Backgrounder
November 6, 2009
Projects Funded In St. Catharines
Today, through the Ontario Research Fund–Research Infrastructure program, Ontario is investing $122,688 at Brock University to support three research projects and three researchers. This investment is part of a broader $268-million province-wide investment that will support 214 projects and more than 3,300 researchers in 14 cities, and help to create and preserve more than 1,300 construction jobs over the next four years across the province.
Creating Magnets with Never-Before-Seen Properties
New magnets with multiple uses
Lead Researcher: Lemaire, Martin T.
Provincial Funding: $25,541
Researchers Affected: 1
Magnetic materials have thousands of applications (e.g., generators, medical devices, data storage on computer hard drives). Dr. Martin Lemaire is interested in preparing very tiny magnets on the scale of single molecules using a process called “chemical synthesis”. The process makes it possible to create magnets with never-before-seen properties, such as liquid or plastic magnets. The research benefits include using these materials for future applications in magnetic data storage or as new sensory devices (tremendously increasing computer data storage capacities and processor speeds), improved drug delivery, coordination networks for energy storage and conversion and educational opportunities to keep quality researchers in Canada.
An Integrated Bioinformatics and Genomics Approach for Study of Transposable Elements and Their Contributions to Genetic And Biological Diversity
Understanding the mechanisms of genetic diversity
Lead Researcher: Liang, Ping
Provincial Funding: $31,913
Researchers Affected: 1
Genetic variation underlies the vivid diversity of the human species and all other organisms on earth. Understanding the mechanisms of genetic diversity and how they lead to variations in phenotype (observable characteristics) is an intriguing and fundamental question in life science research. At Brock University, Dr. Ping Liang is integrating bioinformatics and genomics to examine genetic diversity in peple and plants. It’s research that has invaluable implications in medicine and agriculture, two areas of economic interest to Ontario.
Expansion of a Behavioural Neuroendocrinology Laboratory
Understanding how early life stress impacts later development
Lead Researcher: McCormick, Cheryl
Provincial Funding: $65,234
Researchers Affected: 1
It is common knowledge that stress affects virtually every system in the body in adults – including the brain. What’s not clear is how life stressors affect ongoing brain development over adolescence and how stress interacts with puberty to alter brain development. Brock University behavioural neuroscientist Cheryl McCormick is investigating the impact of social stressors experienced in adolescence on brain and behaviour function in both sexes. The goal of her research is to understand the risk factors underlying the greater vulnerability in adolescence than in adulthood for stress-related psychopathologies such as drug abuse and depression.
The Ontario Innovation Agenda
Research at Brock University is an example of Ontario leading the world in the quest for knowledge and discovery. Support for this kind of work is part of Ontario’s Innovation Agenda, the province’s $3.2-billion strategy to make innovation a driving force of Ontario’s economy. By targeting investments toward areas where Ontario already is, or is poised to become a global leader, and by building on our greatest strength – the talent and ingenuity of our people – Ontario is harnessing innovation to ensure ours is one of the winning economies of the 21st century.
Support from the Ontario Research Fund–Research Infrastructure program
Part of Ontario’s Innovation Agenda, the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) is key to the province’s plan to move world-class research from the lab to the global marketplace. The role of the ORF is to help ensure that Ontario researchers have the tools they need to lead the world, or lead international collaborations, in their respective fields.
