Three finalists chosen for CFI's international joint venture competition

Three proposals from a field of 17 have been selected for an International Joint Venture competition, jointly sponsored by a consortium composed of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Genome Canada.

The short-listed projects were selected at a March 7 CFI board meeting. The successful finalists will receive up to $35 million from CFI, with Genome Canada and the granting agencies providing additional funding to support research programs.

Of the three short-listed proposals, two are from the Univ of Ottawa. A proposal for an International Regulome Consortium to advance embryonic stem cell and genome research is led by Dr Michael Rudnicki. The consortium would focus its research on the formation of neural tissues, cardiac and skeletal muscle as part of a Canadian-led team involving seven countries and 18 institutions. Rudnicki is the Canada Research Chair in molecular genetics, and a senior scientist and program director for molecular medicine at the Ottawa Health Research Institute.

The second U of O proposal is for a catalysis facility, led by Dr Abdelhamid Sayari, Canada Research Chair in Catalysis using Nanostructured Materials. The project would link U of O's Centre for Catalysis Research and Innovation with several other Canadian universities, the Berkeley Catalysis Centre in California and the Netherlands Institute for Catalysis Research.

The third proposal is for an Arctic Shelf Tracking and Physics Array (ASTAPA) system, overseen by Dr Ronald O'Dor of Dalhousie Univ's Census of Marine Life. The system would be used to monitor passages of rare and commercially important species. It aims to establish multiple lines of acoustic receivers to record direction and speed of travel, as well as local oceanographics at key passages. ASTAPA would also seek International Polar Year funding and involve researchers from Iceland, Greenland, Russia, Norway and Scotland.

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