News Archives - Ontario Genomics

John M. Rafferty joins Ontario Genomics as new President & CEO

March 27, 2025 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

Ontario Genomics Names John M. Rafferty as New CEO to Champion Made-in-Ontario Innovation

Ontario Genomics is pleased to announce the appointment of John M. Rafferty as its new President & Chief Executive Officer, effective March 31, 2025. A visionary and dynamic leader with 25 years of experience driving innovation and impact in diverse organizations, John brings extensive experience in advancing transformative initiatives across sectors.

John joins Ontario Genomics following his tenure as President & CEO of CNIB, where he led the organization through a period of unprecedented growth and impact, expanding its national reach and strengthening partnerships across industries. His leadership in fostering innovation, strategic collaborations, and policy advocacy has been instrumental in creating meaningful change for blind individuals and communities across Canada.

As he steps into his new role at Ontario Genomics, John is committed to accelerating the commercialization of innovative genomic technologies and advancing “made-in-Ontario” solutions to address some of the world’s greatest challenges. Under his leadership, Ontario Genomics will continue to build strong partnerships between researchers, industry, and government to unlock the full economic and societal potential of genomics in Ontario and beyond.

We are also pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Jordan Thomson to Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Commercialization. Jordan steps into his new role after successfully serving as COO for the past thirteen months. Jordan’s deep expertise in genomics technologies and their commercialization pathways, coupled with John’s leadership, will create a powerful team to drive market adoption and impact.

We also extend our deepest gratitude to Stephen Cummings, who has served as Interim President & CEO for the past year. His steadfast leadership has been instrumental in guiding Ontario Genomics through a pivotal period of transition. Stephen’s dedication has strengthened our position as a leader in the genomics ecosystem, and we thank him for his invaluable contributions.

Please join us in welcoming John to Ontario Genomics and watch this space for more exciting news in the weeks ahead!

The Future of Food is Coming but is Canada Ready?

March 19, 2025 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

New Report Projects an $18.8 Billion Food Biomanufacturing Industry for Canada

Following up on its 2021 report, Ontario Genomics has updated economic analysis for Canada’s food biomanufacturing sector in the Food Innovation in Canada Report, which shows explosive economic and job creation opportunities across the country. Cellular agriculture, or food biomanufacturing, is the process of using precision fermentation, cell cultivation or tissue engineering to make various foods, ingredients and even textiles that are usually made through traditional agriculture and manufacturing.

Along with input and feedback from researchers and organizations that specialize in food security and innovation, Dr. Michael von Massow at the University of Guelph, provided the economic analysis for this ground-breaking report on the future of precision fermented and cultivated foods in Canada. Here are some of the highlights:

Food biomanufacturing in Canada could become an $18.8 billion industry creating 125,000 jobs as soon as 2050, with greater growth in the long term.
Ontario could lead the country in food biomanufacturing with a $13 billion industry potential that could create over 91,000 jobs.
A cohesive national strategy, large-scale production facilities, research and commercial development support, and an agile regulatory process are needed to help Canada reach its potential and stay globally competitive.

Report author and Director of Strategic Partnerships, Elaine Corbett, says, “This report shows government and food producers the massive economic potential for food biomanufacturing in our country and gives the data needed for a national strategy and investment. This kind of food innovation is already happening around the world and considering the shifting economic climate, Canada needs to do even more to develop this manufacturing for Canadians but also to export to other countries.”

Since the 2021 report, there has been significant growth in the number of Canadian companies, investment, research and development, but more support is needed to help this industry overcome commercial scale-up challenges.

Ontario Genomics is a non-profit organization funded by the Government of Ontario and other partners. Since 2000, we’ve been involved with cutting-edge science to find homegrown solutions to challenges the world faces like climate change, food insecurity and in healthcare.

