TORONTO, March 27, 2006 -- Five York University researchers have been awarded more than $1.1 million in funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to study topics ranging from barriers to long-term weight loss, to the brain mechanisms underlying disorders such as autism.
CFI announced the inaugural funding today for its new Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF) – $23.6 million for 35 institutions across the country. The new program, which funds infrastructure for research, was created to give Canadian universities the flexibility they need to attract and retain the best researchers at a time of intense international competition for faculty.
“These awards represent a strategic boost to the research capabilities of York University,” said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO of the CFI. “It’s investments like these that have transformed Canada’s research landscape over the past decade and made the country a destination of choice for the world’s best researchers.”
York researchers will use the CFI funding for the following projects:
Rolando Ceddia will equip a multidisciplinary research laboratory with state-of-the-art physiology, metabolism, cell and molecular biology tools to investigate the regulation of energy storage, obstacles to losing weight and the effects of potential new drugs ($226,518).
Mazyar Fallah will use neurophysiology equipment to research how the brain selects sensory input to process, and how it binds that information into a perceptual whole. The answers may reveal how basic mechanisms of visual processing, when dysfunctional, underlie autism and attention disorders ($236,918).
Christopher Lortie will study invasive plant species in a new facility equipped with tools to measure plant ecophysiology, morphology and performance, as well as nutrient content. York will partner internationally to investigate species in different regions of the world, starting with invasive maple trees in Canada and France ($203,022).
Cody Storry is developing a facility at York which will produce large numbers of cold positronium (an electron and an antielectron in a bound state) using a new technique he developed at Harvard. An extension of this technique may produce the first trappable antihydrogen atoms. The positronium studies will extend the variety of atomic systems under study at York into the antimatter sector ($241,434).
Valeria Tsoukanova will undertake a new research program in biophysical chemistry and biomaterials design using the most advanced in-situ surface imaging techniques available. This research will provide a solid basis for rational design of coatings for implantable materials and drug delivery systems ($219,983).
“Our government applauds the groundbreaking work being carried out by world class researchers at York University,’ said Jim Flaherty, Federal Minister of Finance and Minister Responsible for the GTA. ‘Making investments in research and development will not only enhance our quality of life, they are critical if we are to strengthen Canada’s ability to be innovative and remain competitive in this vastly changing global marketplace.”
Government investments into university research infrastructure are crucial to sustaining high quality, globally competitive research programs at York and to retaining and attracting the best young researchers and students, says Stan Shapson, York’s vice-president research & innovation. "The federal government’s ongoing investments through CFI provide our researchers with the resources necessary early in their careers to contribute significantly to scientific discoveries, public policy development, and national and international dialogue.”
A complete list of LOF projects, by university, can be found at: www.innovation.ca.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 190,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 22 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
For more information, contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416-736-2100 x22101/wallsj@yorku.ca
