World class research into geochemical analysis, infectious disease, ultra-cold materials and the plant-environment interface at UBC Science have received $12 million in funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
Twelve UBC research projects—five within the Faculty of Science—received CFI infrastructure support as part of a $666-million investment announced today. A total of 133 projects at 41 institutions across Canada were awarded funding. UBC ranked second in the number of funded projects.
Among the funded projects is the Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research, led by Earth and Ocean Sciences professor and Canada Research Chair Dominique Weis. Almost $3 million in funding will enable the Centre to expand and update its geochemical analytical equipment, including the purchase of a Nu 1700 high-resolution plasma mass spectrometer - the first of its kind in Canada. This new facility will be partly housed in the recently announced Earth Systems Science Building.
The Centre conducts extremely detailed analysis of rock, water and organic specimens and serves researchers, government agencies and the mineral industry from around the world. Research at the Centre informs our understanding of climate change, past and current marine environments, the Earth's mantle and lithosphere, and metal concentration processes.
UBC Science Funded Projects
Low-Temperature Picometer Spatial Resolution Spectroscopic Scanning-Tunneling Microscope
Douglas Bonn, Professor and Head, Physics and Astronomy $1,000,000
Centre for Biointerface Characterization: From Molecular to Cellular and Macroscopic Properties
Reinhard Jetter, Associate Professor, Chemistry, Botany, and Canada Research Chair (Plants Natural Products Chemistry) $2,500,000
Advanced Structural Biology for Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases
Lawrence McIntosh, Professor, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Michael Smith Laboratory $4,000,000
Centre for Research on Ultra-Cold Systems
Takamasa Momose, Professor, Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy $2,600,000
Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research
Dominique Weis, Professor, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Canada Research Chair (Geochemistry of the Earth’s Mantle) $3,000,000
"The CFI, through its generous, merit-based funding, has played an instrumental role in building research capacity at UBC and in Canada," says UBC Vice President Research John Hepburn.
"We're extremely grateful for their support, which has enabled strong partnerships among UBC, the federal government and the province - through its BC Knowledge Development Fund - to advance knowledge that betters our world."
The Canada Foundation for Innovation is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. The CFI's mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians.
