Canadian genomics research gets a major boost with $93m funding

Canadian minister of agriculture and agri-food Gerry Ritz, and the chairs of Genome Canada and the Western Grains Research Foundation, have granted $93m to 11 new genomics research projects that address challenges and opportunities for agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture in Canada.

Valued between $5-$10m, the projects have been sanctioned under Genome Canada’s 2014 Large-Scale Applied Research Project Competition Genomics and Feeding the Future.

The research projects aim at utilising genomics to achieve common goals, such as sustaining and securing Canada’s honey bees, improving disease resilience and sustainability in pork productio, increasing varieties and production of lentils, and making northern fisheries sustainable.

These will be led by major academic institutions based in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec, and involve researchers from across Canada.

Out of $93m, $30.8m will be from federal funding through Genome Canada, while the Western Grains Research Foundation will provide $5m for three projects.

Another $57.2m will be from project co-funding partners, including provincial governments, private sector partners, non-profit organisations, and others.

The investment announcement was made at the University of Saskatchewan, which is a major beneficiary.

It is receiving $8.5m to support the Canadian Triticum Applied Genomics (CTAG2) team, which will conduct research to understand the wheat genome and its applications for the development of genetic markers, and predictive genetic tests to improve selection efficiency in Canadian wheat breeding programmes.

The university has also received another $15.5m to develop vaccines against infectious diseases of cattle and develop local lentil varieties, and $9.8m for an Alberta-based project, where it is a co-lead, to develop new tools to fight disease in pigs and improve Canada’s pork industry.

The government hopes that innovations resulting from this research will lead to job creation, as well as boosting exports for theCanadian economy.

Ritz said: "Our government is committed to moving ideas from the lab to the marketplace more quickly, strengthening Canada’s economy, while creating jobs for Canadians. Today’s investment will harness Canada’s strength in genomics research to provide a boost to our agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture industries in Saskatchewan and across Canada in order to compete and win in the global marketplace."

Chair of Genome Canada Lorne Hepworth said: "With its privileged supply of fresh water, unpolluted oceans and productive farm lands, Canada is ideally suited to play a leadership role in presenting solutions to major global challenges in the agri-food, fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Genome Canada is pleased to make these strategic investments that allow our genomics research community to innovate in these sectors for the benefit of all Canadians and people worldwide."

Canada’s agri-food and agriculture sector accounts for more than eight per cent of Canada’s GDP. Commercial fisheries, aquaculture and processing employed more than 80,000 and also contributed $6.4bn in economic activity and $3.9bn in exports in 2010, sources claim.

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Image: Canada awards $93m in agriculture genomics research. Photo courtsey of prozac1. via freedigitalphotos.net.