July 27, 2011
Award-winning On Campus News launches online news centre at the University of Saskatchewan
Posted July 27, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 27, 2011
2011-07-04-OTHER
On Campus News, the official newspaper of the University of Saskatchewan, is pleased to announce the launch of the OCN online news centre.
“With news being generated from all corners of campus, we’ve talked for some time about how we could bring all of it together in a one-stop shop where our stories can be told in a more immediate way than a bi-weekly newspaper,” said Colleen MacPherson, editor of On Campus News.
“Our reader surveys and the conversations that we have with our campus community tell us how important the print version of OCN is, especially for those people that don’t work at a computer, and we will continue to utilize the advantages of having both OCN online and in print.”
OCN began printing a bi-weekly newspaper in 1993 and continues to be the official newspaper of record for the University of Saskatchewan. OCN is also the recipient of the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) Prix d’Excellence award for “Best Newspaper” in 2008 and 2010.
While the print version of OCN will publish every two weeks during the academic year (first issue is Aug. 26), OCN online will be updated regularly.
With a new look and new features, OCN online incorporates daily news and information as well as videos, photos, music, user commentary, social media, and other added benefits to sharing news online. OCN in print will continue to provide the same great reportage that we have since 1993 with extended features, interesting articles and the most comprehensive news coverage of its kind in Canada.
Please visit http://news.usask.ca to view OCN online.
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For more information, contact:
Mark Ferguson
Media Relations Coordinator
University Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-1851
m.ferguson@usask.ca
July 20, 2011
U of S and POS Bio-Sciences collaborate to commercialize technology
Posted July 20, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 20, 2011
2011-07-03-OTHER
The University of Saskatchewan and POS Bio-Sciences, a Saskatoon-based bioprocessing contract research and development organization, have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to advance technology development and commercialization.
The MOA enables collaboration that will accelerate both parties’ shared objectives to help grow the Saskatchewan and Canadian economies through the generation of commercially valuable technologies.
“Both POS and the U of S have many research and technology development interests and ongoing initiatives which have the potential to generate commercially valuable technologies,” said Dale Kelly, POS Bio-Sciences president and CEO.
“In many cases, we believe these can be best achieved through joint action which would maximize synergies in areas such as human resources, technology transfer and commercialization capabilities, and public education.”
While POS and the U of S have collaborated in the past, establishing the working terms for these collaborations has often been time-consuming, says Kelly.
“This MOA streamlines the process by providing a framework that will speed progress on several key issues including intellectual property and confidentiality.”
Glen Schuler, director of the U of S Industry Liaison Office (ILO), said the goal of the agreement is to assist in getting as many new products as possible to market and to share in the benefits of that commercialization.
“We are very excited about the opportunities the MOA creates with POS Bio-Sciences to accelerate technology development and commercialization,” Schuler said. “We have already started a joint project with POS involving U of S research.”
Schuler said this MOU is the first of what ILO hopes will be a series of partnership agreements with other research centres.
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For more information, contact:
Kathryn Warden
Director, Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
Meghan Gervais
Manager, Business Development
POS Bio-Sciences
mgervais@pos.ca
Backgrounder
POS Bio-Sciences is a Saskatoon contract research and development organization serving the bio-processing industries. Its main services are process development, analytical services, and toll processing. With six separate pilot plant processing areas, and 11 laboratories, it specializes in extraction, fractionation, modification, and purification of bio-based materials. Since commencing operations 34 years ago, it has served clients from 40 different countries. More information is available at: http://www.pos.ca
The University of Saskatchewan Industry Liaison Office works with U of S researchers, faculty, staff, and students to identify promising inventions arising from their research, protect intellectual property that arises, develop go-to-market strategies, negotiate commercial agreements, and manage the resulting agreements and IP. ILO fosters and develops collaborative work environments among researchers, industry partners and funding agencies. More information is available at: http://www.usask.ca/research/ilo
July 15, 2011
U of S researchers awarded $8.5 million for international wheat genetics research
Posted July 15, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 15, 2011
2011-07-02-AG
Researchers with the U of S Crop Development Centre (CDC) will lead an international $8.5 million effort to develop the genetic knowledge and tools to improve wheat, a crop worth more than $4 billion annually in Canada alone.
The Canadian Triticum Advancement through Genomics Project (CTAG) is funded through $4.5 million from Genome Canada, $1.5 million from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, $1.1 million from the Western Grains Research Foundation and $1 million from India’s National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute. Six other Canadian and international organizations are contributing the balance of the funds. The project is managed by Genome Prairie, based in Saskatoon.
“Agriculture research is a top priority for our government and we are pleased to fund this important project,” said Rob Norris, Saskatchewan Minister of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration, speaking on behalf of Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornrud. “This research will result in new varieties of wheat that will benefit our producers and the entire agriculture industry.”
