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uOttawa and OHRI awarded nearly $1.5M from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation


December 12, 2008

The University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute will receive close to $1.5 million in funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to finance 13 research projects.

Allan Rock, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, is very pleased about the CFI investment. “These funds will help University of Ottawa improve its infrastructure and attract high-calibre researchers from around the world,” said Rock.

The CFI Leaders Opportunity Fund is a funding program designed to provide infrastructure to Canadian institutions to attract researchers at a time of intense international competition for knowledge workers, as well as to retain the very best of today and tomorrow’s leading researchers.

This CFI investment will further develop the global reputation of the University of Ottawa as a place where outstanding research and training is being conducted, said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, FCI President and CEO.

Some of the projects that are to receive funding:

Eve Tsai $60,000 (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute) Creation of a Translational Spinal Cord Repair Laboratory
  • Her main surgical interests focus on all types of spine and spinal cord diseases such as spinal cord injury, spinal cord and spine tumours.

    Bertrand Jodoin $180,000 (University of Ottawa) Advanced Coatings and Bulk Materials for the Canadian Aerospace and Energy Industries
  • The research team led by Jodoin has taken nanomaterials and demonstrated the possibility and advantages of using these advanced materials as protective coatings on jet engine and aircraft parts.

    Laura Trinkle-Mulcahy $210,700 (University of Ottawa) Combined Cell Biology and Proteomics Strategy for Analysing the Regulation of Protein Phosphatase 1 (PP1) in Mammalian Cells
  • By studying the phosphatase in living cells, Professor Trinkle-Mulcahy works to define its roles in diverse intracellular signalling pathways and how it may be disrupted in disease states such as cancer and diabetes.

    Christopher Boddy $130,348 (University of Ottawa) Laboratory for Natural Product Biotechnology
  • Professor Boddy focuses on harnessing biosynthetic pathways to produce complex molecules.

    The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the University’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. The OHRI includes more than 1,300 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

    Media contacts
    Julie Tanguay
    Media Relations Officer
    University of Ottawa
    613-562-5800, extension 3137
    613-724-8290 (cellular)
    jtanguay@uOttawa.ca

    Nadine Saint-Amour
    Media Relations Officer
    University of Ottawa
    613-562-5800, extension 3149
    613-724-8326 (cellular)
    nadine.saint-amour@uOttawa.ca

    Jennifer Paterson
    Director, Communications and Public Relations
    Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
    613-798-5555, extension 19691
    jpaterson@ohri.ca