May 3, 2021 – The Government of Ontario is investing nearly $3 million in three Ontario Genomics-led projects as part of the Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP). This program funds industry-partnered projects that use genomics tools and technologies to address real-world challenges and opportunities with the intent to create numerous downstream impacts for Ontario, such as job creation and revenue generation. Additional funding from Genome Canada ($4.2 million), industry and research partners brings the total investment into these projects to $13 million.
Ontario is a world leader in genomics research, producing breakthroughs in science and transforming our understanding of the world around us. Genomics technologies and applied research are already being used to tackle important challenges and develop innovative solutions across diverse sectors of the economy, including human health and the environment.
Ontario Genomics plays a vital role in advancing these projects by supporting the development of their proposals, helping them access diverse funding sources, and finding the right industry partners to take this research out of the lab to apply it to the world’s most pressing challenges. Since its inception in 2000, Ontario Genomics has raised more than $1.27 billion for genomics applied research in Ontario and directly supported more than 9,100 trainees and jobs. We have 110+ active projects, 500+ impactful partnerships and have secured $1.34 billion in follow-on investments.
This investment will support researchers at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children. In collaboration with industry partners, including Bright Angel Therapeutics and Nanostring, these genomics-based projects will have real, positive impacts on our healthcare system, as well as the environment and well-being of Canadians.
“Partnerships between the researchers and industry are the cornerstone of Ontario’s thriving innovation community. By supporting the development and uptake of new technologies that provide game-changing solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, Ontario Genomics is helping to nurture healthy people, a healthy economy, and a healthy planet for generations to come.” – Dr. Bettina Hamelin, President and CEO, Ontario Genomics
“Our government is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Ontarians. By investing in Ontario Genomics, we’re supporting significant advancements in research and innovation in the healthcare sector to ensure Ontarians have access to state-of-the-art healthcare services and technologies. These projects aren’t only aimed at improving the healthcare and wellbeing of Ontarians, but also putting Ontario on the map as a global leader in research and innovation in the healthcare sector. ”- Ross Romano, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities.
“With GAPP funding, in partnership with NanoString and SickKids, we are excited to be developing a novel diagnostic test that will allow us to uncover the molecular pathways that are driving each patient’s cancer. This test is the first of its kind and will help us to optimize targeted therapy for cancer patients from across Ontario,” said Dr. Cynthia Hawkins, Project Lead & Neuropathologist, The Hospital for Sick Children.
“SickKids is pioneering the development of diagnostics that utilize both protein and mRNA biomarkers to identify patients who will respond to targeted therapies. Their selection of nCounter® as the platform of choice for this effort shows its unique potential to gather meaningful, high-quality multi-modal data to advance precision medicine for kids with cancer,” said Sean Ferree, Vice President of Customer Experience, NanoString. “It\’s an honour to receive GAPP support and to work together to better understand the characteristics that make treatments effective.”
“Bright Angel Therapeutics is very grateful for the support from Ontario Genomics in securing the GAPP investment. The partnership with the University of Toronto gives the company access to state-of-the-art genomic tools, expertise and resources to assist us in advancing our lead antifungal drug development program from the bench to the bedside. Government investments, such as this one, provide vital resources to early-stage companies that enable them to build out their technology platforms, position themselves for subsequent private investment rounds and build out the innovation ecosystem.” – Dr. Dominic Jaikaran, President & CEO Bright Angel Therapeutics
“This investment will catalyze the translation of genomics-driven fundamental science focused on discovery of vulnerabilities in fungal pathogens into new strategies to overcome drug resistance and treat life-threatening fungal infectious disease.” – Dr. Leah Cowen, Associate Vice President, Research, University of Toronto.
Learn more about the three funded GAPP projects:
- Targeting fungal stress responses to provide first-in-class treatment for drug-resistant fungal pathogens (Receptor – Bright Angel Therapeutics): This project will develop a novel anti-fungal drug that will tackle drug resistance at its root. This new treatment option would help fill an urgent, unmet clinical need, reduce morbidity and mortality caused by fungal infections, and provide significant savings to the Canadian healthcare system, which currently spends $345 million on treating invasive fungal infections.
- Field Validation of Technologies for Anaerobic Benzene and Alkylbenzene Bioremediation (Receptor – SiREM): This project aims to demonstrate the efficacy of a broad set of novel and specialized anaerobic bioaugmentation cultures in pilot trials at three different benzene contaminated sites. The team will use metagenome-enabled analysis, groundwater modelling, and tracking of the microbial populations and functional genes to improve overall remediation outcomes and restore ecosystem health.
- NanoString nCounter® Vantage 3D platform-based complementary diagnostic tests for precision medicine in pediatric cancers (Receptors – The Hospital for Sick Children and Nanostring): To best guide therapeutic choices, this project aims to amalgamate proteomic data with genomic and transcriptomic information to create laboratory-developed (LDT)-complementary diagnostics for the most common pediatric cancers. Additionally, this project has international (NanoString) and Ontario-based (SickKids) co-receptors deriving benefits from this diagnostic technology.
