$53M in funding results for genomic research projects

Saskatoon, SK – Twelve new genomics and proteomics research projects in the areas of bioproducts and crops have received funding totalling $53 million from Genome Canada.

“The Genome Canada Competition attracted 48 proposals from scientists across Canada,” says Dr Calvin Stiller, chairman of the board of Genome Canada. “The 12 successful projects are led by researchers from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. In addition to creating and maintaining approximately 250 jobs in Canada, today’s announcement reinforces the important scientific advances that can be achieved through Genome Canada’s funding model. Leveraging government dollars through collaborative initiatives with other governments and partners maximizes our research capacity.”

Canadian genomics researchers have received $112 million to carry out the new projects. Of this, $53 million was provided by Genome Canada, and $59 million by Canadian and international partners.

“I strongly believe that these outstanding research proposals will significantly advance Canadian science,” says Dr Joseph R Ecker, professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, chair of the International Review Committee and world authority on the molecular biology and genetics of plants.

Following are the projects that received funding. Listed is the genome centre, project leaders and institutions, project title, total budget and Genome Canada contribution:

Genome Alberta. Peter Facchini/ University of Calgary, Vincent Martin/Concordia University. Synthetic biosystems for the production of high value plant metabolites. $13,602.100/$6,443,100.

Genome Alberta. Gerrit Voordouw/ University of Calgary. Metagenomics for greener production and extraction of hydrocarbon energy: creating opportunities for enhanced recovery with reduced environmental Impact. $11,584,423/$5,358,605.

Genome British Columbia. Loren Rieseberg/University of British Columbia. Genomics of sunflower. $10,481,589/$4,964,963.

Genome British Columbia. Steven T Lund/ University of British Columbia, Hennie J.J. van Vuuren/University of British Columbia. Grape and wine genomics $3,440,481/$1,629,701.

Genome British Columbia. Jorg Bohlmann/University of British Columbia, Jancie Cooke/ University of Alberta. Genomics-enhanced forecasting tools to secure Canada’s near-term lignocellulosic feedstock supply for bioenergy using the Mountain Pine Beetle-Pinus spp system. $7,795,145/$3,691,649.

Genome Prairie. Peter Phillips/University of Saskatchewan, David Castle/ University of Ottawa. Value generation through genomics (GE3LS project) $5,413,101/$2,553,656.

Genome Prairie. David Levin/University of Manitoba, Richard Sparling/University of Manitoba. Microbial genomics for biofuels and co-products from biorefining processes. $10,470,715/$4,877,141

Genome Prairie. Gordon Rowland/University Saskatchewan, Sylvie Cloutier/Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada. Total utilization flax genomics. $11,976,146/$5,645,463.

Genome Quebec. Adrian Tsang/Concordia University. Genozymes for bioproducts and bioprocesses development. $17,422,953/$8,139,013.

Genome Quebec. Thomas Bureau/McGill University. Bridging comparative, population and functional genomics to identify and experimentally validate novel regulatory regions and genes for crop improvement. $4,594,596/$2,182,189.

Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI). Elizabeth Edwards/University of Toronto; David Major/Geosyntec Consultants (Guelph). BEEM: Bioproducts and enzymes from environmental metagenomes. $10,942,642/$5,045,990.

OGI Miodrag Grbic/University of Western Ontario. Genomics in agricultural pest management $6,390,093/$2,789,939.