Ontario seed funds ambitious plan to make province a world-leading brain research centre

The Ontario government is providing $15 million to seed a public-private initiative to make Ontario one of the top centres for neuroscience research and commercialization in the world. The provincial funding over three years will establish the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) on the recommendation of an elite group of backers that envisions a worldclass centre of brain research with an annual operating budget of $100 million.

Led by Joseph Rotman, a Toronto philanthropist and chairman of Roy-L Capital and Dr Joseph Martin, co-chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Centre and dean emeritus, Harvard Medical School, the committee has already established a top-flight international science advisory council and is actively fundraising within the philanthropic and business communities. The OBI's champions envision an institute able to successfully compete for a portion of an anticipated global market in diagnostics and therapeutics worth $130.5 billion in 2007 and growing to $300 billion by 2018.

The OBI was given the go-ahead by premier Dalton McGuinty following an official trip to Israel earlier this year. During that visit, he was approached by Israeli president Shimon Peres who proposed an international collaboration between the two jurisdictions. The $15 million in seeding funding comes from the Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) which drew from re-prioritized funding.

"We hope this funding will provoke rich interest in the philanthropic and investment communities," says MRI minister Glen Murray, adding that the OBI will be structured as a hub and spoke system to enhance interdisciplinary and cross-institutional research. "We're also hoping that the federal government will be inspired by this and come to the table."

With deep research expertise and the potential for millions in private investment, the OBI is intended to have a core of 15-20 neuroscientists led by a high profile program director. The institute will tie together 12 existing brain research centres throughout the province to generate new research and accelerate the development of initiatives such as Sunnybrook Health Science Centre's "The Helmut", a non-invasive procedure for removing blood clots and tumors in the brain.

Murray says the government's support will be used to fund research while private funding will be directed towards development and commercialization.

"In one or two years, we'll see what comes out of this. The first $15 million is about as engaged as you can get, particularly in these economic times. If Rotman and his colleagues raise $15 or $20 million, I may be able to get reciprocation of funding," he says. "

Joined by the likes of Larry Tannenbaum — a high profile businessman and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment — and with corporate support of business leaders such as Paul Lucas, president and CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Inc — OBI backers plan on fundraising both in Canada and Israel. Further research funding will be sought from federal granting councils and agencies and industry partnerships.

The launch of the OBI comes at a time when the Montreal region is also expanding and deepening its expertise in neuroscience. But Murray says Toronto's strengths are already greater and will be further enhanced by OBI's strong industry participation and linkages to Israel.

"The depth and breadth of research is deeper in Ontario. Israel is a leading centre of neuroscience research and it identified Ontario as the best partner," he says. "Ontario is on par with California, Massachusetts, Israel and The Netherlands. Ontario's number of patents and quality of research is up in the top four in the world."

OBI's backers say that Ontario already has world leading research in Alzheimer's disease, deep brain stimulation, brain imaging and computational neuroscience and is competitive in genetics, molecular and developmental neuroscience.

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