OGI launches new programs to increase Ontario genomics research capacity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 12, 2009 -- Respectively, the Genomics Technology Seeding (GTS) program and Genomics Capacity Building workshops (GCB) program will enhance early access to leading-edge technologies and encourage international collaborations leading to major genomic and proteomic research programs.

“Access to and experience with the latest genomics instruments and reagents as well as involvement of the best and brightest collaborators on the international playing field are both key elements in building successful genomics projects,” remarked Dr. Christian Burks, President and CEO of OGI. “These programs are meant to help Ontario’s researchers work towards setting up and securing support for such projects, whether focused on human health or on environmental, agricultural, natural resources, energy and other applications.”

OGI has already signed its first GTS agreement with The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), to assess technology that enables efficient whole genome genotyping from Formalin Fixed and Paraffin Embedded (FFPE) tissue. If successful, TCAG will make the technology more widely available through the platform to its research user community.

“Genotyping provides the underpinning for much of the unfolding potential for personalized medicine, including new diagnostic and prognostic tools that can be used to enhance the use of the right medicine for the right person,” added Dr. Steve Scherer, Director of TCAG, at SickKids. “Extracting genotyping data from FFPE samples will broaden the range of tissue resources on which researchers can draw.”

The GCB program will provide funding for workshops orchestrated to explore key international collaborations that will ally leading researchers internationally with Ontario researchers. This will both strengthen the scientific depth and broaden the potential funding pool for future projects in genomics, proteomics or associated technologies. The program’s launch, follows two successful pilot workshops that brought experts together in late 2008: one, led by Dr. Aled Edwards (U. Toronto), ‘Bacterial Pathogenesis and Large-scale Protein Science’ and another, led by Dr. Elizabeth Edwards (U. Toronto), ‘Protein Function and Environmental Metagenomes’. Both workshops included an open symposium for general interest as well as a working group planning session.