NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - The Canada Foundation for Innovation has granted C$26 million (US$21.1 million) to a number of institutions and centers to support a broad array of research that includes many biomedical studies involving proteomics, genetics, molecular biology, and biomedical imaging projects.
The money came largely from CFI's Leaders Opportunity Fund to support "the innovative research infrastructure that helps stimulate the various sectors of our economy," CFI said.
The LOF granted C$20.6 million and another C$6.2 million was awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, which is a complementary program designed to contribute to the maintenance costs of infrastructure projects funded by the CFI.
According to the foundation, the funding program is aimed at bolstering the country's research environment "by giving Canadian universities the flexibility they need to attract and retain the world's finest researchers at a time of intense international competition for knowledge workers."
Among the grants, Queens University was awarded C$495,000 to study the cellular genomics of cancer, and C$46,000 for structural and functional analysis of cancer-related proteins.
McGill University will receive C$115,000 to study genetic epidemiology of aging-related disease and C$160,000 to research metabolism and cancer through the integration of signal transduction and metabolism and tumourigenesis.
The University of Laval won C$124,000 to study the genomics of cardio-respiratory diseases.
The University of British Columbia has been awarded: C$107,000 to study long QT syndrome and sudden arrhythmic death genetic research; C$185,000 for a cell analysis suite for high-throughput genomics; C$125,000 for a control system of digital microfluidic devices; C$307,000 for high-throughput, high-content imaging infrastructure for diabetes research; and C$325,000 to study immunoproteomics for chlamydia vaccine discovery; and C$61,000 to upgrade the Affymetrix DNA Microarray Facility in the Wine Research Centre at UBC.
The University of Montreal will receive C$343,000 to study nutrigenomics and the lipids involved in complex diseases.
The University of Quebec at Montreal was awarded C$267,000 for a bioanalytical mass spectrometry laboratory for drug metabolism and metabolomics studies.
The University of Alberta has won C$121,000 for molecular analysis of the host-pathogen interface, C$228,000 for structural and functional studies of membrane proteins in disease, and C$370,000 for MALDI TOF-TOF mass spectrometry research for elucidation of glycan structure and protein post translational modification in glycobiology.
The University of Calgary won C$254,000 to study the bacterial ecology of the human intestine.
The University of Guelph will receive C$118,000 for model-based clustering with applications in bioinformatics and food authenticity.
The University of Ottawa was awarded C$116,000 for infrastructure for bioinformatics research concerning gene regulation, C$82,000 for a population health impact assessment data centre, and $108,000 for protein-protein interactions in cardiovascular disease research.
The University of Toronto will receive C$400,000 for a lab to study polarity proteins in breast cancer, and C$70,000 for a molecular anthropology and primatology lab for the study of evolution.
The University of Victoria has won C$120,000 for a lab for molecular epigenetics.
Full funding information about the CFI program is available here.