New funding ensures bright future for genome science & technology centres in BCVancouver, BC – Genome British Columbia is pleased to announce that two existing BC research and technology platforms have been awarded funding through Genome Canada’s 2010 Science & Technology Innovation Centre (STIC) Operations Support Competition. The technology platforms, now called Science and Technology Innovation Centres (STICs), are led by Dr. Marco Marra of Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) which will receive up to $6.6 million, and Dr. Christoph Borchers of the UVic – Genome BC Proteomics Centre which will receive up to $3.4 million.
The two BC-based STICs (technology platforms) provide local, national and international researchers access to high-throughput genomics and proteomics technologies, such as DNA sequencing, RNA expression, and protein identification and quantitation, as well as new methods and protocols development, data analysis and bioinformatics. The STICs also offer support to scientists in the planning and execution of research plans, and will work with the researchers to determine which technology fits best with their project and how to design the research for maximum success.
“Genomics produces a huge amount of information for analysis and without the support of technology platforms it would be impossible to maximize the research outputs into real-world applications. This is why we are so gratified that these two Centres will be able to offer support for genomics researchers in BC and Canada,” says Dr. Alan Winter, President and CEO of Genome BC. “Additionally, the leading-edge technologies and tools being made available through this funding by Genome Canada will contribute enormously to the success of future research.”
The GSC is using their funding to capitalize on excellence and economies of scale in DNA sequencing, bioinformatics and technology development. Importantly, bioinformatics and information technology capacity has been sustained in order to support the need for robust yet flexible informatics pipelines and analysis tools in this era of ultra high throughput large-scale sequencing.
“Our Innovation Centre has been involved in projects in every competition funded by Genome Canada since 2001. To date, we have supported 26 large-scale projects funded by Genome Canada and Genome BC, including eight projects in BC recently funded as part of the Large Scale Applied Research Program,” says Dr. Marco Marra, Director of the GSC.
The UVic-Genome BC Proteomics Centre, led by Dr. Christoph Borchers, will offer expertise in quantitative proteomics, structural proteomics, “top-down” and “bottom-up” proteomics for protein characterization, metabolomics, and technology development. The Centre will specialize in the provision of innovative tools and technology services for global and targeted proteomics analysis, including protein identification and characterization, biomarker discovery and validation, relative and absolute quantitation, custom assay development, and metabolite profiling.
“Access to cutting-edge technologies has enabled Genome Canada-funded researchers to successfully complete a wide range of proteomics projects,” says Dr. Borchers. “Through continuous investment in instrumentation and personnel, the Centre has been able to maintain the operational capacity to support Genome Canada research priorities, in addition to other large-scale collaborative projects and technology development research.”
In an effort to respond to international development and investment into metabolomics, Genome Alberta, in partnership with Genome BC, supports a national metabolomics research centre – The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC). TMIC is a “distributed” centre operated jointly at the University of Alberta and the University of Victoria. Metabolomics is an emerging field of “-omics” science that offers researchers the capacity to rapidly and inexpensively characterize the chemical phenotype of animals, plants, microbes and their bioproducts. Together with genomics and proteomics, metabolomics can be used to gain a “system-wide” understanding of many important biological processes.
“Metabolomics is the future of molecular analysis,” says Dr. Borchers, co-leader of TMIC. “We will meet the growing need within Canada, and around the world, to perform large numbers of rapid, accurate and robust metabolomic assays.”
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About Genome British Columbia
Genome British Columbia is a catalyst for the life sciences cluster on Canada’s West Coast, and manages a cumulative portfolio of over $550M in research project and technology platforms. Working with governments, academia and industry across sectors such as forestry, fisheries, agriculture, environment, bioenergy, mining and human health, the goal of the organization is to generate social and economic benefits for British Columbia and Canada.
Contact:
Jennifer Boon
Communications Specialist, Genome BC
Cell: 778-327-8374
Email: jboon@genomebc.ca
