NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Genome British Columbia has invested C$2.3 million ($1.9 million) in a number of short-term genomics research projects in the Vancouver area, Genome BC said on Monday.
The nine Genome BC awards under the Science Opportunities Fund are one-time grants that range from between C$68,000 and C$609,950. The goal of these competitive awards is to increase access to emerging genomics technologies, to foster partnerships with national and international stakeholders, and to help develop new means of interacting with industry and the genomics sciences community.
These research programs are aimed at generating results that can impact important sectors of British Columbia’s economy and environment.
The Vancouver Island University and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have won a C$400,000 award to develop “a sensitive genomic tool” for marine mussels that can be used to assess the health of coastal zones.
The University of British Columbia was awarded C$85,000 to fund studies of the symbiotic association between fungus and plant roots in order to understand cedar and hemlock seedlings during forest regeneration.
The University of Victoria will use C$140,000 to study Sablefish genomics to develop a suite of genomic tools that can provide important information for both aquaculture and managing fish stocks.
The University of British Columbia Okanagan will receive C$156,000 to identify traits that lavender farmers can manipulate to improve yield and quality.
Other programs include studies of the conifer genome that could help in future breeding, research into the wild bullfrog, which could serve as an indicator of environmental quality, and the BC BioLibrary, which supports developing better bioinformatics that can generate more accurate data.
A complete list of winners of these Genome BC awards is available here.