Projects
New Generations
Genome Alberta is helping to provide an outstanding training environment for this and future generations of students. We are starting with a great advantage because Alberta high school students consistently rank among the world's best in math and science competencies. Our universities are regular recipients of national and international awards of recognition for innovative research studies. The University of Alberta's business school specializes in health management and technology commercialization; the University of Calgary is a leader in the emerging bioinformatics area; and the University of Lethbridge is a leader in neurosciences and proteomics. Our technical schools provide a regular stream of qualified technicians with a variety of specialized skills, including biotechnology.
This training, educational, and support environment applies to a large community of students and seasoned scientists, lab technicians, computer programmers, project managers, and financial staff. Opportunities abound for creative minds within these interdisciplinary frameworks and partnerships. For example, we sponsor awards at Science Fairs to encourage high school students with great ideas in genomics to compete at the regional and national levels; winners of these awards receive prizes and special recognition, with the top students able to spend time in the lab of their choice. We also encourage the exchange of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows among our international collaborating research teams.
We co-sponsor regional, national, and international research conferences and symposia to promote the development, evaluation, and communication of the best ideas in our strategic areas of development. We include in our efforts the necessary linkages with governmental funding and regulatory agencies, so that our partners are fully aware of the opportunities and challenges facing new generations of students and trainees and their developmental goals.
Alberta benefits from significant provincial investments in research infrastructure. New medical centers dedicated to cardiology and bone disease research are being developed at the Universities of Alberta and Calgary, and both Edmonton and Calgary are developing Research Parks to more conveniently accommodate biotechnology and biomedical industries.
In short, together with the investments in the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and Alberta Ingenuity, the Province of Alberta is perfectly poised to build a formidable science and technology capacity for the 21st century and its students.
The new disciplines of genomics and proteomics, as pursued by existing and future generations of men and women, will open doors to the new Life Sciences with its endless opportunities.