(Windsor, Ont., Tuesday, March 14, 2023) – The University of Windsor is a major partner in one of five new federal research hubs set to enhance Canada’s biomanufacturing capacity and preparedness for future pandemics.
A multidisciplinary group of UWindsor researchers will contribute by extending their research expertise and taking advantage of the unique cross-border location of the Windsor-Essex region to boost the development of pathogen surveillance technologies, knowledge translation, and highly qualified personnel training.
On March 2, the federal government announced an investment of $10 million in support of the creation of five research hubs across Canada with support from the Canada Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF).
UWindsor will be a major partner in the University of Toronto-led hub called the Canadian Hub for Health Intelligence & Innovation in Infectious Diseases (HI3).
The UWindsor researchers include: Kenneth Ng and Yufeng Tong from Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kendall Soucie from Psychology, Pooya Moradian Zadeh from Computer Science, Arezoo Emadi from Engineering, Mike McKay from the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, and Lisa Porter from Biomedical Sciences and the WE-SPARK Health Institute.
They have also leveraged their existing collaborations and brought on non-profit, public, and private sector organizations to the hub.
- Erie Shores Health Care
- Tenacity+ Genomic Solutions
- MolArray Research Inc.
- TransForm Shared Service Organization
- City of Windsor
- City of Thunder Bay
- Municipality of Leamington
- Cross-Border Institute
- WE-SPARK Health Institute
HI3 is a coalition of 80+ partners forming a powerful network to support a robust domestic pipeline of life-saving pandemic-related vaccines and therapeutics, made by Canadian scientists and produced by biomanufacturers in Canada.
HI3 will deliver innovations that fall into three research themes:
- Precision Interventions, like vaccines and therapeutics;
- Process Innovations, from automation to second-generation biomanufacturing; and
- Health Intelligence, to evaluate interventions and inform efficient and equitable delivery of pandemic countermeasures.
HI3 will achieve this by linking the innovation engine and infrastructure of nine Ontario universities and six research hospitals with commercialization and manufacturing partners including Tenacity+ Genomic Solutions and MolArray Research having strong ties to the Windsor-Essex region.
The Toronto-led hub will help Canada to respond more rapidly, effectively, and equitably to future pandemics by contributing innovations to the biomanufacturing and life sciences sector that limit the direct clinical, social, and economic effects of future threats from infectious pathogens, as well as any unintended adverse effects of measures adopted to limit their spread.
For more details on HI3 read the University of Toronto news release.
Find the announcement from the federal government here.
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CONTACT:
Kenneth Ng
Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Windsor
519-253-3000, Ext. 3574