News

CFI invests $9.6 million to help launch the careers of new researchers at Canadian universitites

January 22, 2001

Ottawa, January 22, 2001…Dr. David Strangway, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), today announced an investment of $9.6 million to provide world-class research facilities for new faculty at 25 Canadian universities. "This is a strategic investment in the ability of our universities to attract and retain the best researchers in Canada, and in the capacity of our people to compete with the best in the world," said Dr. Strangway. "These new researchers will have access to the equipment and facilities they need to undertake leading-edge research and to train young Canadians for the knowledge economy." 

Under the New Opportunities Fund, the CFI Board of Directors approved 59 projects. The projects will enable 82 new researchers to have access to a wide range of advanced equipment and installations, including:

  • a "smart" structures and materials laboratory at the University of Victoria;
  • a facility at the University of Alberta for the multidisciplinary study of community health and environment;
  • micro-biodiversity and molecular genetics laboratories at the University of Manitoba;
  • a multimedia processing and communications lab at McMaster University;
  • a tissue engineering facility at Laval University to study the development of ligament substitutes; and
  • multibeam sonar equipment at the University of New Brunswick for mapping and monitoring seabed changes.

The projects were selected on the recommendation of experts who thoroughly assessed each project against the following CFI criteria:

  • Quality of research and the need for infrastructure.
  • Contribution to strengthening the capacity for innovation.
  • The potential benefits of the research to Canada.

The CFI covers 40% of the eligible costs of a project, with the remaining 60% coming from the universities and their funding partners from the public and private sectors. 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 $2.4 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. A list of approved projects follows.

You can obtain a cumulative list of projects approved by the CFI here. 

Canada Foundation for Innovation
Fondation canadienne pour l’innovation

New Opportunities Fund / Fonds de relève  

Institution / Établissement Projects Approved / Projets appuyés
University of Alberta 10
Brock University 1
University of Calgary 4
Carleton University 2
University of Guelph 1
Université Laval 2
McGill University 3
McMaster University 7
University of Manitoba 2
Memorial University of Newfoundland 3
Université de Montréal 1
University of New Brunswick 2
University of Northern British Columbia 1
Nova Scotia Agricultural College 1
Queen’s University 4
Université du Québec à Rimouski 1
University of Saskatchewan 1
Université de Sherbrooke 1
Simon Fraser University 1
University of Toronto 2
University of Victoria 1
University of Waterloo 3
University of Western Ontario 3
Wilfrid Laurier University 1
University of Windsor 1

Canada Foundation for Innovation
Fondation canadienne pour l’innovation  

List of approved projects by institution /
Liste des projets appuyés par établissement

