August 13, 2007

ONTARIO RESEARCH FUND – RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM

The McGuinty government is helping researchers obtain the tools they need to stay on the forefront of innovation, including lab space, equipment and computer software through the Research Infrastructure program of the Ontario Research Fund. This round of funding under the program will provide $1,478,744 to support 15 world-class projects in Ottawa.

Carleton University

Facility to Investigate the Fate of Persistence of Pathogens and Chemicals during Wastewater Treatment Processes, and Implications for Public Health
Developing better water treatment systems for Ontario communities

Lead researcher: Banu Ormeci
Total project cost: $529,480
Provincial funding: $211,489

As our communities grow larger and more complex, the pressures and stresses on our water and wastewater treatment systems increase dramatically. Carlton University’s Dr. Banu Ormeci is collaborating with researchers at Environment Canada and several U.S. centres to study existing treatment approaches and develop more effective systems. New research equipment will enable her team to generate the data that regulators and wastewater facility operators need to ensure communities have safe, healthy water systems.

Multi-scale Monitoring, Manipulation, and Modeling of Atmospheric Carbon Exchange in Northern Environments
Measuring the impact of climate change in the arctic

Lead researcher: Elyn Humphreys
Total project cost: $243,180
Provincial funding: $97,259

Climate change is occurring at a greater pace in the arctic and sub-arctic than elsewhere on the planet. Better scientific understanding of these impacts could help us predict the effects of future climate change in more temperate regions. At Carlton University, Dr. Elyn Humphreys is launching an innovative, holistic research study using cutting-edge meteorological sensors and gas analyzers that will monitor and analyze the greenhouse gas fluctuations in Canada’s northern peat land ecosystems. This data will help us develop more effective environmental policies and programs to offset the impact of climate change on Ontario communities and industries.

Comprehensive Aerosol Drug Delivery Investigations
Making puffers more effective

Lead researcher: Edgar Matida
Total project cost: $483,306
Provincial funding: $193,252

Currently, more than three million Canadians cope with asthma or some other form of serious lung disease. Increasingly, treatment involves the use of aerosol inhalant devices – “puffers” – but these devices are highly inefficient. As much as 81 per cent of the original dosage is lost before it reaches the lungs. Now, a team of researchers from Carlton University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, led by Dr. Edgar A. Matida, is working in partnership with the Ontario Lung Association to develop a more efficient inhalant device. While the rates of asthma and other lung diseases are increasing in Ontario and around the world, the good news is that better designed “puffers” will significantly reduce the costs of medication and improve the treatment of these diseases.

University of Ottawa

Emerging Technologies and Innovation Management Laboratory
Finding new ways to manage constant change

Lead researcher: Jonathan Linton
Total project cost: $59,090
Provincial funding: $23,636

The ability to manage emerging technologies is critical to the future health of companies, organizations and the entire Canadian economy. At the University of Ottawa’s new Emerging Technologies and Innovation Management Laboratory, researchers led by Dr. Jonathan Linton will use cutting-edge modeling and statistical software in a collaborative multidisciplinary environment to deal with the complex problem of determining how innovations can be used most effectively. This research will lead to the development of new tools to support decision making and policy planning, and will identify the best techniques that businesses and organizations could use to make the most of innovations as they are developed.

Understanding Parkin Gene Expression: A Key Step for Future Parkinson Therapy
Unlocking the door to drug discovery

Lead researcher: Michael Schlossmacher
Total project cost: $312,500
Provincial funding: $125,000

Parkinson's disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's, affecting at 1 in 300 Canadians with the number of cases expected to double by the year 2050. One of the top researchers in the field, Dr. Michael Schlossmacher of Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, has been recruited to join researchers at the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute to search for new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for use in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The team is setting up a new laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment that will help them determine the underlying causes of the disease as well as the development of biomarkers that can be used as diagnostic tools. Both areas have the potential to lead to the development of new pharmaceuticals and diagnostic tools that could reduce the impact of the disease.

