Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338
News Release
December 21, 2001
U of G receives $1-million gift to support life sciences research
The University of Guelph announced today that it has received a $1-million gift of stock from George Jackowski, vice-president and chief scientific officer of SYN.X Pharma Inc., to fund innovative research in life sciences and other new immunochemical technologies.
The gift will establish an endowed fund known as the Surgeoner Chair in innovative life sciences, which further support a globally competitive life science research centre in Guelph. The first chair holder will be environmental biology professor Christopher Hall, who is studying the use of tobacco to mass-produce antibodies to detect bacteria. The chair will be overseen by an Advisory Board that will include Jackowski, the dean of the Ontario Agricultural College, the university's
vice-president (research), professors, and business and government leaders.
"The University of Guelph not only has great strengths in agrifood research, but also has a very strong life sciences group, which I am very happy to support. I believe strongly in what they are doing and feel the value of the stock will exceed $1 million in the future. I look forward to working with the University to help advance its efforts in health related research," Jackowski said.
In addition to establishing the chair for life sciences, the endowment will support research and development activities aimed at:
- Facilitating education and training in immunochemical technology in environment, agriculture, food and medical sciences.
- Creating new technologies.
- Providing patented research leading to commercialization and products of value to society.
- Developing expertise in chemistry, physics, biology and medicine as applied to immunochemistry.
Jackowski, holds academic positions at the University of Toronto in the department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. He has founded numerous biotech companies and most recently SYN .X Pharma Inc., a leading proteomics and discovery company. He is also a member of the boards of the Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada, Canadian Stoke Network and Ontario BioCouncil. He has authored/co-authored numerous research publications and holds numerous patents.
"This tremendous gift will allow our faculty, researchers and students to follow in George's footsteps and develop groundbreaking inventions and new technologies that improve the quality of life," said president Mordechai Rozanski. "We are grateful to him for his faith in our research prowess. The University of Guelph conducts more health-related research than any other Canadian university without a medical school. And partnerships such as this help us leverage our important pure and applied research to create and transfer new knowledge that fosters understanding and leads to sustainable commercial applications."
