav Jovanovic. Photos by Naomi Hotte.

certmaster of the Edmonton Symphony

Orchestra, played the violin.

The trio performed works by Beethoven,

Chopin, Monteverdi, Rachmaninoff,

Massenet, and De Falla and received a

standing ovation.

Of the 100 donations, approximately 75

were from colleagues, friends, and Dr.

Dieleman’s patients, many of whom were

in the audience.

Hosted by the Dieleman’s, the event

raised $12,000 for CASA.

April 30, 2016—A concert was held at

Giovanni's School of Music to raise funds

to support Dr. Leo Dieleman and his

wife, Anne. The monies are supporting

their week-long cycling expedition

through the mountains (from Montana to

Jasper) to raise awareness and donations

for the CASA Foundation.

CEGIIR hepatologist/researcher by day,

Dr. Juan Abraldes, impressed everyone

with his tenor voice. The unassuming

gastroenterologist/researcher/cyclist Dr.

Dieleman provided accompaniment on

the piano. Virginie Gagne, assistant con-

Thursday, June 16, 2016—The annual

event was held at the Blackhawk Golf

Club in Spruce Grove. Co-chairs Ken

Wicks and Fernando Pisani were in at-

tendance along with 135 other registrants.

The overcast weather was a perfect 18oC

suitable for golfing. Registrants enjoyed

breakfast then hurried to begin golfing at

8:30 a.m. Lunch and presentations were

followed by both a live and a silent auc-

tion.

The 11 CEGIIR volunteers consisting of

staff and trainees worked diligently in the

background to promote

science and ensure that

the day’s activities pro-

gressed smoothly and professional-

ly.

Dr. Richard Fedorak delivered an

address. Fellow faculty in attend-

ance were Drs Leo Dieleman, Dina

Kao, Karen Kroeker, Karen Mad-

sen, and Karen Wong.

Although CEGIIR members en-

joyed themselves thoroughly, the

registrants also had a grand time.

Genuine camaraderie and a spirit of

generosity was prevalent throughout

the day with many outbidding one

another simply for the bragging rights.

Registrants were also volunteering person-

al holdings, such as holiday homes, for

auction to maintain the fundraising mo-

mentum.

New this year was the opportunity to cover

personnel or research equipment. This ap-

proach highlighted the costs incurred for

patient care as well as research and made a

positive impact on the donors. One individ-

ual was overheard exclaiming gleefully, “I

just bought a summer student!”

Page 2

Multi-talented CEGIIR Members Wow Donors

CE GII R CHR ONICLES

Fundraising for the IBD UNIT

Back row (L-R): Kate Haynes, Natalie Klosterman, Candace Beilman, Alex Dittrich, Braden Millan, Ruth Ginter, Robert Fedorak, and Aiden Zalasky. Front row: Reed Sutton and Melissa Silva. Photo by Naomi Hotte.

L-R: Dr. Leo Dieleman, Virginie Gagne, and Dr. Juan Abraldes. Photos provided by Dr. Dieleman.

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 3

May 21-24, 2016—Do you want to attend

the world’s largest gathering of scientists,

physicians, and trainees in the field of gas-

troenterology?

Do you want to have an enjoyable 4 or 5-

day trip to a city in the United States?

If you answered “Yes!” to either question,

then make arrangements to attend Digestive

Disease Week (DDW) in 2017!

DDW is the annual conference of the Amer-

ican Gastroenterological Association

(AGA) and the American Association

for the Study of Liver Diseases

(AASLD). Each year almost 15,000

researchers, physicians, academics, and

students attend this conference! Not

surprisingly, it is considered the largest

(and best!) in the world.

This year’s DDW was held in the lovely

and historic city of San Diego. CEGIIR

members presented research studies to

attendees from around the world and

benefited from expert feedback and

discussions. We also attended seminars,

sessions, keynote lectures, and industry

events.

In spite of the wealth of knowledge,

excitement, and networking opportuni-

ties, we found time to enjoy the many

local attractions! Numerous restaurants,

beautiful beaches, historical places (e.g.,

Old Town), and the famed zoo were some

places that me and my

student peers had a chance

to visit.

I look forward to seeing

you next year in Chicago,

IL. The event formally

runs from May 6 to May

9th. Either before or after

DDW, I am looking for-

ward to opportunities

such as eating deep dish

pizza, seeing the Shedd

Aquarium and the Art

Institute of Chicago, or

maybe watching the

Chicago Cubs play at

Wrigley Field!

PMID:27189915

Regueiro M, Feagan BG, Zou B, Jo-

hanns J, Blank MA, Chevrier M, Plevy

S, Popp J, Cornillie FJ, Lukas M,

Danese S, Gionchetti P, Hanauer SB,

Reinisch W, Sandborn WJ, Sorrentino

D, Rutgeerts P; PREVENT Study

Group-including Fedorak RN. Inflixi-

mab reduces endoscopic, but not clini-

cal, recurrence of Crohn's disease after

ileocolonic resection. Gastroenterolo-

gy. 2016 Jun;150(7):1568-78.