High Performance Computer Cluster for the Investigation of Light-Matter Interaction on the Nanoscale
Laying the groundwork for small-scale technologies that will have very big impacts

Lead researcher: Lora Ramunno
Total project cost: $374,967
Provincial funding: $150,000

Nanoscience has been touted as the next major source of new technologies that will change how we work and live. Nanotechnology – and in particular, nano-optics – holds great promise in information and communications technologies and the health sciences. The challenge lies in optimizing the control of materials on the nanoscale, a challenge picked up by Dr. Lora Ramunno and her research team at the University of Ottawa. They are applying the massive, parallel processing power of a new high-performance computer cluster to study laser-matter interactions and the characterization of optical and biological materials on a nanoscale. The results will help create the next-generation integrated optical devices for leading-edge Canadian industries working in such fields as materials science, ICT and biotechnology. Early applications could, for example, lead to improvements in laser microsurgery.

Canadian Research Chair in Science and Society
Building better policy tools to manage innovation issues

Lead researcher: David Castle
Total project cost: $132,584
Provincial funding: $53,034

Innovation in science and technology can raise as many issues for society as it solves, especially in the life sciences and biotechnology. To help us better understand the ramifications of these issues, Dr. David Castle has been appointed the Canada Research Chair in Science and Society, and will conduct science and technology policy research at the University of Ottawa. Leading a group of researchers at the University of Ottawa, and networked across Canada, Castle will examine the cultural, social, ethical and regulatory issues raised by new science and technology. The results of these studies will help us develop science and technology policy and regulatory systems that can respond to the emerging social issues associated with science and technology innovation.

Laboratory for Biomolecular Assemblies
Discovering a more efficient approach to developing innovative biomaterials

Lead researcher: James Harden
Total project cost: $249,900
Provincial funding: $99,960

As our population ages, there is a growing need for effective and affordable treatments of degenerative age-related disorders such as vision loss and diabetes. Innovative, protein-based biomaterials hold tremendous promise for use in effective new treatments. At the University of Ottawa, Dr. James Harden is leading a pioneering research initiative that uses a new high-performance computer cluster to combine design, synthesis, molecular and materials characterization and multi-scale modeling in a unified framework for biomaterials design. The insights gained through this program will improve the way biomaterials are designed. It will pave the way for the more efficient development of innovative materials for biomedical applications, benefiting both patients and Ontario’s growing biotech industry.

Laboratory for Optical Metro Edge and Access Networks
Preventing “digital bottlenecks” in high speed networks

Lead researcher: Hanan Anis
Total project cost: $165,021
Provincial funding: $62,863

In today’s “e-society”, broadband applications such as HDTV and voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are expected to generate in excess of 100Mbps of bandwidth from/to each household in the coming decade, a 1000-fold increase from the days when voice accounted for the only bandwidth requirement. New technologies are needed that will prevent “digital bottlenecks” from occurring when millions of users, especially those concentrated in metropolitan areas, connect with network cores. During the past few years, researchers in Korea and Japan have been at the forefront of this research. Now Dr. Hanan Anis from the University of Ottawa’s School of Information Technology is collaborating with industry partners and researchers at Brown University, Providence, USA and Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, to develop innovative network management solutions that are both scalable and adaptable. Breakthroughs in this field could help Canadian communities and companies open the door to wide range new digital economy services.

Facilities for Bioprocess Engineering Studies
Genetically engineering new antibiotics

Lead researcher: Christopher Q. Lan
Total project cost: $127,465
Provincial funding: $50,985
 
The widespread rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has become one of the world's most pressing public health-care concerns. At the University of Ottawa, Dr. Christopher Q. Lan is working with an international team of scientists to develop advanced technologies for cost-effective production of bacteriophages and bacteriophage gene products as novel alternatives to antibiotics.

fMRI and MR Perfusion Improvements with an Eight Channel Phased Array Head Coil
Developing a better understanding of how the brain works

Lead researcher: Andra Smith
Total project cost: $242,486
Provincial funding: $97,138

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technologies can help researchers understand exactly what is happening inside the brain of patients who have neurological disorders, psychiatric illnesses or who are coping with the effects of drug abuse. A new upgrade to the MRI scanner at the Ottawa Hospital will enable scientists under the direction of Dr. Andra Smith to expand their current cutting-edge investigations into healthy cognitive processing to include patients with multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and stroke. The study will further our understanding of how disease, damage or drugs can alter blood flow in the brain and help point the way to better treatment options.