Canada launches the most ambitious genomic health research program in Canada history: The Canadian Precision Health Initiative

March 5, 2025 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

The Canadian Precision Health Initiative (CPHI) is a $200M investment from the Government of Canada, through Genome Canada, to help transform Canada’s healthcare approach into a modern, precision health system.

Supported by the regional Genome Centres, including Ontario Genomics, this initiative will build Canada’s largest-ever collection of human genomic data —more than 100,000 genomes. This database will represent Canada’s diverse population to ensure precision health innovations benefit all.

CPHI partners will work together to build a coordinated precision health community that will:

Build a Canadian alliance for genomics in health to align efforts across Canada’s complex, federated health and research ecosystems.
Mobilize and advance the utility of genomic health data, working with academia and industry to ensure they have the right data assets and AI-powered tools to deliver life-saving solutions.
Implement data governance and policies ensuring the ethical and responsible use of genomic data.

Ontario Genomics is the lead for 4 awarded projects and the co-lead for 2 awarded projects. These projects will help generate high-quality genomic data that can be shared and securely used by researchers and clinicians across Canada. Learn more about these projects below:

Expanding the Use of Genomics to Unravel Rare Diseases: Care4Rare EXPAND

Project Leaders: Kym Boycott (University of Ottawa/Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute), Christian Marshall (University of Toronto/Hospital for Sick Children), Francois Bernier (University of Calgary), Jacques Michaud (Université de Montréal/CHU Ste Justine)

Genome Centres: Ontario Genomics, Genome Alberta, Génome Québec

INFANT: Identifying At-risk Newborns from the Analysis of NGS Testing

Project Leaders: Kristin Kernohan, Neal Sondheimer, Melanie Lacaria, Erika Bariciak, Pranesh Chakraborty, Matthew Henderson (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute)

Genome Centre: Ontario Genomics

Precision Child Health – Comprehensive Sequencing for Childhood Life-long Disorders

Project Leaders: Stephen Scherer, Seema Mital, David Malkin, Linda Hiraki, Amanda Ricciuto, Gregory Costain, Yiming Wang, Ronald Cohn (Hospital for Sick Children)

Genome Centre: Ontario Genomics

Precision Health Network for Neurodevelopment, Mental Health and Brain Injury

Project Leaders: Evdokia Anagnostou (Holland Bloorview Research Institute), Jennifer Crosbie, Stephen Scherer, Louise Gallagher (The Hospital for Sick Children), Jacob Vorstman (Hospital for Sick Children), Darcy Fehlings (University of Toronto/Holland Bloorview Research Institute), Roger Zemek (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute), Danielle Andrade (University Health Network)

Genome Centre: Ontario Genomics

Genomic Evidence for Precision Medicine for Selected Chronic Diseases among Black Peoples in Canada

Project Leaders: Upton Allen (Hospital for Sick Children), Loydie Jerome-Majewska (McGill University), OmiSoore Dryden (Dalhousie University), Juliet Daniel (McMaster University)

Genome Centres: Genome Atlantic, Génome Québec, Ontario Genomics

Longitudinal, Deep-Phenotyped Pediatric Databank of Medical and Drug Therapy Outcomes

Project Leaders: Bruce Carleton (University of British Columbia), Michael Rieder (University of Western Ontario), Maja Krajinovic (Université de Montréal)

Genome Centres: Genome British Columbia, Genome Alberta, Génome Québec, Ontario Genomics

Ontario’s Biotech Sector is Booming

January 21, 2025 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

With $30 million in follow-on funding so far, more companies are joining the BioCreate accelerator

Eight new start-ups have been welcomed into BioCreate, an $11.6-million business accelerator giving financial and commercial support to Ontario biotech companies that are creating game-changing solutions in the food and agriculture, health, and cleantech sectors.

BioCreate was established by Ontario Genomics through a Government of Canada investment of more than $5.6 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

Each highly vetted company in the program gets $150,000, 18 months of business mentorship, access to critical infrastructure and the chance to pitch to potential investors. Since the program started in 2023, BioCreate companies have raised $30 million in funding and earned sales and revenue of $8.8 million.

