Stronger Foundations: Dr. Munier Nour on Bone Development in Diabetic Youth
Release Date: 12/31/2023
Not Just Numbers: Vaidehee Lanke Tracks Opiate Use & Perinatal Health
Researchers Under the Scope
In this episode, medical student and researcher shares what large provincial datasets reveal about opioid use disorder, maternal mental health, and pregnancy. Armed with data, she hopes better support —before, during, and after birth—can change outcomes for mothers and babies. Lanke spent her summer working with epidemiologist and the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit on a pan-Canadian project tracking opioid use in perinatal populations across five provinces. “The question we set out to answer was: What is the association between...
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Cross-Linked Clues: Jack Walther on Depression and Alzheimer's
Researchers Under the Scope
As a student, Jack Walther's friends often came to him when they needed a listening ear, or help with relationship struggles. This summer, Walther took his fascination with the brain and mood disorders to , learning to untangle some of the tiny molecular threads that might explain why depression so often shows up alongside dementia. Walther and the research team dug into the physical interactions between serotonin and the beta amyloid peptides that build up in patients with Alzheimer's disease. . He admits going from the classroom to the laboratory felt like a sharp learning curve. "It was...
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EEEV-ident Passion: Eve Simpson on Doubt, Persistence and Viral Spread
Researchers Under the Scope
Eve Simpson knows from experience scientific research doesn’t always follow a linear path. In the first of three student research episodes, the fourth-year biochemistry, microbiology and immunology student looks back at a summer spent decoding Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV) in ’s lab. Simpson said she loved doing bench research, but felt frustrated in the moments where she hit setbacks and moments of doubt. “I felt like I was letting everyone down,” she said. “But everyone I spoke to said they'd been through that. It's part of being a researcher. That's what drives us to do...
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That’s So Metal: Dr. Jessica Sheldon Targets Acinetobacter Baumannii
Researchers Under the Scope
Jessica Sheldon (PhD) is on a mission to starve out Acinetobacter baumannii —one of the world’s most virulent hospital-borne pathogens. Notorious for its speedy evolution and multi-drug resistance, the hospital-borne bacteria lingers on dry surfaces and infects critically-ill patients, leading to sepsis, pneumonia and high mortality rates. In this episode, delves into the real-life events that drove her to investigate histamine, and its role in bacterial survival and immune response. In 2022, Sheldon joined the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine as an assistant professor...
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Fluid Endeavour: Kirk Haan's Medical Balancing Act
Researchers Under the Scope
Kirk Haan graduated from high school, thinking he’d study pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan, and walk out five years later. After one summer at a pharmacy, Haan realized he was after a more ‘hands-on’ career in medicine. “I’ve kind of worked with my hands my whole life, just between rummaging around on a farm and always kind of building things,” he said. “Now it’s using them to help people in a direct way.” Then, Haan found his passion — inside the laboratory. In 2018, Haan landed a summer position in , studying osmoregulation — the mechanisms that govern...
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Dr. Sébastien Gauvrit: Fishing for Answers in Vascular Development
Researchers Under the Scope
Sébastien Gauvrit (PhD) was only ten when his family let him have his first tank of guppies. Within weeks, he was hooked. “I actually had to understand genetics directly by mixing these different fish together to get the colour or fin shape I was interested in,” said the vascular biologist and genetic modelling pioneer. From his home in France, to post-doctoral work pioneering new models for vascular disease in Germany, to his current position as an assistant professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine — tropical fish...
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Dr. Stu Skinner & Mobile Medicine: Halting Syphilis & HIV
Researchers Under the Scope
Stuart Skinner (MD) knew something was wrong three years ago, when patients started coming to him with vision loss, fever, rashes, and meningitis. Almost every case could be traced back to untreated syphilis — a sexually transmitted infection with caseloads exploding 1,200 per cent from 2017. Saskatchewan saw this spike just as Covid-19 entered the picture. “With the pandemic, testing dropped dramatically,” Skinner said, noting this , often travelling alongside HIV. Syphilis often spreads through sores, and can remain unnoticed for months or years on end, making early detection...
