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Funded Projects

POPCORN 2.0 

A National Platform Coordinating Pediatric and Maternal Research to Better Prepare Canada for Future Pandemics.

 

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Teams and Partners

 Principal Investigator
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Dr. Olivier Drouin
Directeur of the Network
CHU Sainte-Justine et Université de Montréal

 

 

 

 

 Founder
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Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh
Founder and First Director of the Network
CHU Sainte-Justine et Université de Montréal 

 

 

 

 

 Scientific Teams 

Équipe

A multidisciplinary team of physician-scientists, clinicians, and specialists in infectious diseases, pediatrics, emergency medicine, critical care, maternal health, data governance, knowledge mobilization, and patient partnership, representing five major clinical areas and seven national research networks. 

Key Institutions and Partners

 POPCORN brings together 19 pediatric hospitals across Canada. 

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The Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that Canada lacked the infrastructure needed to respond rapidly to infectious disease threats affecting children and pregnant people.

Three major gaps remain:

  • The difficulty of rapidly launching clinical trials in pediatric and maternal populations;
  • The lack of real-time, pan-Canadian data to support public health decision-making;
  • The lack of data to track the full course of disease, from acute effects to long-term outcomes.

 

solution 

The Solution


POPCORN 2.0 builds on the national network established during the COVID-19 pandemic to create an integrated platform for clinical research, surveillance, and pandemic preparedness.

The platform harmonizes data, biobanks, ethics processes, and collaboration across participating centres to enable the rapid launch of multicentre clinical studies and generate high-quality data for researchers and decision-makers.

It also serves as a single point of access, facilitating clinical studies and interventional trials for academic and industry partners.


Fonctionnement

 How it works

1. Collect: Collect and store biological samples and clinical data from children and pregnant women across Canada.

2. Connect: Link databases across participating centres to enable real-time syndromic surveillance, disease monitoring, and analysis of long-term outcomes.

3. Accelerate: Harmonize contracts, ethics approvals, and data and biological material sharing agreements to enable the rapid launch of multicentre studies and clinical trials.

 Expected Impact 

POPCORN 2.0 will allow:

  • Improve surveillance of emerging infectious diseases in children and pregnant people;
  • Detect new pathogens more rapidly through serosurveillance;
  • Accelerate the development and evaluation of new therapeutics and vaccines;
  • Provide decision-makers with robust data to guide public health interventions;
  • Strengthen Canada’s long-term capacity to protect vulnerable populations during future pandemics.
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Leveraging Impact 

By bringing together the country’s leading pediatric research networks within a shared infrastructure, POPCORN 2.0 is building sustainable national capacity that facilitates collaboration across the academic, clinical, industry, and government sectors.

The platform also provides a single point of access for partners seeking to conduct multicentre studies, helping attract new research projects, clinical trials, and strategic investments in Canada and internationally.

 

Les infrastructures mises en place

A national maternal and pediatric health research platform that integrates:

  • A network of 19 pediatric hospitals;
  • Harmonized clinical databases;
  • A pan-Canadian biobank of biological samples;
  • Harmonized mechanisms for data governance, contracts, and ethics;
  • Infrastructure ready to rapidly support clinical studies and multicentre trials.

 

pandemie

 The ambition is to establish POPCORN as Canada’s leading platform for disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness in maternal and pediatric health. 

Project Status 
Deployment of POPCORN 2.0 (2024–2028), building on the national network established during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

jalons Milestones acheived

  • Pan-Canadian network bringing together 19 pediatric hospitals.
  • Establishment of national governance and coordination infrastructure.
  • Development of national cohorts focused on COVID-19, vaccination, antimicrobial resistance, and other infectious diseases.
  • Progressive harmonization of data infrastructure, biobanks, and regulatory processes.

Next Next Steps 

  • Deploy the national biobank and serosurveillance platform.
  • Connect databases across participating sites.
  • Finalize harmonized mechanisms to enable the rapid launch of multicentre clinical trials during future public health emergencies.