Here are the newest BioCreate start-ups:

Ardra Bio is a business-to-business biotech company focused on creating sustainable and ethical ingredients that are used in food and cosmetics products.
Epiloid is a biotech company focused on finding effective treatments for neurological conditions through data analysis and personalized medicine.
Inteligex is a genomics company hoping to change the way traumatic spinal cord injuries are treated by developing drug and stem cell therapies for patients.
Materia Bioworks is revolutionizing the way eco-friendly materials are being made by simplifying the process for companies to produce biomaterials like sustainable plastics and packaging.
Material Futures is taking all-natural dyes to a new level by using the power of microbes to engineer colourants for a variety of industries including food, cosmetics and fabrics.
Mediphage is a genomics company that has created trademark DNA technology to improve the quality of key ingredients in genetic medicines.
Noa Therapeutics is a biotech company working to create better treatments for the millions of people struggling with illnesses like eczema, ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease.
ProteinQure is looking to lead the charge in making Ontario a thriving hub of drug development and research, while focusing on breast cancer therapies fuelled by peptides.

BioCreate’s Program Director, Elizabeth Gray, says, “Getting into BioCreate isn’t easy. Our acceptance rate is only 15% because of a stringent selection process that includes a panel of outside experts to make sure our companies have the greatest potential to succeed and get their technologies scaled up and into market quickly.”

“Congratulations to the eight companies that have joined the BioCreate program,” says the Honourable Ruby Sahota, Minister of Democratic Institutions and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). “They will be working hard to improve the lives of Canadians and it is our government’s priority to support our budding companies so they have access to the tools they need to succeed in important sectors like health, food, agriculture and cleantech.”

-30-

About Ontario Genomics
Ontario Genomics is a non-profit organization funded by the Government of Ontario and other partners. Since 2000, we’ve been involved with cutting-edge science to find homegrown solutions to challenges the world faces like climate change, food insecurity and in healthcare. Find out more at OntarioGenomics.ca.

About FedDev Ontario
For 14 years, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, has worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation, growth and job creation in Canada’s most populous region. The Agency has delivered impressive results, which can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating innovative technologies, improving productivity, growing revenues, creating jobs, and in the economic advancement of communities across the region. Learn more about the impacts the Agency is having in southern Ontario by exploring our pivotal projects, our Southern Ontario Spotlight, and FedDev Ontario’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Media Contacts
Maggie Blood
Innovation Communications and Public Affairs Manager
mblood@ontariogenomics.ca

Pillar 1 of the Canadian Precision Health Initiative – Generating population-level genomic data

October 21, 2024 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

Genome Canada has launched a new funding opportunity for generation of population-level genomic data, which will be the first pillar of its soon-to-be announced large-scale precision health initiative. The goal of Genome Canada’s planned investment in the first pillar of the initiative is to sequence the genomes of at least 100,000 Canadians, reflecting Canada’s unique and diverse population. This will provide the rich dataset needed to advance research, drive innovation and improve health-care outcomes for all Canadians.

For more information or to apply, please contact Laura Riley, Director, Sector Innovation & Programs, at lriley@ontariogenomics.ca. Letters of Intent are due to Ontario Genomics by 10:00 AM, October 28, 2024.

Download full funding opportunity guidelines

Ontario Genomics Welcomes New Board Member

September 26, 2024 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

We’re delighted to introduce you to Lyndal Walker, the newest member of Ontario Genomics’ Board of Directors. Lyndal will enhance the board with a wealth of insight, experience, and expertise in the health and therapeutics space, all of which will help us achieve our strategic vision.

Lyndal Walker is currently the General Manager of Sun Pharma Canada’s Branded Business.

