New technologies allow Genome Canada to move towards greater knowledge translation

Latest competition results due in May

Genome Canada plans to double the funding it obtains from industry as it moves strongly into the area of knowledge translation and awaits board approval for its most recent competition at the end of March. With a new president/CEO and board chair, the management team is also anxiously anticipating next week's federal Budget to see whether it will receive funding to execute a new strategic plan now in development.

The evolution comes at a time of rapid changes in the field of genomics and proteomics, with massive new computing power and key breakthroughs driving research ever closer to the marketplace and the bedside.

"We're at an inflection point because a whole new area of applications can be envisioned and the cost structure has gone down the tubes in a good way. The 21st Century is the biological century as the 20th Century was the age of the silicon chip and the computer," says Dr Pierre Meulien, who took over as Genome Canada's president and CEO last fall (R$, October 31/10). "The first human genome cost $3 billion to build and took 10 years. We can now do that same work for $10,000 in three days. In a few years time it will be a few hundred dollars and take even less time to do."

three simultaneous competitions

The latest Genome Canada competition was made possible by $75 million in federal funding announced in the 2010 Budget. The board decided to target three areas: a targeted competition for forestry and the environment ($30 million), a multi-sectoral competition aimed at agriculture, fisheries and human health ($30 million) and new equipment for Genome Canada's Science & Technology Innovation Centres ($15 million).

The five research areas identified by Genome Canada in 2006 have now been the focus of at least one competition, albeit at far lower funding levels than originally envisaged. Those areas — human health, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and the environment — were determined via a lengthy, bottom-up process in which 11 position papers were prepared by the genomics and proteomics communities and vetted through an international review. They were submitted to Industry Canada with specific funding requirements. (R$, June 6/06 & March 11/08).

The lack of federal funding that made it impossible to fully tackle all five areas and participate in new international consortia provided the spark that ultimately led to the departure of Dr Martin Godbout, Genome Canada's inaugural president and CEO. He was publicly critical of the government for failing to include the arm's length agency in the 2009 Budget, despite a formal request for $370 million over five years.

When the Genome Canada board issued a statement commending the Budget as good news for the scientific community" and expressed confidence that the government "will do everything possible over the coming years to secure additional funding", Godbout became a lame duck and quietly resigned in October of that year (R$, October 26/09). In March/10, Dale Patterson, Genome Canada's VP external relations, was appointed interim CEO.

period of turmoil

Over the past 18 months, Genome Canada has has moved forward at a slower pace than anticipated. It withdrew from two international consortia to which it had previously committed — the International Regulome Consortium and the International Cancer Genome Consortium. It also saw the departure of its chief scientific officer, Dr Michael Morgan and the position remains vacant.

While Meulien doesn't directly address the low levels of funding in recent years, he acknowledges that the demand for new funding in the form of excellent project proposals is far outstripping supply.

"There's always more appetite than there is funding and we can only fund so many projects," he says. "We were able to judge that through the number of applications that came in for our latest competitions. There was a huge number (nearly 160 letters of intent and 39 full applications). The review process is now complete and they will be presented to our board at its next meeting at in Quebec City on March 31st."

The official announcement of the competition results is expected some time in May in coordination with Industry Canada. Meulien says the successful projects will demonstrate a significant shift in the focus of Canadian genomics and proteomics research to take advantage of the advances in technology.

"We are now poised for the application of this technology. That's easy to say but difficult to do because it's technology that is moving very quickly," he says. "The large-scale programs have previously been more upstream than what we need to do now and that just reflects the maturity of the projects ... It's no secret that Canada punches above its weight in terms of research impact but we don't do so well at translating that research into end-use. I want wild fisheries and forestry managers to use this technology and I want the environmental people to use it in terms of biodiversity and biofuels.

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