Projects
New Opportunities
Genome Alberta, its partners and participants, offer Albertans the opportunity to push the limits of Life Sciences research and technology development opportunities in genomics and proteomics.
The public and private investment in genomics research through Genome Canada is already more than $1.2 billion and growing. With this very large investment comes a corresponding expectation for future benefits to our society, whether through the growth of new industries, the improvement of human health, the ability to monitor environmental change, the increase in crop or domestic animal productivity, or any of a host of other potential areas of application.
For Genome Alberta , we see many opportunities for development and application of discoveries arising from our projects. These include:
Agriculture and Forestry: Our researchers are undertaking studies that will result in improvements to the quality and productivity of oilseed crops such as canola. They are also working on strategies to improve frost tolerance in wheat, improved breeding strategies for softwood trees, and contributing to the worldwide effort to sequence the genome of cows.
Human health: Our teams are developing new diagnostic tools that will enable the early, rapid and inexpensive detection of a wide variety of human diseases or metabolic disorders using simple body fluids. They are also developing tests for the early and accurate detection of organ transplant rejection, allowing better management of patient health and the use of immunosuppressants. In addition, our researchers are contributing to a worldwide study seeking to improve the usefulness of the laboratory mouse as a model for inherited human disease.
Core technologies: We have research teams that are working to develop the next generation of mass spectrometers (devices that can measure molecular size and abundance with extraordinary precision). This is a new field in which Canada is a world leader. Another team is developing computer visualization tools that will allow the representation of the human body, together with data on the expression of genes involved in human disease, in a 4D virtual environment. We also have a bioinformatics technology platform that is providing access to the most advanced tools for the analysis and understanding of the huge volumes of genomic and proteomic information generated by our projects and others worldwide.
Ethical studies: The rapid pace of development in the genomics field means that our society is often struggling to understand how to benefit most from its potential, while minimizing the risks. This is especially true in the health care area, and we have a research team that is focusing on how the use of genomics, leading to advances in disease prevention, diagnostics and therapeutics can most efficiently, and in an appropriate regulatory climate, be introduced into the health system.
The future for genomics science is bright and we see many opportunities for the development of practical applications that will benefit Albertans and Canada in a safe, efficient and cost-effective manner. New industries will emerge, and existing sectors will be strengthened, resulting in a virtuous economic cycle of growth and reinvestment.