NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Ontario Genomics Institute has started a new C$400,000 ($416,000) technology development fund for high-risk, high-impact genomics research.
OGI said today that it plans to use the fund over the next two years to provide four awards of up to $50,000 annually for 12-month research projects that will "result in transformative technology development."
The program will fund projects that focus on developing technologies such as instrumentation, software, experimental approaches, or reagents, and which may have a "significant impact in the genomics sciences," the institute said.
The aim of the program, called SPARK, is to "catalyze new research directions and increase the competitiveness of Ontario researchers," OGI President and CEO Mark Poznansky said in a statement. "Our intention with the launch of this program is to fund projects that may not be readily funded by other mechanisms as they would be viewed as too risky or lacking in preliminary results."
OGI said that it will accept applications for the program through June 15, 2011.