As General Manager, Walker oversees the company’s increasing market investment and expansion of its wide range of medicines, particularly in dermatology, ophthalmology and oncology. Walker is focused on optimizing the power of Sun Pharma’s people, innovative products, global network, and localized research, to accelerate Sun Pharma’s growth in Canada. With over 25 years of experience in global healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, she continues to unlock value for Canadians and address the unmet needs and gaps in the healthcare system. Read more about Lyndal Walker

Ontario Genomics is also thankful to our retiring board members for their years of deep commitment to our board.

Deb (Deborah) Stark served on our board for seven years and played an invaluable role as Chair of the board for five years. Deb brought a wealth of government and agriculture sector experience, while supporting vibrant board development and governance. We are especially grateful to Deb for her steady leadership throughout the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark Lundie served on our board for six years and brought fantastic expertise in rare disease and a global pharmaceutical sector perspective. Mark greatly supported our private sector and commercialization programs.
Jehoshua Sharma advanced our board with insights into the student perspective while supporting our training initiatives over the past four years. Thank you to our past board members for your contributions to OG!

To learn more about the new member and additional changes to our Board please see our governance page.

Showing Businesses How to Use Science to Their Advantage

September 23, 2024 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

A new online course teaches companies to partner with colleges to test their technologies

It’s a nagging problem countless companies have faced: they have a great idea to improve their products or processes but don’t know how to make it a reality. That’s where Ontario Genomics and Loyalist College come in with a four-course Fundamentals of Applied Research micro-credential program that can get businesses from the idea stage to the testing phase.

The first course is now available and the best part is, it’s online and open to companies across the province. This 10-week, 25-hour, go-at-your-own-pace course walks through the process of how businesses can connect with local college researchers, design, fund and deliver a project that tests the new product or technology they want to incorporate into their operations.

Whether it’s creating a natural food product or ingredient, figuring out more sustainable packaging or improving crop production, applied research projects are a win-win for the community since it’s a lower-risk option that allows local businesses to produce homegrown innovations more efficiently, while also giving college researchers projects to work on.

Ontario Genomics Strategic Partnerships Manager Michael Dorrington, says, “Most companies don’t realize local colleges offer this kind of access to lab space and expertise to test their ideas. This micro-credential goes through all the steps businesses need to take advantage of this invaluable support available to them.”

Amy Harder, Loyalist College Senior Director of Business Development, says, “We’re proud to support businesses and entrepreneurs by offering targeted corporate training programs like this course. It’s through these initiatives that Loyalist strengthens the regional economy and fosters local growth.“

Getting organized, the genomics way!

July 30, 2024 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

Two new hubs will make research easier to manage and access for scientists and industry

Groundbreaking research has the power to move humanity forward in many ways, but it doesn’t do much good if it’s not organized and easy to access. A new $15.8 million program creating two supporting hubs will do away with that problem by getting researchers and industry partners on the same page to turn solid research into real-life use that we can all enjoy.

As part of the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems (CSAFS) program, nine Interdisciplinary Challenge Teams (ICTs) across Canada are doing critical work to find solutions to climate change and its ravaging impact on our food supply. Ontario Genomics is among a group of investors in these two new organizational hubs that help scientists compile their cutting-edge genomics research in the most efficient way possible.

Agricultural Genomics Action Centre

This $4.6 million knowledge mobilization and implementation hub will take research from the ICTs and showcase and disseminate the information so that it’s accessible and usable in the real world by partners in the farming, food and beverage and agriculture sectors, as well as policymakers and government.

Researchers: Elizabeth Shantz and Jessica Bowes at University of Guelph; Dr. Nancy Tout at the Global Institute for Food Security, University of Saskatchewan; Dr. Lupin Battersby at Simon Fraser University

Partners: Ontario Genomics, Genome Prairie and Genome British Columbia

Unlocking the future of food: The FAO and Ontario Genomics uncover the challenges and opportunities

June 12, 2024 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

SynBio2024: Bonus - New Food Innovation Opportunity on Oct 10

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, alongside Ontario Genomics, is giving you a global perspective on the future of innovation in food, cleantech, and health. Join us in Toronto, from October 7-9, for the sixth edition of Canada SynBio 2024 as we explore how to break through barriers and focus on “Unlocking the Future,” so the bioeconomy can thrive, for Canada and the rest of the world.

