19 research projects led by U of T, partner hospitals receive support from CFI Innovation Fund
Published: March 13, 2024
Nineteen researchers at the University of Toronto and partner hospitals have received support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) through its Innovation Fund.
The Innovation Fund aims to support Canadian post-secondary institutions, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions in acquiring and developing infrastructure to boost their research capacity and foster world-class research.
Experts at U of T and partner hospitals were awarded close to $60 million in support of infrastructure needs in research areas ranging from neurodegenerative disease diagnostics and genome sequencing to extreme mechanics and next-generation telescopes.
Additionally, four projects involving U of T experts and led by other universities were awarded around $2.9 million.
“Our government is proud to support future generations by enabling students and post-doctoral researchers to acquire and hone the skills and knowledge they need to excel in their challenging fields,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry. “Their pioneering research will further establish Canada’s position as a global leader in innovation while helping to drive our economy and achieve our shared vision of a brighter, healthier future for all Canadians.”
CFI president and CEO Roseann O’Reilly Runte added that research labs and facilities “provide the foundation upon which Canada’s research leaders can make discoveries and drive innovation that will contribute to a better future for all of us.”
Read the full list of U of T-led research projects to receive support from the CFI Innovation Fund:
Cheryl Arrowsmith in the department of medical biophysics at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Structural Genomics Consortium – Centre for Protein Target Enabling Packages
Ingo Ensminger in the department of biology at U of T Mississauga – Centre for Robotic Observations of the Biosphere and the Environment
Patrick Gunning in the department of chemical and physical sciences at U of T Mississauga – The Centre for Medicinal Chemistry
Renée Hložek in the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics at the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics – The Universe in Real Time through the Canadian Data Intensive Astrophysics Platform
Barth Netterfield in the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics and the department of physics at the Faculty of Arts & Science – GigaBIT: A high resolution, wide field telescope operating on the edge of space
Ekaterina Rogaeva in the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Systems and precision research in neurodegenerative diseases: toward next-generation diagnostics and therapies
Jay Werber in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Development of sustainable aqueous processes and technologies enabled by the water analysis and Treatment
Aaron Wheeler in the department of chemistry at the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – The CRAFT Diagnostics Horizon Lab
Yu Zou in the department of materials science and engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Toronto Integrated Platform for Materials under Extreme Conditions
Brian Ciruna at SickKids Hospital and the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Advancing child health using zebrafish precision models of pediatric cancer, congenital defects, and disease
Sergio Grinstein and Lu-Yang Wang at SickKids Research Institute and the department of biochemistry (Grinstein) and department of physiology (Wang) in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Resolving cell dynamics at the mesoscale level
George Ibrahim at SickKids Hospital and the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – NEURO-FORCE: Neurological Focused Ultrasound Operations in Children
Stephen Scherer at SickKids Hospital and the department of molecular genetics at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – CGEn: Canada’s national platform for genome sequencing and analysis
Gary Bader at the Lunenfeld- Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health and the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Enabling high throughput quantitative ultrastructural imaging
Jeff Wrana at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health and the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – A tissue bioengineering platform to model human disease
Marcelo Cypel at the University Health Network and the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – A new era in transplantation: advanced strategies for ex vivo organ modification
Valerie Wallace at the University Health Network and the department of ophthalmology and vision sciences at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Facility for integrated structure and functional assessment of retina disease and therapeutics
Jordan Lerner-Ellis at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health and the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – The Canadian Genomics Data Commons
Kaley Walker, Kimberly Strong and Paul Kushner in the department of physics at the Faculty of Arts & Science – The HAWC satellite mission: High-altitude Aerosols, Water vapour, and Clouds