University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education Innovation in eLearning Research Laboratory: Demonstrations of the Possible
New technologies could expand the classroom

Lead researcher: Colla J. MacDonald
Total project cost: $100,000
Provincial funding: $40,000

New technologies have emerged that hold the potential to transform how, where and what we learn. At the University of Ottawa’s new eLearning Research Laboratory, scientists under the direction of Dr. Colla MacDonald will examine how technologies such as interactive voice response systems and Internet blogs and wikis could be used as learning tools and experiences. Improving our understanding of eLearning program design will help make education and training more flexible, convenient and accessible for busy working adults, rural and remote students and people with disabilities.

Childhood Obesity Research Unit
Helping young people lead healthier lives

Lead researcher: Kristi Adamo
Total project cost: $291,759
Provincial funding: $103,478

The battle against child obesity is a high priority in Ontario not only from a population health perspective, but from an economic perspective as well. The annual financial burden of obesity in Ontario is an estimated $2.35 billion, equivalent to more than five per cent of the provincial health care budget. Now in partnership with the University of Ottawa, scientists at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute's Child Obesity Research Unit, under the joint direction of Dr. Kristi Adamo and Dr. Gary Goldfield, are using leading edge technologies to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of innovative lifestyle and pharmacological strategies aimed at preventing or treating obesity in children. By finding out the best approaches to helping obese children modify their eating and activity habits, researchers hope the children can avoid the chronic illnesses and serious health conditions that are common among obese adults.

Laboratory for Functional Proteomics and Chromosome Dynamics
Considering the molecular origins of disease

Lead researcher: Adam Rudner
Total project cost: $265,054
Provincial funding: $106,025

The large molecules of DNA known as chromosomes hold the key to any living cell’s future, packaging the biochemical information necessary for reproduction. But when these molecules are damaged in some way, the result can be diseases such as cancer or pathogens running rampant. Adam Rudner, a member of the University of Ottawa’s Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, is examining the most fundamental aspects of how chromosomes normally function. In a facility specifically designed to study the dynamics of these complex molecules, he and his team are seeking to understand what happens when chromosomal action goes wrong. The resulting insights could likewise point the way to therapies to put such problems right, offering hope for improving the quality of life of Ontarians.

Spectral Probes of Semiconductor Nanosystems
Designing the next generation of computer chips

Lead researcher: Henry Schriemer
Total project cost: $161,879
Provincial funding: $64,625

As the progress of information technology moves beyond the use of simple electronic circuitry to take advantage of subtle properties of light, the materials and structures that make up computer chips must be created ever more carefully. The next generation of this hardware will incorporate features at the nano scale, on the order of a billionth of a metre, with intricate features designed to handle photons and electrons in entirely new ways. Henry Schriemer, a member of the University of Ottawa’s School of Information Technology and Engineering, is undertaking a research initiative to hone the design and fabrication of such equipment. He and his team will be enhancing a scanning probe microscope so they can assess the specific properties and mechanisms of this emerging class of semiconductor systems.

Ontario Research Fund

The McGuinty government is investing $527 million over five years through the Ontario Research Fund. The fund is a key part of the government’s plan to promote scientific excellence by supporting research that can be developed into innovative goods and services that will boost Ontario’s economy. The fund also helps researchers move new ideas from Ontario’s labs to the global marketplace.

The fund provides one window for research funding. Proposals for funding are evaluated through a competitive, peer-review process.

The province matches funding commitments made by the Canada Foundation for Innovation through the Research Infrastructure program. Project funding is shared among the Canada Foundation for Innovation (up to 40 per cent), the province (up to 40 per cent), and the research institutions and industry partners (at least 20 per cent).

For more information about the Ontario Research Fund, please visit www.ontario.ca/innovation .