MONTRÉAL, May 6, 2024 – After the pandemic years we just experienced, are we really equipped to deal with another wave of emerging infectious diseases? Putting the conditions in place for a more effective, more coordinated response is the goal of version 2.0 of the POPCORN (Pediatric Outcomes imProvement through the COordination of Research Networks) platform, led by Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh and her team at CHU Sainte-Justine. The second phase of this massive initiative was made possible today with $16 million in new funding from the Canadian government, through the Canada Biomedical Research Fund.

The investment was announced this morning at Polytechnique Montréal by the Honourable Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health.

The POPCORN research platform was launched in March 2022, thanks to funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, bringing together pediatric health researchers from 16 Canadian hospitals and 7 national research networks in response to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children. When it was created, the platform’s first aim was to set up an immense collaborative system to share data and protocols and to establish an administrative and regulatory framework to facilitate pediatric research all across the country. The initiative took a coordinated multidisciplinary approach in order to analyze national data and provide insight into the impacts of the pandemic on child health.

Although a great deal of work has already been done, the capacity to respond to another pandemic is still facing several challenges. The mission of POPCORN 2.0 is to closely monitor the health of Canada’s pediatric population and expecting women with regard to emerging infectious diseases. The lack of real-time data to inform political decisions using scientific evidence and the difficulty of understanding the complete trajectory of a disease in a child are obstacles that this second version of the collaborative platform intends to overcome.

“The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the distinctive impacts of this virus and the related health measures on children and teenagers,” explained Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh. “It is critical to pursue the development of monitoring and research systems appropriate for this population, to build our capacity in order to include them effectively in clinical trials.”

POPCORN 2.0 will continue to play an important role in training the next generations of researchers, with a focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, while actively involving patients in research activities in order to strengthen an engaged and supportive community against the challenges of the future.

Quotes

“This support from the Government of Canada is another sign of confidence in our vision of improving healthcare for children and pregnant women. We are determined to move pediatric and maternal-fetal research forward with this new phase of a great collaborative project.” – Dr. Jacques L. Michaud, Director of the Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine

“With collaboration among all these pediatric researchers, POPCORN 2.0 will support a nationwide coordinated and multidisciplinary research approach. We aim to provide essential evidence that will improve the health and wellness of our children, including those yet to be born, not only in the aftermath of the recent pandemic, but for future health challenges.” – Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, Director of the POPCORN network at CHU Sainte-Justine

The Honorourable Soraya Martinez Ferranda (centre) was present at Polytechnique Montréal for this official announcement. © Université de Montréal