Services Offered

POPCORN offers the services listed below at the pre-funding and post-funding levels. Some services are complimentary, and others are fee for service. See our full list of services here.

For more information, please contact Sarah Ahira, Platform Manager.

Pre-Funding Services

  • Grant consultation, regulatory requirement review, high-level budget review, and letters of support.

(Complimentary)

  • Range of consultation to help guide researchers to next steps.

(Complimentary)

  • Facilitate access to thought leaders from the national database comprised of over 130 pediatric investigators to support study design, protocol optimization, and methodologies.

(Complimentary)

Post-Funding Services

(Complimentary)

  • Facilitate identifying qualified sites and investigators nationally for participation in studies.

  • Study protocol development, including the transition of a funded grant application into a Health Canada preferred protocol.

  • Assistance in navigating and facilitating the contracts and agreements process crucial for pediatric clinical trials, leveraging ongoing contract streamlining initiatives championed in Canada for seamless collaboration and efficiency.

  • Consultation and support to prepare and submit Clinical Trial Applications (CTAs), Investigational Testing Authorizations (ITAs), and single-patient study applications to Health Canada for regulated clinical trials. This support includes ongoing amendments/notifications, and other correspondence as applicable.

  • Consultation and assistance to facilitate and streamline research ethics approval across multiple jurisdictions for multi-centre trials. Via MICYRN’s project management services and/or in collaboration with the Canadian Collaboration for Child Health: Efficiency and Excellence in the Ethics Review of Research (CHEER) initiative.

  • Develop (or implement external) clinical trial Monitoring Plans and provide dedicated clinical trial monitoring personnel to perform risk-based monitoring for regulated trials, adhering to Health Canada and sponsor requirements. MICYRN’s Quality Assurance (QA) Lead supports MICYRN and its members to develop QA strategies, ensuring high quality standards and audit/inspection readiness throughout the clinical trial lifecycle.

  • Centralized data safety monitoring board to ensure participant safety and provide expertise on clinical trial conduct for continuation, modification, or termination.

(Fee for Service)

  • Database creation, management, and support in a validated REDCap web-based application and assist study teams to develop case report forms.

  • Study management to bridge gaps while grant or site resources are mobilizing or, if required, comprehensive project management to liaise and coordinate services including regulatory, monitoring, database development, insurance, and legal counsel. Guidance and support to facilitate study operations, ethics, contracts, and other site-level needs, from startup through closeout.

(Fee for Service)

  • Provide epidemiological, biostatistical, and methodological expertise to study teams on their project.

(Fee for Service)

  • Knowledge Broker support to broker relationships between researchers and knowledge users, to better understand information needs. Access tools to mobilize your research, including infographics and lay summaries for patients, families, and healthcare providers, communications, social media, and academic outputs.

(Fee for Service)

  • Collaborate with patient and family partners to ensure inclusivity and relevance in study materials, including protocols, consent forms, recruitment materials, and more, fostering a patient-centred approach.

(Fee for Service)

  • Consultation and involvement of EDI+I team to integrate EDI+I principles into research. Language, cultural, and translation services.

(Fee for Service)

  • Use the existing infrastructure of 6 decentralized biobanks to support biobanking studies.

  • Pan-Canadian group of research pharmacy personnel who function as a knowledge repository and advisory committee to help Investigators address challenges such as investigational drug procurement, compounding and placebo development, and various pharmacy challenges in conducting maternal and pediatric trials.