You’ll want to book an extra night’s stay in Toronto because on October 10, the FAO, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), will hold a stakeholder roundtable meeting on cell-based food production and precision fermentation. This is the third meeting in the series that includes developers, producers, and researchers to apply and present their original products. The call for presenters is open until July 1, additional details here.

Join us and be part of the solution as we address challenges and highlight opportunities for Canada to strengthen its leadership in the ecosystem, and how innovations and engineering biology-based technologies can truly revolutionize society on a global scale. We look forward to seeing you there!

Tech and Science Meet to Create Medical Marvels

May 30, 2024 by ON Genomics Leave a Comment

New government funding for projects includes world-class cancer diagnosis tools and the medicinal magic of mushrooms

May 29, 2024, Toronto –

With the goal of unlocking the healing abilities of science and technology the Canadian government through Genome Canada and Ontario Genomics are giving over $13.5 million in funding to five projects in Ontario that will improve our healthcare system and ensure biodiversity in our ecosystem.

With more than 600 new cancer cases diagnosed every day in Canada, researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital have joined forces on a $6 million project to grow their tumour classification system. This platform allows doctors to identify difficult to diagnose cancers with near perfect accuracy to get patients the right care they need, faster. They also plan to expand the types of cancers it can identify and share this lifesaving technology with other countries.

Some families have a heightened risk of colon, brain and gynaecological cancer that is passed on in their DNA. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre researchers are getting nearly $800,000 to create an affordable, less invasive test to dramatically cut down on diagnosis wait times and life-long screening for people with this condition.

CGEn researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children, McGill University and the BC Cancer Research Centre are developing new technology to meet the needs of the scientific community. This $3.3 million project will develop advanced genomic services and analysis for nearly 3,000 research labs, companies and not-for-profits.

Mushrooms are more than just great on pizza, they can actually be the basis of new medicines! McMaster University researchers and B.C. biotech company, Kapoose Creek Bio, are using AI and synthetic biology to explore fungal compounds in a $2.2 million project to discover new drugs.

Most of the things we buy in the grocery store have a barcode, and Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph researchers are applying that concept to DNA of all species. Their $1 million analytics project allows scientists to identify all the animals and insects around us and track changes in their population and movements. This technology can be shared with other researchers around the world to ensure biodiversity and sustainability.

-30-

Maggie Blood

Innovation Communications and Public Affairs Manager

mblood@ontariogenomics.ca

Ontario Genomics Names John M. Rafferty as New CEO to Champion Made-in-Ontario Innovation

New Report Projects an $18.8 Billion Food Biomanufacturing Industry for Canada

Expanding the Use of Genomics to Unravel Rare Diseases: Care4Rare EXPAND

INFANT: Identifying At-risk Newborns from the Analysis of NGS Testing

Precision Child Health – Comprehensive Sequencing for Childhood Life-long Disorders

Precision Health Network for Neurodevelopment, Mental Health and Brain Injury

Genomic Evidence for Precision Medicine for Selected Chronic Diseases among Black Peoples in Canada

Longitudinal, Deep-Phenotyped Pediatric Databank of Medical and Drug Therapy Outcomes

With $30 million in follow-on funding so far, more companies are joining the BioCreate accelerator

A new online course teaches companies to partner with colleges to test their technologies

Two new hubs will make research easier to manage and access for scientists and industry

Climate-Smart Data Collaboration Centre

Agricultural Genomics Action Centre

SynBio2024: Bonus - New Food Innovation Opportunity on Oct 10

New government funding for projects includes world-class cancer diagnosis tools and the medicinal magic of mushrooms

Receive Email Updates from Ontario Genomics

What’s Happening in Real-Time