Synchrotron awarded $1 million annual operating grant from MRC

Posted January 28, 1999


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 28, 1999
99-01-10-OTHER

Synchrotron Awarded $1 M. Annual Operating Grant from MRC

Saskatoon, SK. The proposed Canadian Light Source
synchrotron project at the University of Saskatchewan
will get $1 million a year for five years in operating
funds from the Medical Research Council (MRC) of
Canada.

The MRC has announced it has given approval in principle
to the CLS operating money as part of $108 million in
grants awarded in the agency's bi-annual health
research competition.

"This is most welcome news that brings this nationally
important research facility project another step closer
to becoming a reality," said U of S president Dr. George
Ivany.

"The MRC contribution to the operation of this facility
will help ensure that we don't lose some of our best and
brightest young Canadian scientists."

MRC president Dr. Henry Friesen stressed the high-tech
facility's potential as a critical tool for research and
development.

"Access to this technology in Canada would allow our
health researchers the ability to sharpen our capacity to
provide world-class, cutting-edge research, especially in
areas such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals," said
MRC president Dr. Henry Friesen.

The project's estimated operating budget is $13.9 million
(in 1998 dollars). With the MRC contribution, the project
now has funding commitments of $8.6 million per year to
operate the core facility. This includes $4.6 million from
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
(NSERC), $2 million from the National Research Council
(NRC), and $1 million from the U of S.

The remainder of the operating funding would be for
beamline operations and would be obtained through user
fees from industry, federal and provincial agencies, and
others.

The proposed $173.6-million synchrotron, which has
been endorsed by 16 other universities, would be the
biggest scientific project ever built in Canada.

Synchrotron light, millions of times more intense than
medical X-rays, would be used by both university and
industry researchers to probe the structure of matter,
develop new drugs, design new microchips for more
powerful computers, manufacture tiny biomedical
implants and create new materials. Other medical
applications include medical imaging and new techniques
for medical diagnosis such as non-invasive angiography
(X-ray study of the heart and blood vessels).

The CLS facility, which would be funded from public and
private sources, could be under construction on the U of
S campus as early as April. A key funding component is
$56.4 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation
(CFI), an autonomous, federally funded granting body. A
decision on that funding is expected by the end of
March.

Ensuring Canadian researchers access to a synchrotron
facility is the primary reason for building the CLS. At
present, Canada is the only G7 country without a
synchrotron facility. Canadian academic researchers
now spend more than $1 million a year using
synchrotron facilities in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. for
their experiments.

Canadian access is less assured as demand for time on
these state-of-the-art facilities becomes increasingly
competitive. Canadian researchers find their wait for
access can stretch from a few months to more than a
year. This could lead to a "brain drain" of talented young
scientists since researchers are drawn to the tools they
need to practise their trade.

However, if the proposed synchrotron goes ahead, new
research training opportunities will emerge. For
example, it's expected pharmaceutical companies will
set up protein crystallography laboratories in Canada to
study the three-dimensional structure of proteins,
research which could lead to new and better drugs.
Approximately 100 graduate protein crystallographers
would be trained in Canada.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. George Ivany
President, University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-6612


Kathryn Warden
Research Communications Officer
Office of the Vice-President Research
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca