Title: Algoma University gets boost in invasive species funding
[Sault Star 4 Sept 2011] Canada -- Algoma University is receiving more than $130,000 in funding towards a molecular microbiology laboratory in its newly constructed biosciences and technology convergence centre. The Canada Foundation for Innovation announced Thursday in Winnipeg that Algoma University was receiving $133,249 from the Leadership Opportunity Fund towards invasive species research. The molecular microbiology equipment will allow for an up-close study of soil microbial and plant ecology -- the prime objective of the research being protection of the natural resources. The award builds on earlier Foundation funding towards plant production rooms for the university's Invasive Species Research Institute, headquartered in the convergence centre.
The production rooms enable institute researchers to harvest, grow and culture plants and microbes from field locations throughout Ontario. Materials grown and maintained in the production rooms will be used as a source of tissue and cells for DNA analysis, in addition to material harvested directly from the field. The laboratory was one of 207 projects receiving more than $53 million in Foundation for Innovation funding.
The Foundation, created by the federal government in 1997, invests in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions.
There has been an unprecedented movement and outbreak of invasive species in recent years. They wreak havoc on the Canadian economy, to the tune of billions of dollars annually, in areas such as forestry, fishing and farming. The university's invasive species research institute has a multi-year provincially-funded research chair for research and the establishment of an international network of colleagues with similar interests in detection, prevention and management.