Researchers at the University of British Columbia and its affiliated teaching hospitals received close to $3.45 million for 31 research projects from Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
“We welcome the Government of Canada’s investment in research excellence and innovation at UBC,” said John Hepburn, UBC Vice President, Research. “These investments demonstrate their ongoing commitment to an innovation agenda and will help ensure our researchers have access to state-of-the-art research and training facilities.”
Hepburn joined the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Suzanne Corbeil, CFI Vice President, External Relations and Communications at the announcement today. The announcement is part of $45.4 million in new funds under the Leaders Opportunity Fund and supports 251 projects at 44 institutions across Canada.
UBC projects include research in new technologies for clean fuels production from biomass, a new laboratory for translational research in pain control and anesthesiology, and a new research program addressing social disparities among British Columbia children.
Highlights of funded projects include:
Clean Fuels by Novel Thermochemical Processing of Biomass
This research aims to develop new technologies for clean fuels production from biomass, while ensuring that Canada’s large biomass resource is exploited in an economically and environmentally sound way.
Laboratory for Wood Cell Wall Characterization
The award supports research in wood plant cell wall characterization to develop the tools necessary to successfully produce future forests, while concurrently protecting Canada’s existing old-growth forests.
A New Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Translational Research in Pain Control and Anesthesiology
The award will assist in building an interdisciplinary anesthesia research laboratory in British Columbia, dedicated to the study of effective and safe therapeutic mechanisms and approaches for the treatment of acute and chronic pain.
Social Disparities in Neurobiological and Epigenetic Vulnerability Among British Columbia Children
This new research program addresses the neurodevelopmental origins of the association between socioeconomic status and child health. Studies for this project will be carried out at multiple levels of analysis ranging from population-level, data neuropsychological studies of individual children and epigenetic analysis of SES-related differences in gene modification.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation 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. Since its creation in 1997, the CFI has committed $4.4 billion in support of 5,800 projects at 129 institutions in 64 municipalities across Canada.
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