NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre in Montreal has reeled in a two-year, C$7.6 million (US$7.6 million) grant from Genome Canada to fund its operations and the services it provides to the Canadian and international scientific communities.
Awarded under Genome Canada's Science and Technology Innovation Centre Operations Support competition, the funding will be added to a C$3.3 million grant from the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation, and Export Trade to fund its operations, Genome Quebec President and CEO Marc LePage said on Wednesday.
The center provides genomics and proteomics research facilities for genetic disease studies and it serves as a networking site for initiatives in other research areas.
"In this regard, the Centre is carrying out remarkable work in the scientific community: it is advancing knowledge in genomics and promoting cooperation between researchers in the academic and private sectors," LePage said.
He also noted that the center serves a client pool of 800 researchers annually.
"The Innovation Centre is a driving force behind the integration of genomics into many of Québec's economic sectors, such as health care, forestry, and agriculture. Its research will pave the way to major scientific and technological breakthroughs that will help meet real needs," Sam Hamad, minister of economic development, innovation and export trade and minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, said in a statement.
The center houses an array of 'omics technologies and services including sequencing services via seven Applied Biosystems 3730 analyzers and next-generation sequencing on Roche GS-FLX and Illumina HiSeq 2000; gene expression analysis; genotyping; bioinformatics; DNA methylation; and cytogenetics and CNV analysis.