Illustrative image

An Ottawa-led team has received a $24 million grant to study how cell and gene therapies can move from laboratories into practical health-care use, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute announced October 23.

Led by Dr. Bernard Thébaud of The Ottawa Hospital, CHEO and the University of Ottawa, the six-year project focuses on chronic lung diseases. Researchers will examine approval, manufacturing, costs, public funding and equitable access—barriers that can remain even when a treatment shows promise in a trial.

The work accompanies two separately funded trials: a Phase 2 cell-therapy study involving 168 patients with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and a first-in-human gene-therapy trial for ABCA3 deficiency, a rare newborn lung condition.

For Ottawa families, the announcement highlights local research aimed at improving future care. It does not establish that these experimental therapies are approved or routinely available. The institute says the team hopes its findings will help adapt research pathways to Canada’s health-care system.

Source: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute announcement, October 23, 2026.