Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island research projects receive $6.2 million in AIF funding

Three research projects led by the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island received a significant boost this week during ACOA Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) announcements. Approximately $6.2 million in AIF funding was committed in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick to three projects that will benefit human and animal health, while strengthening industries in Atlantic Canada.

The three Atlantic Veterinary College-led UPEI initiatives to receive AIF funding are:

'The University of Prince Edward Island and Atlantic Veterinary College continue to be strongly focused on research and innovation that benefits our society,' said Dr. Katherine Schultz, Vice President of Research Development at UPEI. 'We are very appreciative to be recipients within this round of AIF funding and are excited by the possibilities our research projects bring in terms of advancing scientific knowledge and strengthening our region.'

Summaries of the projects are outlined below.

This project, which was announced in New Brunswick on January 19, 2008, will research and develop ways to reduce infection and disease in salmon aquaculture in the Atlantic Region, thereby improving fish health management practices and reducing fish losses across the industry.

With the development of the project, the AVC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences will advance health management research within Canadian aquaculture and aquatic epidemiology globally to an unprecedented level. The project, with estimated costs of $5 million, will receive $2.5 million in AIF funding and matching funds from the Atlantic provinces over a five-year period. Other project funders include Cooke Aquaculture Inc., Admiral Fish Farms, and Northern Harvest Sea Farms.

AVC's Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences is regarded as a world leader in aquatic health sciences and epidemiology. Where the two disciplines overlap is a particular expertise of the centre.

The Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI is placing a growing emphasis on innovation and education through its Cell-based Therapies project. The project will result in the development of new cell-based therapies - bone therapy and soft tissue therapy - in the hope of accelerating the promotion of tissue regeneration of bone and ligament in injured horses and companion animals.

The development of these methods for treating musculoskeletal injury will further advance the field of veterinary regenerative medicine and build critical research mass inveterinary regenerative medicine in Atlantic Canada. The project, with estimated costs of $3.3 million, will receive $2.1 million in AIF funding over four years.

The Atlantic Veterinary College currently offers stem-cell therapy for horses across Canada.

The objective of Biomed Atlantic is to create, use and patent unique and clinically relevant animal models of seizure disorders, stroke, schizophrenia and cognitive dysfunction for broader drug evaluation.

The creation of Biomed Atlantic will fill a gap in the innovation process for pre-clinical drug development in PEI. Using complex, specialized and clinically relevant animal models to provide late stage screening, Biomed Atlantic will provide the highest standard animal efficacy data required for companies to make decision on whether to finance and fund the regulatory stage testing needed to take these compounds to human clinical trials.

A significant amount of Biomed Atlantic's work will be carried out through the Atlantic Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research, a multi-user state-of-the-art research facility at the Atlantic Veterinary College. The project, with estimated costs of $12.5 million, will receive $1.6 million in AIF funding over four years.