Leading edge research in areas ranging from infectious disease prevention to geochemical analysis at the University of British Columbia today received a $38-million boost from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Twelve UBC research projects will receive CFI infrastructure funding as part of a $665-million federal government investment announced today in Ottawa. A total of 133 projects in 41 institutions across Canada were awarded funding under three programs – the Leading Edge Fund, the New Initiatives Fund and the Infrastructure Operating Fund.
UBC has the second-highest number of funded projects and ranks fourth in total amount awarded.
“The CFI, through its generous, merit-based funding, has played an instrumental role in building research capacity at UBC and in Canada,” says UBC Vice President Research John Hepburn.
“We are extremely grateful for their support, which has enabled strong partnerships among UBC, the federal government and the province – through its BC Knowledge Development Fund – to advance knowledge that betters our world.”
UBC’s Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research, led by Earth and Ocean Sciences professor and Canada Research Chair Dominique Weis, will receive almost $3 million to expand and update its geochemical analytical equipment, including the purchase of a Nu 1700 high-resolution plasma mass spectrometer – the first of its kind in Canada. This new facility will be partly housed in the recently announced Earth Systems Science Building.
The Centre conducts extremely detailed analysis of rock, water and organic specimens and serves researchers, government agencies and the mineral industry from around the world. Research at the Centre informs our understanding of climate change, past and current marine environments, the Earth’s mantle and lithosphere, and metal concentration processes.
The UBC projects and their lead investigators are:
Leading Edge Fund
- Advanced Structural Biology for Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases (ASTRID); Lawrence McIntosh
- Expansion of The Institute for Computing, Information, and Cognitive Systems Facilities in Biomedical Technologies, Emergency Decision-Support, and Global Communications Systems; Nimalsiri Rajapakse
- Innovative Technologies for Improved Functional Outcomes and Quality of Life After Spinal Cord Injury; John Steeves
- Laser-Ultrasonic System for Innovative Microstructure Design; Matthias Militzer
- Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research (PCIGR); Dominique Weis
- Ultra-High-Throughput DNA Sequencing Platform for Large Scale Genome Analysis; Marco Marra
New Initiatives Fund
- Bridging Life and Lab: Research on Embedded Attention Laboratory (REAL); Alan Kingstone
- Center for High Through-Put Phenogenomics; Edward Putnins
- Centre for Biointerface Characterization (CBiC): From Molecular to Cellular and Macroscopic Properties; Reinhard Jetter
- Centre for Research on Ultra-Cold Systems (CRUCS); Takamasa Momose
- Child & Family Research Imaging Facility; Steven Miller
- Low-Temperature Picometer Spatial Resolution Spectroscopic Scanning-Tunneling Microscope; Douglas Bonn
The CFI announcement and a complete list of projects funded today can be found at: www.innovation.ca.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. The CFI’s mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians.
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