VANCOUVER - An investment of $13.5 million from the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund will expand medical research and training at the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre and the B.C. Cancer Agency, Premier Ujjal Dosanjh said today.

"Education is the best investment a government can make; it's the key to success in the knowledge-driven economy," said Dosanjh. "This investment in health research will expand UBC's role in the worldwide effort to understand cancer and other diseases."

B.C. Knowledge Development Fund support will help build the biotechnology component of the proposed centre for integrated genomics and the new Brain Research Centre at UBC Hospital, a site of the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre. The funding will support the research of an estimated 1,000 scientists in a wide variety of fields, including cancer and brain disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The provincial support for these projects will leverage funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and private partners for a total investment of $35.8 million.

"The strength of research and development at B.C.'s institutions places them among the most successful in the country," said Advanced Education Minister Graeme Bowbrick. "Scientists from around the world will find new reasons to come and work here."

"This provincial contribution is an endorsement of the world-class research taking place at UBC," said university president Martha Piper. "It allows us to build research partnerships, attract top scientists, move toward important innovations and pass on new knowledge to our students."

"The Canadian Foundation for Innovation is proud to be an integral part of these important research centres," said Dr. David Strangway, president and CEO of the foundation. "By supporting infrastructure for research and development, the foundation is increasing the capability for innovative research that will benefit the province and Canadian society."

UBC will receive $10.1-million from the province to help build a 7,400-square-metre biotechnology laboratory that will be one of the major components of the centre for integrated genomics. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation has contributed $9.4 million to the centre, a joint venture of the B.C. Cancer Agency and UBC. The remaining funding of almost $8 million has been provided by the university and the Blusson donation. The total cost is more than $27 million.

"This funding from the province helps us to develop a fully integrated genome program in British Columbia," said Dr. Don Carlow, president and CEO of the B.C. Cancer Agency. "The impact of this program on science in general, and cancer research in particular, will be felt around the world."

The proposed multi-site centre for integrated genomics will comprise the UBC biotechnology laboratory, founded by Nobel laureate Dr. Michael Smith in 1987 and expanded by funding announced today; the Genome Sequence Centre, newly established by the B.C. Cancer Agency and the B.C. Cancer Foundation; and a proposed cancer research centre at the cancer agency.

The Brain Research Centre, a joint project of UBC and the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, will receive more than $3.4 million in support from the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund. Another $3.4 million from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and $1.7 million from Vancouver Hospital and the UBC Hospital Foundation contributed to the centre's total infrastructure cost of more than $8.5 million. Two floors of the Koerner Pavilion at Vancouver Hospital's UBC site will be renovated to create the 5,700-square-metre facility.

"The mysteries of the brain remain one of the last largely unexplored frontiers of medical research," said Murray Martin, president and CEO of the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre. "The many brain-related clinical programs of Vancouver Hospital create a unique opportunity for clinicians and researchers to work together to break new ground."

The latest provincial budget added $117 million to the $100-million Knowledge Development Fund and extended it from five to seven years. By 2006, the fund is expected to lever a total of $542 million in research investments at B.C's. post-secondary institutions. Today's announcement brings the total investment sparked by the B.C. Knowledge Development fund in projects at UBC to $62.25 million.

The Canadian Foundation for Innovation is an independent, not-for-profit organization established in 1997 by the Government of Canada to strengthen the capacity for innovation in Canadian universities and research institutions.

Media contact: Tara Wilson
Communications
Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology
(250) 356-8706