PMID:26946343

Karvellas CJ, Cardoso FS, Gottfried M,

Reddy KR, Hanje AJ, Ganger D, Lee

WM; US Acute Liver Failure Study

Group. HBV-associated acute liver

Shen J, Tong X, Sud N, Khond R, Song

Y, Maldonado-Gomez MX, Walter J,

Su Q. Low-Density Lipoprotein Recep-

tor Signaling Mediates the Triglyceride

-Lowering Action of Akkermansia mu-

ciniphila in Genetic-Induced Hyper-

lipidemia. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc

Biol. 2016 May 26. Epub ahead of

print. PMID:27230129

Tandon P, Low G, Mourtzakis M, Zen-

ith L, Myers RP, Abraldes JG, Aziz M

Shaheen A, Qamar H, Mansoor N, Car-

bonneau M, Ismond K, Mann S, Ala-

boudy A, Ma M. A Model to Identify

Sarcopenia in Patients With Cirrhosis.

Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2016 May

14. Epub ahead of print.

failure after immunosuppression and

risk of death. Clin Gastroenterol Hepa-

tol. 2016 Jun 13. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:27311622

Maugarny-Calès A, Gonçalves B,

Jouannic S, Melkonian M, Wong GK,

Laufs P. Apparition of the NAC tran-

scription factors predates the emer-

gence of land plants. Mol Plant. 2016

Jun 11. Epub ahead of print. PMID:27302340

Page 3

Digestive Disease Week (DDW) — Highlights By Ammar Keshteli

Recent and Noteworthy Publications

For recent CEGIIR publications,

click here

L-R: Ammar Keshteli, Heekuk Park, Robert Fedorak, and Michael Laffin at DDW. Photos provided by Ammar Keshteli.

Panda at the San Diego Zoo.

At the Centre of Excellence for Gastrointestinal Inflammation and Im-

munity Research (CEGIIR), our mission is to enhance Canada’s reputation

in science and health by conducting high quality, leading edge research to

address basic science, clinical, and patient-oriented questions in topics re-

lated to digestive diseases. The CEGIIR research infrastructure is tightly

knitted with gastroenterology and hepatology adult and pediatric clinics,

surgery, and pallia- tive care to facilitate

rapid assessment and implementation of re-

search findings. CEGIIR attracts scien-

tists, offers unique and desirable learning

opportunities for trainees, creates careers

for highly qualified Canadians, and contrib-

utes to the academic, economic, government,

social, and healthcare sectors of our society.

Zeidler Ledcor Centre

130 University Campus

112 Street and 85th Avenue

CONTACT INFORMAT ION

Upcoming Conferences

ILCA 2016

Sep 9-11, 2016. Vancouver, BC

XXIXth International Workshop on

Helicobacter and Microbiota in In-

flammation and Cancer

Sep 15-17, 2016. Magdeburg, Germany

Neuroimmunophysiology of the Gas-

trointestinal Tract International Con-

ference

Sep 29-Oct 1, 2016. Banff, AB

UEG Week 2016

Oct 15-19, 2016. Vienna, Austria

Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Dis-

eases

Dec 8-10, 2016. Orlando, FL

Abstract deadline: Sep 13, 2016

Comings and Goings

Dr Kevin O’Reagan, has completed a

fellowship in IBD under the mentoring of

Dr. Richard Fedorak. He returns to Aus-

tralia at the end of June along with his

family. He designed a comprehensive

framework to study the pharmacokinet-

ics of anti-TNFs for the treatment of

acute, severe ulcerative colitis in hospi-

talized patients. Pilot results are prom-

ising. Please contact either Drs Kroeker

or O’Reagan if you are interested in

continuing this study.

Dr Cathy Lu has accepted a faculty posi-

tion with the University of Calgary. Her

appointment will further cement and fos-

ter joint research activities conducted by

the two academic centres in Alberta.

Ms Alex Dittrich has been accepted into

Medicine at the University of Calgary.

Welcome to Ms Ana Wigger, Dr. Andy

Mason’s medical administrative assistant.

Canadian Digestive Diseases Week™

Mar 3-6, 2017. Banff, AB

Abstract deadline: Oct 15, 2016

Upcoming Grant Applications

CAG Conference Grant: $10,000

Submission date: Sep 1, 2016

CIHR Multiple grants

Project Scheme—Fall 2016

Reg.: Aug 23; Application due: Sep 6

Foundation Scheme—Fall 2016

Reg.: Aug 9; Application due: Aug 20

NASSCD Celiac Disease New Investiga-

tor Competition: $50,000/yr

Submission date: Sept 12, 2016

General Updates!

Editor: Kathleen (Kat) Ismond

Phone: 780-492-3172

Fax: 780-492-7593

E-mail: kismond@ualberta.ca

“Research for Life”

CEGIIR

We’re on the web!

http://cegiir.med.ualberta.ca/

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 3 Page 4