$2 Million NSERC Research Network to Turn Living Cells Into “Factories”
Waterloo, Ontario, October 8, 2003 – Andrew Telegdi, Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, today announced $2 million in federal funding for the NSERC Research Network in Cell Bioprocessing (CellNet). Telegdi attended the event at the University of Waterloo on behalf of Allan Rock, Minister of Industry.
The research, headed by Dr. Murray Moo-Young at Waterloo, will seek ways of using “cells as factories” in order to develop health care bioproducts.
“Large quantities of cells or tissues can be grown as ‘factories’ for producing useful molecules, such as human insulin from E. coli cells or edible vaccines from bananas,” explained Dr. Moo-Young. “The network will build on the University of Waterloo’s core expertise and then link with selected university and industrial research centres across Canada to create the necessary critical mass and expertise.”
“It takes collaboration at every level to achieve success,” said Minister Rock. “Our goal is to fast-track world-class Canadian innovations through the collaboration of universities, industry and the federal government on exciting projects such as CellNet.”
Funding for the five-year program will be provided by the Research Partnerships Program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). A further $250,000 will be contributed by seven sponsors over the same period.
M.P. Andrew Telegdi praised the university’s leadership in the new research network. “Once again, the University of Waterloo is demonstrating its commitment to innovative research.”
“NSERC is delighted to be a partner in this very modern and important project in biotechnology led by one of Canada’s pioneers in the field,” said NSERC president Tom Brzustowski.
NSERC is a key federal agency investing in people, discovery, and innovation. The Council supports both basic university research through discovery grants and project research through partnerships among universities, governments and the private sector, as well as the advanced training of highly qualified people.
For further information contact:
Francis Lionnet
Public Affairs Officer
Communications
NSERC
Tel.: (613) 992-9001
Fax: (613) 943-0742
E-mail: francis.lionnet@nserc.ca
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