Atlantic PATH is thrilled to be involved in the newly funded project led by Dr. Juliet Daniel at McMaster University. The New Frontiers in Research Fund 2020 Exploration grants target high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research. This work will focus on disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes in a Black Nova Scotian community (Shelburne, Nova Scotia). This research is truly interdisciplinary, incorporating natural and social sciences to consider the role of environmental, biological, genetic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors with the high cancer incidence and mortality in this community. We’re pleased to be working with our Dalhousie University colleagues, Dr. Ingrid Waldron (School of Nursing), Dr. Jong Sung Kim (Faculty of Medicine), Dr. Paola Marignani (Faculty of Medicine) and Dr. Charles Hostovsky (School of Planning).   https://bit.ly/3fHw3CU  

Atlantic PATH’s Scientific Director, Jason Hicks was recently interviewed by CBC PEI about research with our data holdings and CanPath’s timely move into COVID-19 research. https://bit.ly/33l8vNj

Over 101,500 CanPath participants from across Canada completed the CanPath COVID-19 Questionnaire in 2020. The first release of this data, including the over 93,000 responses collected by October 31st, 2020, is now available to researchers. These data were collected by the regional cohorts that make up CanPath: the BC Generations Project, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project, the Manitoba Tomorrow Project, Ontario Health Study, CARTaGENE (Quebec) and Atlantic PATH. Data collected through the survey include: Self-reported COVID-19 test results/suspected infection Symptoms experienced (if any) Current health status and risk factors Potential sources of exposure Lifestyle and behaviours (alcohol use, tobacco use etc.) Impact of the pandemic on job status Impact of the pandemic on mental, emotional, social and financial well-being Nationally harmonized data from the CanPath COVID-19 Questionnaire is now available to researchers. Given the immediate need for pandemic research, CanPath has revised its expedited review process to provide timely access to the data. Requests for access to the national COVID-19 Questionnaire dataset, as well as accompanying baseline and follow-up datasets, will be reviewed in as little as 9 business days. Please note that while ethnicity/race data was not collected through this questionnaire, self-reported ethnicity data was collected at baseline for all CanPath participants. This data is available for all participants who completed the COVID-19 questionnaire, with the exception of Manitoba Tomorrow Project participants as this cohort is still in recruitment. Of the over 93,000 participants to complete the CanPath COVID-19 Questionnaire by October 31st: 11.5% reported they were tested for COVID-19 0.21% reported they tested positive for COVID-19 0.02% were hospitalized because of COVID-19 2.66% suspected having an undiagnosed case of COVID-19 52.2% experienced mild or severe symptoms of COVID-19 25.4% reported a change in employment status since the pandemic Questions about the CanPath COVID-19 Questionnaire dataset? Email access@canpath.ca.

Join us on January 27th for a CanPath webinar to learn about three exciting research projects using data and biosamples from two of CanPath’s regional cohorts, Atlantic PATH and BC Generations. Jacob Nearing (PhD candidate, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University) will be presenting his doctoral research which investigates the oral microbiome for biomarker discovery in cancer. Kalli Hood (MSc, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University) will be presenting her Master’s research which used toenail biomarkers to compare arsenic speciation and metallomic profiles in breast, cervical, prostate, and skin cancers. Molly Sweeney Magee (PhD candidate, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia) will be presenting on her doctoral research focused on cancer diagnosis and health behaviour change.   Registration details: http://bit.ly/3b9ewBE

We are thrilled to announce that CanPath has been awarded $1.9million in funding from the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force for a COVID-19 seroprevalence study!  This work will be implemented by all the regional CanPath cohorts, including Atlantic PATH.