January 18, 2016 — Kingston, ON — Novel research at Kingston General Hospital targeting C. difficile has been awarded major funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The funding, of up to $1.2 million, will enable a multi-institutional team led by Dr. Elaine Petrof, a clinician-researcher at the Kingston General Hospital Research Institute (KGHRI) and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Queen’s University, to further develop “Repoopulate.” It is a synthetically derived alternative to fecal transplants, used to treat recurrent C. difficile infections.    

Early trials, with a small number of patients at Kingston General Hospital, have shown it to be highly effective in curing the hard-to-treat and sometimes fatal, disease.

“We’ll be optimizing the formulation to test it in an early stage clinical trial,” says Dr. Petrof, who is working with colleagues at the University of Guelph and Western University on the synthetic stool product. Dr. Petrof’s hospital work is being conducted through the Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Unit at Queen’s and KGH.

“This funding is a tremendous boost for a very promising and innovative discovery,” says Dr. Roger Deeley, President of the KGHRI. “It will ensure that Dr. Petrof and her team continue to advance their efforts to address a common, widespread and serious health threat. It is wonderful to see work being done in this exciting new research frontier being recognized in this way.” 

While there are numerous C. difficile therapies being developed based on human stool samples, Dr. Petrof’s group is the first to produce a synthetic form of the beneficial microbes, using cultures processed in a “robotic gut” bioreactor developed at the University of Guelph. “We’re different from stool transplants because we know exactly what’s in our mixture,” she says. “This means a safer, more reproducible product.”

The group’s goal is to develop a more effective fecal transplant treatment for recurrent C. difficile.

“If this works, we’ve been approached to expand it to other diseases,” Dr. Petrof says. Emerging research is showing potential for the use of fecal transplants to treat conditions such as ulcerative colitis and obesity. 

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For media inquiries contact:

John Pereira,
Strategic Communications Advisor
Kingston General Hospital
613-549-6666 ext. 6875

ABOUT THE KGH RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The Kingston General Hospital Research Institute (KGHRI) is the not-for-profit academic health research institute of Kingston General Hospital, and works in close collaboration with Queen’s University and our partner hospitals. KGHRI comprises more than 180 investigators conducting innovative research across a broad spectrum of disciplines that reflect current and emerging areas of strength – from the genetic mechanisms of disease, to new approaches to end-of-life care. The KGHRI is currently developing the W.J. Henderson Centre for Patient-Oriented Research, a 12,000-square-foot, multidisciplinary research hub. Open in 2016, the centre brings together scientists, allied health professionals, students and trainees, patients and families in the pursuit research and innovation.  

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