$3M funding creates senior industrial research chair in biomaterials

Peterborough, ON – A research funding announcement made today by Dean Del Mastro, MP, Peterborough and Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of on behalf of the Government of Canada, will result in the creation of

A new senior industrial research chair focussing on biomaterials has been created at Trent University with $3 million in funding. Officially called the NSERC/GFO/ERS Senior Industrial Research Chair in Lipid Derived Biomaterials, the chair was awarded to Dr Suresh Narine, director, Trent Biomaterials Research Program, and professor, physics and astronomy, and chemistry.

Over $1.5 million of the funding is being provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which is being combined with match funding by Elevance Renewable Sciences ($1 million) and $500,000 funding by the Grain Farmers of Ontario. The university says the funding places its Biomaterials Research Program among the top-tier research facilities of its kind in the world, pursuing fundamental and applied research investigating the use of lipids in different applications.

“Our research offers an alternative solution – to employ agriculturally sourced renewable feed stocks (fats and oils) to design functional materials more environmentally benign and more in sync with the natural carbon cycle so as to abate and combat climate change,” said Dr Narine, who was recruited to Trent from the University of Alberta in September, 2009. “It is research that is both timely and necessary. On behalf of my team of researchers and Trent University, I would like to offer our deep appreciation to NSERC and our generous founding industrial partners whose match investments are strategically placing Trent’s Biomaterials Research Program among one of the top facilities of its kind in the world.”