Backgrounder

March 7, 2007

GUELPH RECEIVES $9 MILLION FOR RESEARCH

Through the Research Excellence program of the Ontario Research Fund, the McGuinty government provides research institutions with funding to undertake major research projects, hire research teams and cover other operational costs. This first round of funding under the Research Excellence program will invest $9,791,300 to support three projects at the University of Guelph. The funding will be matched from 20 partners in industry and other fields.

Canadian Barcode of Life Network*
Monitoring our diverse ecosystems through gene mapping

Lead institution: University of Guelph
Lead researcher: Dr. Paul Hebert
Total project cost: $5,523,227
Provincial funding: $1,000,000

Researchers will develop an accurate and rapid DNA-based system for species identification of gene regions in plants and other non-animals suitable for barcoding and recording on a database. Canada could become the first nation to have its biodiversity fully inventoried. This project will result in researchers developing an efficient and reliable means by which to monitor the health of Canada's ecosystems.

Major industry and other partners:
Moore Foundation, Parks Canada, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, New Brunswick Innovation, University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ontario Genomics Institute, Royal Ontario Museum.

Genes to Fields: Corn Biotechnology Capacity for Ontario
Increasing the yield of a strategic, billion-dollar Ontario crop

Lead institution: University of Guelph
Lead researcher: Dr. Steven Rothstein
Total project cost: $9,120,000
Provincial funding: $2,800,000

Ontario’s corn crop contributes $1 billion a year to Ontario’s economy, despite the fact that harsh weather limits yields. Leading-edge research at the University of Guelph will seek new ways to make Ontario corn higher yielding and, at the same time, to establish a vital, global biotechnology sector in the province. Led by Dr. Steven Rothstein and conducted in collaboration with Syngenta, Inc., one of the world’s largest agribiotech companies, the research program is testing key genes associated with higher yields and greater environmental stress tolerances. As part of the process, the researchers will focus on altering the corn plant root, as well as the stalk (which has been the main interest historically). Larger root surface areas are expected to produce greater yields because of their enhanced ability to absorb water, nutrients and fertilizer from the soil.

Major industry and other partners:
Syngenta.

Ontario BioCar Initiative
Car parts from trees and renewable resources

Lead institution: University of Guelph
Lead researcher: Dr. Mohini Sain
Total project cost: $17,973,900
Provincial funding: $5,991,300

Iron, nickel, copper and oil: they are all non-renewable resources and, together, they constitute most of what it takes to manufacture and power cars, trucks and other motor vehicles. In this sustainability-sensitive era, there is significant interest in finding renewable alternatives to these resources. "BioCar" research, led by Dr. Mohini Sain at the University of Guelph, together with researchers from the universities of Toronto, Waterloo and Windsor, will seek to make such alternatives a practical reality. At the moment, the prices and functional values of fibres and resins developed from agricultural crops and trees, which could be used in motor vehicles, are not competitive with traditional synthetic products. The researchers are working with hemp, wheat, corn, soybeans and canola to improve yields per acre and fibre harvesting to develop compounded resins, and to improve methods for the fastening of bioproducts to existing plastic and metal surfaces, and to lower price and increase functionality across the board.

Major industry and other partners:
Ford Canada, Dupont Canada, Tembec, FutureSoft, Intier Automotive, Lorama Chemicals, Hempline Inc., DaimlerChrysler, Ontario Soybean Growers, Decoma Product and Process Development.

This announcement is part of a series of investments through the Ontario Research Fund's Research Excellence program. Under the first round of investments, the government will provide $115 million to support research across the province.

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

* Selected through the federal Genome Canada program and co-funded through the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence program.