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Peptide Puzzle: Dr. Yi-Chun Chen on Early Markers for Diabetes and Obesity
Researchers Under the Scope
Yi-Chun Chen (PhD) is taking a close-up look at some of the body’s hardest-working cells — the ones often processing an overabundance of modern-day food and nutrients. “From an evolutionary point of view, our cells are not designed to deal with that,” said Chen, who joined the department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology at the University of Saskatchewan last year as an assistant professor. She said our bodies are pushed into churning out large amounts of insulin rapidly after snacks and meals, “which makes the beta cells work extra hard.” Raised in Taiwan and inspired by...
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In the Trenches: Dr. James Stempien on Emergency Medicine
Researchers Under the Scope
James Stempien (MD) has navigated some of the most challenging corners of emergency medicine, from the frigid isolation of Inuvik to the bustling corridors of Saskatoon’s emergency departments. His experience in low-tech outposts has shaped his approach to modern emergency care. “When things aren’t going well you see it in the emergency department first,” Stempien said. “We’re the front door. We’re always open.” As provincial department head of emergency medicine, Stempien sees patients on their worst days in hospitals bursting at the seams, struggling to...
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All’s Not Lost: A Roadmap to Treating Hepatitis C on the Prairies
Researchers Under the Scope
As the world aims to eradicate hepatitis C (HCV) by 2030, Carrielynn Lund and Dr. Alexandra King’s team created a how-to guide. is a step-by-step guide to tackling a spike of new infections across the three Canadian prairie provinces. Hepatitis C (HCV) causes severe liver disease, and was notoriously difficult to treat until the introduction of direct-acting antivirals a decade ago — antivirals which boast a remarkable 95% success rate. Despite this advancement, Lund and Dr. King say Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba need to know why HCV cases keep rising, particularly in...
info_outlineDr. Munier Nour said osteoporosis is often seen as a disease that affects older adults. But compared to their peers, kids with Type 1 diabetes grow into adults eight times as likely to suffer bone fractures.
“Osteoporosis may actually have its origins during pediatric years,” he said. “Because Type 1 diabetes occurs so early in life ….. it influences that bone development that occurs during your peak growth.”
Now, Nour is a co-lead on a national team trying to figure out why.
The pediatric endocrinologist has always taken a logical approach to problem-solving. When he first enrolled at the University of Calgary, he took engineering courses, in case medicine didn’t work out.
Nour was accepted to medical school, where he found himself drawn to both pediatric intensive care and internal medicine, until one last-minute elective.
In this episode, Nour credits his supervisor, retired University of Calgary professor Dr. David Stephure, with changing his mind.
“It certainly wasn’t on my radar at all,” said Nour. “He was just a wonderful mentor. I think he really kind of sparked quite an interest and passion to pursue pediatric endocrinology.”
Nour completed his fellowship at the University of Calgary, along with his medical doctorate and master's degree in biomedical sciences. He completed his pediatric residency at Queen’s University, then joined the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine in 2014. He spent his first year as the province’s lone pediatric endocrinologist.
Since then, the associate professor has embarked on a mission to understand why children with Type 1 diabetes exhibit a higher risk of impaired bone health and osteoporosis than their peers.
Nour said although it’s often overlooked as an endocrine organ, bone is ‘quite dynamic’, playing a crucial role in hormonal regulation.
“Some hormones produced by bone include things like fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23), which has a lot to do with our phosphate metabolism. As well, there's another hormone called osteocalcin, which actually has quite a role in diabetes as well,” said Nour.
Today, he and Dr. Saija Kontulainen are overseeing the Canadian Bone Strength Development in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Study: a national longitudinal study.
Using a grant of $1,352,140 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and with help from Diabetes Canada, they’re evaluating differences in bone development between children with Type 1 diabetes and their peers.
Dr. Nour said they’ll recruit up to 210 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 12, tracking them over three years with annual bone health assessments. The study includes Saskatchewan patients, along with pre-teens in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa.
Using high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT scans (HR-pQCT), hormonal measurements, muscle strength testing, bone density scans, and force plate tests, his team will assess key markers and differences in bone micro-architecture as the preteens’ radius and tibia grow.
“There's even fairly advanced engineering techniques that can be used to kind of simulate a fracture load and see when that bone would actually fail," said Nour.
Dr. Nour hopes this research will lead to interventions for children with type 1 diabetes that potentially strengthen their long-term bone health.
“So little is understood right now about what is different and why,” said Nour. “What can we do to prevent it?”