$20.6 million in NSERC funding announced
Ministers of Parliament Kate Young and Peter Fragiskatos today announced more than $20.6 million in research funding, scholarships and fellowships at Western University from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
The funding is part of the Research Tool and Instrument (RTI) and Discovery Grants programs, and is NSERC’s largest annual investment. The funding helps move forward research by providing financial support though scholarships, fellowships, research supplements, and equipment grants.
“The NSERC Grants are competitive and rigorously reviewed awards that validate the research excellence, creativity and inspiring research training opportunities that exist within our research community,” said David Litchfield, Vice Dean of Research and Innovation at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. “The NSERC RTI awards are a great boost for our research community that will enable the acquisition of innovative new technologies to open new avenues of research and further enhance training opportunities.
At Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, funded research projects ranged from in-vivo measurements of airways and alveoli, to measuring embryonic heart development. In total 8 research projects were funded at Robarts Research Institute, totaling almost $2 million in funding.
For Robarts scientist Caroline Schild-Poulter, PhD, the funding will go toward the purchase of an x-ray irradiator cabinet for live cell irradiation. This equipment is essential to carry out the lab’s research program funded by NSERC that investigates the role of the factor Ku on DNA repair and DNA damage signaling.
“This research program focusses on DNA repair and the cellular response to DNA damage, so experimental systems involve cultured mammalian cells that have been irradiated to get their DNA damaged,” said Schild-Poulter.
Robarts scientist Melvyn Goodale, PhD, was awarded the highest funding amount in Canada through the Discovery Grants program.
Congratulations to all of the recipients from Robarts:
Michael Boffa, PhD
Aaron Fenster, PhD
Melvyn Goodale, PhD
Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujillo
Grace Parraga, PhD
Caroline Schild-Poulter, PhD
Timothy Scholl, PhD
Donald Welsh, PhD