“This research is timely and necessary, and supports other international efforts in providing Canadian wheat breeders with tools and resources to accelerate wheat improvement to meet the global challenge of increased food production,” said Wilf Keller, President and CEO of Genome Prairie.
“For more than 100 years, agricultural research has helped define our university by creating and sharing knowledge to support our agriculture and food industries. Indeed, it is one of our signature areas,” said Karen Chad, U of S Vice-President Research. “Today’s investment allows us to maintain this leading position and contribute on the international stage as we strive to feed a hungry world.”
“The Western Grains Research Foundation contributes substantial funding to plant breeding and research at the Crop Development Centre,” said Keith Degenhardt, Chair of WGRF. “We are delighted to be a partner in this cutting-edge project, and we look forward to what it will do to put improved varieties into the hands of western Canadian farmers.”
CTAG is led by Curtis Pozniak and Pierre Hucl, both based at the CDC in the U of S College of Agriculture and Bioresources. Pozniak, who joined the CDC in 2003, has already released two varieties, the most notable being CDC Verona, released in 2008 and which has already secured significant market share in Western Canada. Hucl has a long history of success with Canadian farmers, with more than 30 varieties in five different species to his credit, including CDC Osler and CDC Go red spring wheat.
CTAG is devoted to developing the tools of genomics to their full potential, to allow plant breeders to help growers meet increasing demands for high quality food and feed, produced in an environmentally sensitive, sustainable, and profitable manner.
To do this, the U of S team will help sequence the wheat genome as part of an effort coordinated by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium. It’s a monumental task: the wheat genome is five times the size of the human genome. The specific target of the U of S researchers – chromosome 6D – is in itself larger than the rice genome.
The team will also develop tools to perform targeted sequencing of Canada’s best wheat cultivars. This will allow them to identify gene sequences that produce desirable traits. This knowledge will in turn provide precise, powerful tools for plant breeders to develop the next generations of superior wheat varieties.
Finally, part of the CTAG project will be to examine the role of public-private partnerships in wheat genomics and breeding research, resulting in development strategies to maximize return on research investment.
CTAG, managed by Genome Prairie, is the latest success for the U of S Crop Development Centre, which was formed as a partnership with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture in 1971. Today, the “CDC” prefix on varieties of most crops grown in Western Canada is well known to producers, industry, and customers as a mark of quality and performance.
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For more information, contact:
Kira Paluck
College of Agriculture and Bioresources
University of Saskatchewan
966-6873
kira.paluck@usask.ca
Michael Robin
Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-1425
michael.robin@usask.ca
Carol Reynolds
Genome Prairie
(306) 241-9033
CReynolds@genomeprairie.ca
Jenna Webb
Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture
Regina, Saskatchewan
(306) 787-2359
Jenna.Webb@gov.sk.ca
July 13, 2011
U of S researchers receive funding to study prevention and impact of chronic wasting disease
Posted July 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 13, 2011
2011-07-01-OTHER
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have been awarded funding to study chronic wasting disease (CWD) and its effect on Canada’s wild deer and elk populations, including the development of an oral vaccine to potentially curb spread of the disease.
Photo by Western College of Veterinary Medicine
The funding is being provided by PrioNet Canada, a Network of Centres of Excellence, in an effort to address the socioeconomic and health-related impacts posed by prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as mad cow disease), CWD, as well as other neurodegenerative disorders, and to accelerate discoveries in these areas.
Dr. Scott Napper, a research scientist with the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, has been awarded funding to develop an oral vaccine – one that will attract consumption by elk and deer and can withstand extreme temperatures – to help stop the spread of CWD in the wild. Similar oral vaccines are already used to control rabies in Eastern Canada, where food packets containing the vaccine are widely distributed for consumption by fox and raccoon populations. Dr. Napper is leading this project in collaboration with nine other researchers at the University of Saskatchewan and University of British Columbia, in partnership with PREVENT, the Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise.
“The danger is that CWD continues to spread with the potential to generate new strains and infect new host species,” notes Dr. Napper. “At the moment we don’t have a way to effectively control the spread of CWD in the wild which is why the development of an oral vaccine is incredibly important.”
Dr. Ryan Brook, Assistant Professor, College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan – working with six researchers across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – has received funding to examine transmission of CWD between white-tailed deer and elk. Using an extensive database of information collected from radio collars, researchers will determine where the elk and deer populations are located across Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and look at the potential for overlap between the two species. Their work is crucial to ongoing monitoring of CWD in Canada.
“Our aim is to better understand the overlap in habitat, diet and range between elk and white-tailed deer, and the associated transmission and environmental contamination of CWD,” said Dr. Brook, adding that the overall goal is to mitigate the widespread impacts of CWD on animals and humans.
See the full media release at www.prionetcanada.ca/detail.aspx?menu=12&dt=293779&app=70&cat1=211&tp=12&lk=no
