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SmartRequisition: Scalable Genomic Test Requisitions

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Overview

Genomic medicine is entering mainstream care, but interpretation remains a critical bottleneck: accurate variant analysis depends on structured phenotypes, yet requisitions are often incomplete, unstructured, and still on paper.

Manual entry of Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) codes is slow, inconsistent, and labour-intensive, delaying care and limiting scalability as sequencing expands across specialties. This project will advance SmartRequisition, a software portal that automates HPO capture at ordering and generates HL7 FHIR/LIS-ready requisitions.

By Month 24, it will be implemented at IWK Health and partner Canadian sites, with a 67% reduction in phenotype coding time, 80% requisition completeness, and a solution with 30% attach-rate goal across current deployments and an ARR trajectory toward ~CA$6M.

To address the existing need, the Clinical Intelligence for Phenotyping and Genomics Research (CIPHER) network has been established. Co-led by PhenoTips and IWK Health, partners include Alberta Health Services, CHU Sainte-Justine, CHEO, and SickKids. The network will co-design and validate SmartRequisition, embedding it into intake workflows.

Using large language models with retrieval-augmented generation, the tool extracts HPO terms from free text and structured inputs, supports multimodal data, and enables clinician-in-the-loop review. Requisitions export via HL7 FHIR, LIS, or PDF for integration into lab and EHR systems.

The market opportunity is significant. The global genetic testing market was US$11.9B in 2024 and is projected to reach US$91.3B by 2034 (22.6% CAGR). Growth depends on digital infrastructure that enables high-quality requisition and interpretation. PhenoTips already serves 26 hospitals worldwide with its genomic workflow platform, anchoring an immediate ~CA$200M addressable market in hospitals with in-house genetics labs.

SmartRequisition strengthens PhenoTips’ AI-driven suite, positioning the company to capture this segment and expand into the ~CA$2B serviceable market of large health systems, with future application in oncology, neurology, cardiology, and population health.

IWK was the first centre in Atlantic Canada to deliver local clinical exome services, with phenotypes integrated into sequencing through a multi-year development and privacy/legal program. This foundation de-risks the project, allowing immediate focus on validation and roll-out within the two-year GAPP timeframe.

For Canada, SmartRequisition strengthens national genomic capacity, reduces reliance on foreign software, and improves patient care. For the CIPHER network, it supports more timely diagnoses while demonstrating a solution that can scale across provinces. By transforming a universal bottleneck into a validated product, SmartRequisition positions Canada as a leader in digital infrastructure for precision medicine.

VascuBio Innovation

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Overview

VascuBio Innovation (Toronto) is bioengineering tissues for the research and healthcare industries.

What they’re doing: VascuBio is helping to advance personalized and regenerative medicine with their technology that grows and maintains 3D tissues better than current lab methods.

How will this be used in the real world? Lab-created 3D tissues are a more ethical and accurate way to test medicines of the future. VascuBio’s technology could help de-risk drug development by cutting costs and speeding up testing while providing valuable data to train AI drug discovery platforms.

Tessella Biosciences

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Overview

Tessella Biosciences (Hamilton) is developing a bio-printed dissolvable bandage for burn wounds.

What they’re doing: Tessella is now developing a bio-printed dissolvable bandage for burn wounds that has shown faster wound closure and better skin regeneration than current treatments.

How will this be used in the real world? Thousands of Canadians go to the hospital every year with burn wounds. Not only are these injuries very painful, they can also be deadly. Tessella is working on a state-of-the-art dissolvable bandage that can give patients more comfort by helping heal their burns faster.

Synakis

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Overview

Synakis (Toronto) is bioengineering treatments for eye diseases like retinal detachment and glaucoma.

What they’re doing: Current gas and oil treatments for eye diseases cause negative reactions and leave patients with a very long and cumbersome recovery. Synakis has created an injectable hydrogel made from a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer that is injected directly into the eye, making for quicker recovery and a possible substitute for retinal surgery.

How will this be used in the real world? Hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer from retinal detachment and/or glaucoma. Treatment for serious eye diseases like these haven’t been updated in a very long time. But Synakis’ hydrogel formulated specifically for the eye has the potential to speed up recovery time and reduce the need for multiple surgeries, giving patients a significantly better quality of life and easing the burden on our healthcare system.

NuvoBio

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Overview

NuvoBio (Ottawa) is using an AI platform to speed up and de-risk peptide drug discovery.

What they’re doing: NuvoBio is de-risking production of new peptide therapies by using a drug discovery platform powered by AI that can quickly validate and fine tune potential new treatments.

How will this be used in the real world? Developing medications takes a long time, but what if AI could speed up the process? NuvoBio is using computational modelling to confirm the effectiveness of peptide therapies that can lead to quicker production of new medicines.

New Code Oncology

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Overview

New Code Oncology (Toronto) is developing AI technology to detect rare and complex cancers faster.

What they’re doing: New Code is using AI technology to better detect rare cancers and also provide more detailed information about a patient’s tumour to improve treatment.

How will this be used in the real world? We’re getting closer everyday to personalized medicine and New Code projects their cancer testing technology can simplify the process and cut the wait times for quicker and more accurate results leading to patients getting the right treatment for their tumour.

Launch Bioindustries

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Overview

Launch Bioindustries (Toronto) is upcycling food waste into compostable bioplastics and coatings.

What they’re doing: Single-use plastics are being banned in cities around the world for health and environmental reasons. Launch is using precision fermentation to grow microbes from food waste that become a key ingredient in a variety of high-performance bioplastic products.

How will this be used in the real world? Bioplastics have half the carbon footprint of traditional petroleum-based plastics. Launch’s organic waste upcycling method is creating plastics that can be fully composted in soil or water, reducing the amount of both food and plastic garbage headed to landfills.

