New research facilities for Canadian Light Source

Saskatoon, SK – The federal government is providing $3.8 million to support the construction of two new research facilities at Canadian Light Source (CLS).

The announcement “ensures our place among the world’s best synchrotrons, providing researchers from across this country and around the world with the finest tools to advance knowledge and benefit Canadian industry and the quality of life of people everywhere,” says Josef Hormes, CLS executive director.

The funding supports the Quantum Materials Spectroscopy Centre Facility undertaken by the University of British Columbia, and the BioXAS Beamline facility led by the University of Saskatchewan.

The University of Saskatchewan’s BioXAS Beamline Facility is a proposed suite of three new beamlines and ancillary facilities at the CLS. The facility will be tailored for life science studies of metals in living systems using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and imaging. The development of BioXAS complements existing commitments by the CLS and its funding partners to meet the needs of medical and biological research. The addition of a strong BioXAS stands to advance the CLS as a global centre of excellence for biological and health research using synchrotron light.

The University of British Columbia’s Quantum Materials Spectroscopy Centre (QMSC) is a state-of-the-art beamline dedicated to performing spin and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy at the CLS. The facility will propel Canada into the forefront of research to explain the electronic properties of a wide range of new materials.

“The University of British Columbia is committed to supporting the enormous potential of the Quantum Materials Spectroscopy Centre at the Canadian Light Source’s synchrotron,” says Dr Don Brooks, associate vice president of research at the University of British Columbia. “This important investment by Western Economic Diversification will help propel Canada into the forefront of research to reveal the remarkable electronic properties of a wide range of new materials.”