New Opportunities Fund
Fonds de relève    

Institution / Établissement Maximum CFI Contribution / Contribution maximale de la FCI Project title / Titre du projet
University of Alberta $113,050 Immune Mechanisms of Cell Death and Viral Resistance
$89,582 Research Facility for the Multi-disciplinary Study of Community, Health and Environment
$400,000 Infrastructure for Deposition and Characterization of Combinatorial Arrays of Thin-film Inorganic Compounds and Opto-electronic Devices
$40,918 Establishment of an Impact Testing Facility for Non-conventional Toughness Evaluation of Polymers and Glass Fiber Composites
$248,994 High-throughput Capabilities for Genomics
$140,000 Thermal and Solvent Enhanced Oil Recovery Laboratory
$147,212 Functional Profiling of Gene Expression Networks
$113,884 Workstation Cluster for Quantum Molecular Dynamics Simulations
$128,000 Integrated Microsensor Laboratory for Environmental Biofilm Studies
$518,210 Translational Research in Airway Inflammation: Physiological to Molecular Assessment
Brock University $156,666 Support of New Initiatives in Biotechnology
University of Calgary $142,323 Information & Communication Technology User Studies & Evaluation Research Lab
$255,365 Functional Proteomics of Synaptic Vesicle Trafficking: An Integrated Approach to CNS Plasticity and Functional Recovery
$178,184 Creation of a Multidisciplinary 3 Dimensional Morphometrics Facility
$134,500 Advanced Space Instrument Facility
Carleton University $185,642 Carleton University Neuroscience Institute's Molecular Biology and Electrophysiology Laboratory
$208,727 Morphology of Smart Materials and Composites
University of Guelph $72,605 Turbulence and Radiation Profiling Systems for Exchange Studies Inside Plant Canopies
Université Laval $130,948 Production of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Substitutes by Tissue Engineering
$175,182 Section d'essais micro-mécaniques au sein du laboratoire d'essais mécaniques
McGill University $150,000 Research Facility for Image-guided Neurosurgery
$109,916 Innovative Survey Research Technology for Conducting Research and Interventions on Sexual Risk Behaviour
$112,064 Establishment of a Neuroimmunology Unit for the Study of Cytokines in Mental Illness
McMaster University $200,230 Transition State Analysis in Drug Design: Enzyme Mechanisms and Inhibitor Design Based on Atomic-Resolution Transition State Structures
$163,788 Understanding the Communication Between Virus-infected Cells and the Immune System: Development of New Vaccines, Anti-viral Strategies and Gene Therapies
$365,771 Molecular and Cellular Manipulation Studies in Cancer and Neurodegeneration Research
$199,152 Creation of Functional Nucleic Acids and DNA-binding Molecules as Therapeutic Agents
$261,889 Assessment of Blood Flow and Physiological and Biochemical Function of Human Skeletal Muscle: Application in Special Populations
$155,224 Multimedia Processing and Communications Lab
$164,126 Elucidation of Nuclear Localization signals Associated with the Huntington's Disease Protein
University of Manitoba $199,644 Microbial Biodiversity and Molecular Genetics Laboratories
$199,202 Molecular Neuroscience Imaging Centre at the University of Manitoba
Memorial University of Newfoundland $73,825 Infrastructure to Study the Regulation of Gene Expression by Nutrients
$100,585 Neural Mechanisms Regulating Dopamine Neurons Involved in Reward and Addiction
$94,489 Integrated Environment for Climate and Oceanic-Atmospheric Fluid Dynamics Research
Université de Montréal $181,506 Formation et maintien des synapses centrales
University of New Brunswick $139,930 Multibeam Sonar for Mapping and Monitoring Decimetre-Scale Seabed Changes
$117,400 Effluent Treatment Centre
University of Northern British Columbia $164,814 Centre for Environmental Disturbance Assessment Research (CEDAR)
Nova Scotia Agricultural College $205,970 Enhancing Infrastructure Capabilities for Agricultural Air Quality Management
Université du Québec à Rimouski $78,107 Laboratoire de simulations numériques de l'effet du climat et de la circulation sur la production marine dans les eaux de l'Est du Canada
Queen's University $120,000 Research Facility for Particle Astrophysics
$104,567 Fluid Characterization Research Facilities
$150,000 Human Vascular Control in Exercise, Health and Disease
$115,200 Queen's University's Centre for Evidence-Based Ophthalmic Decision-Making
University of Saskatchewan $176,800 Pulse Crop Genomics Laboratory
Université de Sherbrooke $185,040 Acquisition et installation d'un système de déposition de couches minces par la technique d'ablation laser
Simon Fraser University $109,660 Biochemical and Biophysical Analysis of Mammalian Cells Using Microfluidic Biochips
University of Toronto $69,998 Modelling the Evolution of Mating Systems: Multi-Level Analyses of Black Widow Spider Behaviour
$69,998 Information Processing in Miniature Auditory Systems
University of Victoria $140,000 Smart Structures and Materials Research Laboratory
University of Waterloo $125,031 The Establishment of a Multi-Disciplinary Laboratory for the Research of Sight-Threatening Diabetic Retinopathy
$113,730 Equipment for Field-Based Geological Research
$299,695 Laboratory for Characterization of Advanced RF/Microwave Devices
University of Western Ontario $140,419 Laboratory for Applications of Environmentally-Friendly Solvents
$120,000 High Performance Computing Cluster for Advanced Molecular Modelling and Computational Chemistry
$108,920 Laboratory for Distributed Intelligent Systems
Wilfrid Laurier University $38,108 Symbol Recognition
University of Windsor $416,696 Biochemical and Proteomics Facilities for the Study of Human Diseases and Aging Using a Cellular Model System