$10.1 Million to Strenghten Research Infrastructure at Canadian Universities

Ottawa, March 8, 2000 Dr. David W. Strangway, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), today announced an investment of $10.1 million to boost the research capacity at 28 universities. 

"The CFI investment helps build the critical mass for research at Canadian universities and not-for-profit institutions," said Dr. Strangway. "The availability of advanced research equipment and facilities on our campuses is essential to creating the conditions needed to attract and retain top-flight researchers who, in turn, are training young Canadians for the knowledge-based economy."

Under the New Opportunities Fund, the CFI Board of Directors approved an investment of $6.4 million for 44 projects in 20 universities. These projects will help launch the research career of 48 new faculty members. They include:

• equipment at the Université de Montreal to identify the genetic factors that play a key role in HIV infection;
• a facility at the University of Toronto to study the impact of environmental organic pollutant on snow and ice;
• a laboratory at the University of British Columbia to evaluate and develop new pulping and papermaking processes.

Under the University Research Development Fund, eight institutions will receive funding for eight projects representing a total of $3.7 million. They include:

• a multidisciplinary facility located at Mount Allison University to study coastal wetlands;
• advanced computer equipment to develop the Finance and Insurance Computing Facility (Laboratoire de calcul en finance et assurance) at École des Hautes Études Commerciales;
• a facility at the University of Winnipeg to undertake scientific and curatorial analysis of painting elements.

The University Research Development Fund is designed for institutions that received, during the 1994-96 period, less than 1% of the total sponsored research funding in Canadian universities. Since its launch in 1998 the Fund has supported 99 infrastructure projects at 27 universities.

The CFI is an independent, not-for-profit corporation established by the federal government in 1997 to address an urgent need of Canada's research community: new, state-of-the-art research infrastructure. The CFI has been entrusted with a capital investment budget of $1.9 billion, and its investments are made in partnership with all levels of government, as well as with the private and voluntary sectors. Its work focuses on health, the environment, science, and engineering.

New Opportunities Fund / Fonds de relève

University Research Development Fund / Fonds de développement de la recherche universitaire

List of approved projects by institution 
Liste des projets approuvés par établissement

New Opportunities Fund / Fonds de relève

Brock University

• Neuromuscular Control of Joint Torque

Carleton University

• Carleton Aquatic Animal Facility and Physiology Laboratory

Concordia University

• Memory Encoding and Storage in Cortical Circuits: Whole-Cell Electrophysiological Studies

École Polytechnique de Montréal

• Laboratoire de génie métabolique

McGill University

• Establishment of a Research and Training Centre for Behavioural and Brain Studies of the Auditory, Cognitive, and Performance Processes related to Music and Expertise
• Isolation of Genes that Control the Formation and Regeneration of Neural Pathways
• Role of Lipid Mediators in Glomerulonephritis
• Experience Sampling Techniques to Examine Theories of Vulnerability to Depression in Children and Adolescents

McMaster University

• Geoarchaeology of Coastal Change - Natural and Anthropogenic Impacts
• Infrastructure for Creation of a New Environmental Geochemistry-Geomicrobiology Research Program

Queen's University

• Anesthesiology Research Laboratory
• Plant Signal Transduction Research Facility
• Rapid Laminated Tooling Laboratory

Trent University

• Biocompatible, High Performance Liquid Chromatography System and UV-Visible Spectrophotometer to Upgrade the Ability to Purify and Analyse Biomolecules

Université de Montréal

• Développement d'une approche génomique pour l'étude des facteurs de l'hôte dans le contrôle des infections
• Laboratoire d'évolution dirigée d'enzymes
• Molecular Genetics of Hypertension

Université de Sherbrooke

• Transmembrane Signaling and Molecular Recognition

Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

• Infrastructure for Image Analysis on the Study of Aluminum Filtration

Université Laval

• Installation d'un laboratoire de génétique fonctionnelle et d'analyses biochimiques du nématode Caenorhabditis elegans
• Établissement d'un laboratoire de recherche sur la signalisation de l'apoptose

University of Alberta

• Cardiovascular Ion Channel Gene Therapy Unit
• Infrastructure for Computer Modeling and Experimentation of Space and Laboratory Plasmas
• Physical and Computational Laboratories for Ground-Structure Interaction
• Regulation of the Cell Cycle during Gametogenesis

University of British Columbia

• Advanced Papermaking Laboratory
• Bio-analytical Infrastructure for Forest Biotechnology and Functional Genomics
• Electrometallurgical Science and Engineering Laboratory
• Functional Characterization of Polycystins
• Laboratory of Comparative Molecular Parasitology
• Behaviour Testing Facility: Functional Genomics, Phenotyping, and Models of Mental Illness

University of Calgary

• Multi-sensor Facility for Real-time Mobile Mapping and Emergency Response Applications

University of Regina

• Scanning Electron Microscope for Materials Characterization in Energy and Environmental Research

University of Toronto

• Facility for Research into the Environmental Organic Chemistry of Snow and Ice
• Infrastructure for Characterizing Single Molecules with Nanometer Resolution
• Laboratory and Animal Facilities for Developmental Neuroscience Research
• Metabolic Regulation of Glucose Homeostasis
• Molecular and Clinical Aspects of Mammalian DNA Repair Pathways
• Parallel Computations for the Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Structure

University of Victoria

• Quantitative PCR and Organ/Cell Culture Facility

University of Western Ontario

• Modelling the Dynamics of the Solid Earth with a Parallel Computational Cluster
• Neurovascular Control in Humans
• Realistically Modelling the Behaviour of Individuals in Policy Relevant Contexts

University of Windsor

• Molecular Immunology Applied to Environmental Problems

List of approved projects by institution 
Liste des projets approuvés par établissement

University Research Development Fund / 
Fonds de développement de la recherche universitaire

École des Hautes Études Commerciales

• Laboratoire de calcul en finance et assurance

Mount Allison University

• Coastal Wetlands Research Facility

Mount Saint Vincent University

• Technology Learning: A Centre for Applied Research in Education

Royal Roads University

• Network for Assessing the Effects of Climate Change and Pollutants on Ecosystem and Human Health

Ryerson Polytechnic University

• Novel High Frequency Ultrasound Imager for the Monitoring of Apoptosis

Saint Mary's University

• Saint Mary's University Taxonomy Laboratory

University of Lethbridge

• Neurosciences Building - Brain and Behaviour Research for the 21st Century

University of Winnipeg

• Centre for Scientific and Curatorial Analysis of Painting Elements (C-SCAPE)

Canada Foundation for Innovation 
Fondation canadienne pour l'innovation