$7.4M funding for advanced research in London

London, ON – The Ontario government recently announced over $7.4 million from the Ontario Research Fund – Research Infrastructure (ORFRI) program to assist in research projects at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute.

The funding goes to five research teams at Western and one at Lawson.  The support is focussed on research in areas including the development and testing of medical devices, audiology, imaging for biomechanics and clinical orthopaedics research, movement ecology of free-living birds, neuroimaging research and imaging research in oncology and cardiology.

ORFRI provides grants to Ontario universities and research hospitals to help obtain equipment and resources for their research labs.

“We are grateful the province continues to fund research that has impact both within Ontario and abroad,” said Dr. Amit Chakma, president, Western University. “By supporting our researchers, the provincial government helps improve health care, bolster economic prosperity and ensure Ontario’s social and cultural institutions thrive.”

The six projects being funded include ones led by Robarts scientists Ravi Menon, David Holdsworth (with co-investigators Tom Jenkyn and Trevor Birmingham), Blaine Chronik and Ting-Yim Lee (through Lawson Health Research Insitute). As well, Prudence Allen receives funding for the National Centre for Audiology for hearing research and Christopher Guglielmo and Scott MacDougall-Skackleton for research into the migration of birds to advance sound policies on land use and green energy initiatives. (A list with more details about each project is available in the Documents section to the right of this article – Ed.)