CBG Receives Over $1M in Support from Genome Canada, in Partnership with Ontario Genomics
Genome Canada funding supports cutting-edge genomics research and development projects with real-world impact for Canadians
- CBG Media & Communications
- May 30, 2024
Today, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, announced more than $17 million in federal support to eight new genomics research projects and four technology platforms funded through Genome Canada. Provincial governments, businesses and research partners are investing almost $24 million in co-funding, for a total investment of over $41 million.
The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics is proud to be one of the four technology platforms supported through this funding.
With this vital investment, the innovators at our facility will pioneer the use of thumb-sized DNA sequencers to recover DNA barcodes from museum specimens, to improve sequence recovery from bulk collections of specimens, and use DNA to analyze the symbiotic relationships between species. The funding comes from Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics, in collaboration with the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Major Science Initiative 2023-29 competition.
The CBG delivers two key analytical services (informatics, sequencing) to the biodiversity science community; it analyzes millions of specimens and tens of thousands of samples each year by coupling large sequencers with mainframe computers. The award from Genome Canada’s Technology Program will allow the CBG’s Innovation Unit to expand its efforts to develop the laboratory protocols and informatics systems required to capitalize on the capabilities enabled by the thumb-sized DNA sequencers developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
Aside from their speed in delivering data, the low cost of these sequencers and their associated flow cells make them ideal for two purposes – accelerating the development of methods for subsequent implementation in the CBG core facility and making it possible to establish a distributed network of sequencing facilities so nations around the world can track their biodiversity. Because the CBG coordinates the research programs undertaken by the International Barcode of Life Consortium, the advances made by the Innovation Unit in the application of nanopore technology are sure to see rapid uptake on a global scale.
