Following a competition organized among the country’s researchers, Ottawa is granting this $574 million in funding to 19 projects in 14 research establishments.
One of these projects is to create a national network of existing emergency departments and primary care clinics, which will be required to screen for any new viruses or pathogens that may begin to appear in patients.
Dr. Andrew Pinto, project director at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, says the initiative will provide a “coast-to-coast shield” to help protect Canadians.
The network will also include other research institutes and companies in the biomedical industry capable of quickly responding to the early detection of dangerous viruses, manufacturing vaccines and drugs.
The federal government will also provide grants to five research centers already identified, including the Eastern Canada Pandemic Preparedness Center, led by the University of Montreal.
In addition, $20.5 million will be dedicated to Polytechnique Montréal’s biomanufacturing initiative, “which aims to ensure local production of vaccines and biological drugs while training the next generations of specialists in this field.” indicates the federal government.
This research group will also support its work on specialized equipment obtained thanks to $11.7 million in support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the government of Quebec and partners in a project dedicated to the development of biomaterials.
The federal government also announced funding Monday to allow the Ottawa Hospital to build a new biomanufacturing center that will develop and manufacture vaccines, gene therapies and cell therapies.
The projects were chosen based on submissions made by researchers to the Canada Biomedical Research Fund and the Biological Sciences Research Infrastructure Fund.
