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A new research project involving more than 30 investigators from across Canada has just been launched. The project, known as GENESIS, is Canada's largest multidisciplinary initiative to study the causes of cardiovascular disease — the leading cause of death in Canada.

GENESIS will investigate key unknowns in the way cardiovascular disease is manifested between men and women. Specifically, the project will address both the biological and genetic factors (sex) and social and behavioural factors (gender) involved in cardiovascular disease.

"More Canadians die from cardiovascular disease than from any other cause, yet we know little about the differences in signs and symptoms, treatment and rehabilitation of this disease between men and women," says Dr. Louise Pilote — an epidemiologist at the Â鶹AV Health Centre (MUHC) in Montreal, and GENESIS lead investigator. "This collaboration involves researchers with complementary expertise, ranging from molecular genetics and biostatistics to sociology and cardiology."

This year, GENESIS will initiate five pilot projects, covering the entire disease process from development to treatment. The pilot projects will help focus long-term research projects to be conducted over the following five years.

Cardiovascular disease — also known as heart disease — is a degenerative ailment of the cardiovascular system, resulting in blood vessel blockage and ultimately in heart attack. Once considered a predominantly male affliction, the disease is now understood to end the lives of an approximately equal number of each sex — approximately 80,000 Canadians each year.

GENESIS has received $1.5 million from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), who launched an Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement (ICE) initiative to encourage intra- and inter-institutional collaborations; the magnitude of the project's funding is a clear indication of the priority that these organizations place on cardiovascular disease. For more information visit .

The Research Institute of the Â鶹AV Health Centre (RI MUHC) is a world-renowned biomedical and health care hospital research centre. Located in Montreal, Quebec, the institute is the research arm of the MUHC, a university health centre affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at Â鶹AV. The institute supports over 500 researchers, nearly 1,000 graduate and postdoctoral students, and operates more than 300 laboratories devoted to a broad spectrum of fundamental and clinical research. The Research Institute operates at the forefront of knowledge, innovation and technology and is inextricably linked to the clinical programs of the MUHC, ensuring that patients benefit directly from the latest research-based knowledge. For further details visit .

The Â鶹AV Health Centre (MUHC) is a comprehensive academic health institution with an international reputation for excellence in clinical programs, research and teaching. The MUHC is a merger of five teaching hospitals affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at Â鶹AV — the Montreal Children's, Montreal General, Royal Victoria, and Montreal Neurological Hospitals, as well as the Montreal Chest Institute. Building on the tradition of medical leadership of the founding hospitals, the goal of the MUHC is to provide patient care based on the most advanced knowledge in the health care field, and to contribute to the development of new knowledge.