MUHC in the Media - December 1, 2025

How can we prevent this type of frequent and often devastating injury to athletes? Dr. Paul Martineau, an orthopedic surgeon at the MUHC, asked himself the same question; he has performed 2,500 surgeries to repair this part of the knee. He then set out to develop with his team Hurtblocker, a mobile application that uses artificial intelligence to detect and analyze athletes’ movements and identify early warning signs of an ACL injury. La Presse

In a new study, a team of researchers have identified a rare genetic variant in the ODAD4 gene that causes primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a chronic hereditary disorder affecting the respiratory system. Through extensive genetic and genealogical analysis, the research team found strong evidence that this variant likely traces back to a single ancestor who lived roughly 330 years ago and may account for undetected PCD cases across Quebec—particularly in the Bas-Saint-Laurent and Côte-du-Sud regions.  Dr. Adam Shapiro, pediatric pulmonologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital, founder of the MUHC's DCP clinic, and researcher at The Institute, led the study. Radio-Canada

On World AIDS Day, Dr. Bertrand Lebouché, a physician in the Chronic Viral Illness Service at the MUHC and a scientist at The Institute, provided an update on the situation. While research is progressing and effective drugs are available to prevent infection and control HIV, the fight to end the global AIDS epidemic suffered significant setbacks in 2025 due to a severe lack of funding.  Radio-Canada report (at 22 min 38 s).   

Chantal, an ALS patient at The Neuro, can once again have her voice heard, for the first time since 2016, thanks to an AI software and her audiologist, Yasmine Kheloufi. Journal de Montréal

The arrival of a new flu variant is raising concerns about the coming viral season. If this new strain leads to more cases of influenza, it will also mean more hospitalizations, points out Dr. Earl Rubin, director of the Infectious Diseases Division at the Montreal Children's Hospital. CNN

Dr. Nicole Ezer, pulmonologist and director of the MUHC Lung Cancer Screening Program, explains that the program targets high-risk populations in order to detect the disease at an early stage, when it is still operable. In Quebec, smokers and former smokers between the ages of 55 and 74 who have smoked actively for at least 20 years, continuously or not, are eligible for screening.  La Presse, TVA Nouvelles

Dr. Ron Postuma, Director of the MUHC Division of neurology and Scientist at the Neuro and The Institute, commented on a study that suggests that people affected by sleep apnea are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. The New York Times

Dr. Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital, commented on an internal memo written by a senior official from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the COVID-19 vaccine had caused the deaths of a dozen children, without providing any evidence or details about the existence of these cases. Several public health experts have disputed this information, which is completely unsubstantiated. Radio-Canada

A research team from the École de technologie supérieure is working with Prof. Julia Burnier at The Institute to understand how cancers metastasize, i.e., how they invade other organs, with a view to preventing this process. The Conversation