The federal government has invested millions in Western University researchers to further expand biocontainment research aimed at creating new antimicrobial treatments and vaccines.
Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry has received a $16-million endowment from a new federal funding program dubbed the Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF).
The investment is being used to enhance the university’s state-of-the-art biocontainment level three facility known as ImPaKT (Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation), located in the new Pathogen Research Centre located in the Dental Sciences Building on Western’s campus.
“The grant, established in 2021 under the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding program, supports the expansion of ImPaKT to include a facility to test new antimicrobial strategies to prevent the airborne spread of infectious diseases and a facility to produce antimicrobial therapies and vaccines for human use,” a release from Western read.
Western said the new facility will be home to a manufacturing facility that will allow research and industry partners to produce pharmaceutical-grade drugs. The funding from the government will also help with the creation of a vaccine bank that will include the development of ready-to-use, pre-formulated vaccines designed to prevent the spread of all future epidemics and pandemics.
“ImPaKT had just been set up when the pandemic hit,” said ImPaKT executive director Eric Arts. “And we responded to it quickly by offering our expertise in pathogen research and supporting public policy through efforts like our wastewater surveillance program – the first of its kind in Canada.”
ImPaKT combines Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) certified containment level standards with advanced in vivo imaging equipment. It is one of the first biocontainment labs in the country that did research into the spread of COVID-19 by partnering with other industry leaders to test vaccines, therapeutics and antimicrobial materials.
According to Arts, the federal BRIF grant is a crucial step needed to support research that addresses gaps in Canada’s pandemic response.
“This announcement recognizes that crucial work and attests to the fact that ImPaKT has the potential to develop into something bigger,” said Arts. “We are uniquely positioned in terms of talent, resources and industry partnerships to be the leader in pathogen-fighting research in Canada.”
On Wednesday, the federal government announced an investment of $127-million through the CFI program to support eight biocontainment facilities across Canada.
