News Release

U of G receives CFI approval, $5 million in funds

Four University of Guelph research projects will receive nearly $5.4 million from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Combined with potential funding from the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund (ORDCF) and the private sector, the projects could attract upwards of $13.5 million to Guelph.

The projects will be funded from CFI's Institutional Innovation Fund (projects over $350,000), one of three funding categories. There were 143 requests from 35 institutions in this category. CFI committed more than $124 million to support 59 projects from 23 Canadian universities and research institutions from this fund. In total, CFI awarded $131.8 million from its three funds to support 78 projects from 33 institutions.

The funded projects are among eight University of Guelph proposals that had been invited to move on to further CFI review last fall. Three more Guelph projects are still under review for the current funding round. Last fall, the University received its first CFI funding for its New Technologies for Assessing and Enhancing Agroecosystems project, headed by Prof. Terry Gillespie, chair of the Department of Land Resource Science.

The University of Guelph projects, the CFI funding amounts announced this week, and the project leaders are:

-- Genes to Proteins: Advanced Macromolecular Analysis, $390,927, Prof. David Evans, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. CFI funding will pay for buying and upgrading sophisticated equipment used in probing genes and proteins studied by geneticists and biologists and by researchers in agricultural and veterinary sciences.

-- Centre for Animal Technology and Health: Genome Manipulation Laboratory, $1 million, Prof. Cecil Forsberg, Department of Microbiology. Funding supports construction of a laboratory in the Animal Science and Nutrition Building. The laboratory will serve as a regional facility for generating novel breeds of food animals, the only one of its type in Ontario.

-- Agricultural Plant Biotechnology Centre, $1.6 million, Prof. Peter Pauls, Department of Plant Agriculture-Crop Science. Funding will be used to upgrade the research facility for agricultural plant biotechnology. The centre will attract high calibre faculty, postdoctoral fellows and technicians to co-ordinate and commercialize biotechnology.

-- Biological Systems for Terrestrial and Space Applications, $2.4 million, Prof. Mike Dixon, Department of Plant Agriculture-Horticultural Science. Funding will help construct an annex to the Plant Growth Facilities Building that will house variable pressure plant growth chambers for studies of space and terrestrial applications.

CFI pays for up to 40 percent of a research project's infrastructure costs from a fund of $1 billion committed by the federal government. The ORDCF can match the CFI infrastructure award from a fund of $500 million earmarked by the Ontario government to promote excellence and partnership. The final 20 percent must be raised from other public- and private-sector partners. Wayne Marsh, director of research services, said the University of Guelph has nearly all of the requisite private support in hand for these projects.

CFI was established in Ottawa in 1997 with a mandate to invest in infrastructure for research and development in Canadian universities. Investments are made in partnership with private and voluntary sectors

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* All researchers may be reached by calling the University's main number, (519) 824-4120 and their respective extensions. For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs, Ext. 3338.

Prof. David Evans Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Ext. 2575

Prof. Cecil Forsberg Department of Microbiology Ext. 3433/4478

Prof. Bryan McKersie (taking calls for Prof. Peter Pauls) Department of Plant Agriculture-Crop Science Ext. 3570

Prof. Mike Dixon Department of Plant Agriculture-Horticultural Science Exts. 2555/2616/6932

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