Kulture Rebellion

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Overview

Kulture Rebellion (Toronto) is creating healthy microbial strains for the functional beverage industry.

What they’re doing: Using AI to formulate recipes using upcycled food waste, Kulture Rebellion then sells those made-to-order, gut-healthy strains to beverage producers to make their drinks.

How will this be used in the real world? Gut health is on a lot of people’s minds these days and they’re looking for healthier products. The beverage industry currently uses synthetic ingredients to make gut health drinks. But Kulture Rebellion is simplifying the process by testing natural recipes with the help of AI, then producing the perfect ingredient for beverage makers.

I-RNA

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Overview

I-RNA (London) is using precision medicine to improve diabetic retinopathy detection and treatments.

What they’re doing: I-RNA is using RNA technology to make a more effective and less invasive treatment options ranging from injections to eye drops. They also have RNA-based testing kits to both detect and assess the stages of diabetic retinopathy.

How will this be used in the real world? Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness around the world. I-RNA is using precision medicine to replace current detection and treatments with a potentially more effective injection and less invasive eye drops, giving patients better quality of life.

Harvest Accelerator – wasteCANcreate

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HARVEST Business Accelerator - WCC

Applications to HARVEST are now closed. If you have any questions, please see Contact information below.

Harvest Accelerator – wasteCANcreate

Harnessing Agriculture for Research, Value-add Environmental Solutions, and Technology (HARVEST) is a nation-wide funding competition supporting innovative life sciences and biotechnology companies in Canada that are driving commercialization in clean technology advancements across agriculture and agri-food value chains.

HARVEST will fund innovative projects that advance clean technologies measurably reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)  emissions. The program encompasses a broad range of life science applications, including genomics, biotechnology, metabolomics, engineering biology, precision fermentation and best production practices. Companies are expected to co-fund a proposed project with their own financial resources.

Ontario Genomics, Genome Prairie, and Genome Alberta are combining our collective expertise in genomics, agriculture, and food biotechnology to support companies seeking to innovate and advance commercialization with a commitment to environmental responsibility.

The program is divided into two streams, Primary Agriculture Clean Technologies (PACT) and wasteCANcreate (wCc), to best leverage the strengths of each participating Genome Centre, and to most effectively address national needs for improvements in primary agriculture and waste valorization.

wasteCANcreate is focused on upcycling or reusing common agricultural and/or food and beverage processing sidestreams or by-products to improve existing processes and commercialize new bio-based products. Projects within wasteCANcreate will scale biological solutions, such as microbes (e.g., bacteria, yeasts, microalgae) and/or enzymes, to upcycle sidestreams or by-products into valuable products. Projects will be collaborative, with feedstocks providers, technology developers, and potential end users working together to de-risk these technologies.

Download and read the Program Guide

PROGRAM GUIDE

Program Objectives:

HARVEST has been designed to:

  • Support Canadian Companies
  • Strengthen Canada’s agriculture and food economy by integrating and expanding bio-based technologies
  • Support the commercial success of Canadian products, manufacturers, and producers
  • Drive development of less GHG intensive Canadian agricultural production without reducing productivity
  • Position Canada as a leader for the creation, growth and scaling of biotechnology innovation in the global agri-food sector

HARVEST is not intended to fund:

  • Academic Institutions except if/when contracted by the company as a partner in the project
  • Fundamental research
  • Market research
  • Commercial launches of already-developed technology
  • Patent enforcement or litigation
  • Projects, project components or service provision (e.g. routine analyses or certain types of trials) that would normally be funded solely by the company
A recording of our informational webinar, held on March 2 and providing an overview of the program, is available to watch here.
INFORMATIONAL WEBINAR

Eligibility Criteria:

  • Applicant must be a Canadian for-profit enterprise.
  • All funded work must happen within Canada.
  • The project supports the invention, development or commercialization of a life science/biotechnology-based, or -enabled, innovation with a clearly articulated market opportunity.
  • Additional partners are not mandatory but may strengthen a proposal (e.g. co-funding partners such as commodity groups, established companies interested in a strategic or distribution partnership, or interest as customers or end users).
  • The project has the potential to generate economic impacts for the company as well as environmental benefits to Canada.
  • Applicants will demonstrate the market potential of their innovations by outlining the competitive landscape, and industry positioning.
  • Projects will be assessed on the potential environmental impacts resulting from the funded activities.
  • Capacity of company to complete milestones and deliverables.
  • Final eligibility decisions rest with the HARVEST organizers.
  • Open to technologies that are ready to scale past the laboratory (~TRL4-5).
  • Work contributes to an area within agriculture, food and beverage production, or other area in the food value chain.
  • Utilizes an enzymatic, fermentation, and/or engineering biology-based process.

Funding Terms:

  • HARVEST will contribute between $350,000 – $750,000 to each approved project.
  • Project applicants must provide a minimum cash contribution to the project equivalent to one-third of the total project value. For example, if HARVEST contribution is $400,000, the applicant must provide at least $200,000 in co-funding. Projects will be considered more favourably with a co-funding commitment approaching one-half of the total project value (using the example in the previous point, applicants contributing near or up to $400,000 would be viewed more favourably).
  • The maximum project term is 2 years (24-months), with eligible expense period between April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2028. No-cost extensions will not be allowed within HARVEST.
  • 3-8 projects will be funded in each stream.
  • One hundred per cent of the co-funding for the project must be received or committed before funds can be released. HARVEST reserves the right to withdraw its funding for any approved project that does not meet this requirement or if there is a change in a project’s co-funding status.
  • Proposed project activities cannot already be part of any currently active Canadian Genome Enterprise or another federal program. Projects that build on, or complement, work completed under other federal programs are welcome.