Joint effort saves Halifax medical imaging laboratory

A combined effort between Dalhousie Univ, the Government of Nova Scotia and biotech firms has raised $3 million to continue operations of a medical devices laboratory targeted for closure last year by the National Research Council last year. The lab — renamed the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre or BIOTIC — has a staff of 13. It still requires operating funds to become self-sustaining and hopes enough funding can be raised through grants and project income. It has facilities at IWK and the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax and is positioning itself to work with researchers and firms doing research and commercializing of new life sciences products as well as developing its own medical technologies. The rescue package, which includes $700,000 from the province, was named Good News Story of the Year by BioNova, Nova Scotia's Life Sciences and Biotechnology Industry Association…