Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Canadian Program Awards C$15.7M to Four Genomics Projects

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Canadian government today announced a C$15.7 million (US$12.6 million) investment into four new genomics projects. 

The funding is being provided under the third round of Genome Canada's Genomic Applications Partnership Program, which was launched in 2013 to partner academic researchers with industry, provincial governments, non-profits, and other players using genomic technologies. GAPP aims to foster innovations expected to impact the economy and society in the near term. It provided C$56 million to 12 projects in its first two rounds.

In the current round, the Canadian government is providing C$5.2 million through Genome Canada, while co-funding partners are providing the remaining C$10.5 million. 

Among those receiving the new funding are researchers from Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services, who will use a C$6 million investment to develop a personalized cancer treatment program based on the genomic profiling of tumors. The project is expected to result in a cloud-based cancer genome analysis infrastructure and shared interfaces between Princess Margaret and LifeLabs. 

Also, researchers from the University of Toronto and Lung Bioengineering will receive C$6 million to develop a genomics-based diagnostic test to determine whether a lung transplant donor meets transplant requirements. 

A C$3.4 million award is going to collaborators at Université Laval, forest research center FPInnovations, the Canadian Wood Fibre Center, and others to use genomic data to improve the ability of the Canadian forest industry to compete globally. The latest genomic findings will be used under the project to grow better trees. 

Lastly, researchers at the University of Alberta and Arcadia Biosciences will use a C$300,000 award to use genomic technology to increase soybean seed oil content. 

The Scan

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.

Study Examines Relationship Between Cellular Metabolism, DNA Damage Repair

A new study in Molecular Systems Biology finds that an antioxidant enzyme shifts from mitochondria to the nucleus as part of the DNA damage response.

Stem Cell Systems Target Metastatic Melanoma in Mouse Model

Researchers in Science Translational Medicine describe a pair of stem cell systems aimed at boosting immune responses against metastatic melanoma in the brain.

Open Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas Team Introduces Genomic Data Collection, Analytical Tools

A study in Cell Genomics outlines open-source methods being used to analyze and translate whole-genome, exome, and RNA sequence data from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas.