Article Type: Generic

The Council of Science and Technology (CST) is urging the Quebec government to move quickly to accelerate the development of bioinformatics in the province and has proposed a strategy which it recommends should be handed to Génome Quebec for implementation.

Members of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) expert panel that produced a groundbreaking report on the regulation of genetically modified (GM) foods were unprepared for the storm of controversy generated by the document’s observations and recommendations when they were publicly unveiled last month.

After quietly toiling away for 18 months developing a work plan and commissioning studies, the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (CBAC) has issued its first annual report and is planning public consultations on two of the five special projects identified last year as priority items.

Preliminary data from Statistics Canada’s latest biotechnology survey contains compelling evidence that the various industries which comprise the sector are growing rapidly and beginning to move from R&D to commercialization.

An ambitious initiative to conduct research into the potential for biomass as an alternative source for energy, chemicals and materials is turning up the heat on potential federal funding sources to exploit Canada’s so-called Green Advantage.

Iter Canada is awaiting the federal Cabinet’s decision on whether to support Canada’s bid to host the massive Iter prototype fusion reactor and appoint a negotiator to carry the proposal to the international body that will ultimately choose the winning site.

Iter Canada has sent a letter to the Auditor General of Canada (AG) protesting its depiction of the Canadian bid to host the a fusion research facility as an example of a Big Science project requiring federal funding.

The surge of interest in the potential of stem cells to generate new types of tissues is helping to build a research powerhouse in the Ottawa area, with a series of funding initiatives and pending approvals that promise to transform the region into one of Canada’s largest concentrations of medical research.

A new Ottawa centre to conduct stem cell and gene therapy research has received commitments of more than $35 million from a variety of funding sources, helping to build critical mass in the city’s burgeoning health research sector.

The Quebec government has released the most comprehensive policy document on science and technology (S&T) in its history and the first to be released in 19 years, as it maps out its vision for the future to make Quebec a world hub of the knowledge economy.