Genomics centre gets $5M funding

Toronto, ON – The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) has been awarded $5.1 million to support operations for two years. The announcement was made last week by the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) as part of the Genome Canada Science and Technology Innovation Centre Competition.

Since its inception in 1998, TCAG has provided infrastructure support to over 1,600 labs worldwide in genomic disciplines ranging from human health to agriculture, food, plant and animal, and model organisms. It is based at The Hospital for Sick Children and is located in Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District and provides core services including gene and genome sequencing, microarrays and genotyping, cytogenomics and biobanking, and statistical and informatics services.

“The provision of tools and technology to support researchers is imperative in a genomics driven age,” said Dr Mark Poznansky, president and CEO, OGI. “I’m pleased that TCAG has received further funding to continue providing some of the world’s best researchers with the services they need.”

Since TCAG was first funded by Genome Canada through OGI in 2001, it has provided services to over 1,600 labs in 33 countries, over 230 academic institutions, 73 companies and 53 government or non-governmental organizations. In doing so, it has supported numerous significant scientific advances including contributions to the Human Genome Project and numerous disease gene discovery projects.

Led by Dr Stephen Scherer, TCAG’s data handling and analysis activities take advantage of the SickKids High Performance Computing Facility (HPF), and the centre was also responsible for the development of the Database for Genomic Variants (DGV), which is an online catalogue of structural variation in the human genome facilitating thousands of diagnostic labs worldwide.

“We are excited to receive this new injection of funding to help keep the innovation centre at the lead for researchers across Ontario, Canada and internationally,” said Dr Scherer, director of TCAG at SickKids and the University of Toronto’s McLaughlin Centre.