Federal Agriculture Researchers Join UPEI and NRC in Unique Bioresources Research
The Government of Canada today announced $2 million in funding as a capital contribution toward the development of the National Research Council Institute for Nutrisciences and Health (NRC-INH) on the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) campus.
Within the facility, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) scientists and technicians will collaborate with UPEI and NRC scientists to identify and refine naturally occurring compounds from plant, animal and marine life that can benefit human and animal health.
"For UPEI, this new collaboration builds on our already strong ties with AAFC - a key partner in many research and development initiatives of UPEI and our faculty of veterinary medicine, the Atlantic Veterinary College," said Dr. Katherine Schultz, Vice President Research Development at UPEI. "As well, this collaboration will augment the benefits of the established and ongoing research initiatives of UPEI's Atlantic Canada Network on Bioactive Compounds and the Centre for Bioresource Innovation."
"Canada's new government is committed to supporting research that benefits health and wellness and generate new opportunities for our agriculture and agri-food sector," said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs on behalf of Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board. "This is an exciting collaboration in a market of enormous potential."
Under the agreement, up to14 AAFC employees will be located in the new facility by 2009. The research will increase Canada's ability to produce food and other products that benefit the nutrition and health of humans and animals. The AAFC team will contribute to the identification of bioactive molecules and will help develop sustainable production systems for these new products that will be of higher value.
"With Agriculture and Agriand#8209;Food Canada on board, research will span the full continuum, from discovery to commercialization," said National Research Council President Dr. Pierre Coulombe "It will start with the discovery and extraction of important bioactive compounds found in renewable resources, continue with research into the role they play in human and animal health, and on to the sustainable production of new crops and commercialization of functional foods and nutraceuticals."
The market for nutraceuticals and functional foods is being driven by a growing consumer understanding of the links between nutrition and health and advances in natural health treatments.
The Government of Canada and the University of Prince Edward Island are part of a growing biotechnology community in Prince Edward Island that includes, among others, the PEI Food Technology Centre, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Centre for Animal and Plant Health and 20 private biotechnology companies with estimated annual revenues of $60 million.
