Regional Bioscience Spotlight: Thunder Bay
With experts in fields ranging from DNA analysis to cancer research, medical devices to bioproducts, the Thunder Bay biotech cluster, albeit small, is making good in establishing itself as player on the Ontario biotech stage. This is thanks in large part to activities driven by the city’s education sector and the regional hospital, as well as several commercialization facilitators in the area.
Developing future generations of talented researchers, Lakehead University has a comprehensive science program, including a Masters in public health and undergraduate degrees and programs in biology and chemistry. At the same time LU is beefing up its own life science program and its PhD program. The new Northern Ontario School of Medicine campus at Lakehead is expected to pave the way for future R&D activities in Thunder Bay.
The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre is also playing a pivotal role in growing the city’s innovation capacity. Located in Thunder Bay on Lakehead University Campus, the Centre offers support to innovative entrepreneurs, businesses and various projects in the area. Formally, the Northwestern Ontario Technology Centre, in the past it has served as a business incubator for new technological start-up companies in Thunder Bay.
“We’re focused on growing new or existing innovative companies across a broad spectrum of innovation, which includes life sciences and biotechnology,” states Judy Sander, Manager of the NOTC, adding that her organization works closely with its partners like the Innovation Management office at Lakehead University and its cohorts at Innovation Initiatives Ontario North (IION) and science enterprise Algoma to grow the biotech and life science sector in the region..
“There’s a real cluster of research activities going on in Thunder Bay, backed by a critical mass of qualified people,” she says. “Our main strength is what’s going on at the hospital through the Thunder Bay Research Institute and their molecular medicine research centre.”
The Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute is a research facility on the Lakehead University grounds. At the institute there is a research lab and an animal lab facility. Sander explains it is a major part of what her organization is trying to accomplish and that it too has its own commercialization arm.
The Molecular Medicine Research Centre (MMRC) is the institute’s flagship program. The MMRC focuses on the development of new molecular imaging technology as well as advanced diagnostics in the hopes of the bettering the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. It is heavily involved in collaborations across Ontario, specifically with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Lakehead University, Philips Healthcare and Cancer Care Ontario. Phillips Healthcare is the big private sector partner in this initiative where Cancer Care Ontario.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre is a success story on its own. The state-of-the-art facility is equipped with leading edge technology that is attracting people from all corners to use this kind of equipment. According to Sander, it was through building this new hospital that the city was able to convert the old hospital into the research institute. She adds that the new hospital is also being proactive in the life science area, and has moved away from just being a regional hospital and exploring the idea of being a research facility.
In terms of other facilities, Thunder Bay is also home to Molecular World, the first private lab in Canada to conduct both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA testing. Its services include forensics, paternity testing as well as analysis of both ancient and modern DNA samples. Likewise the Paleo-DNA Laboratory is one of the top ancient DNA research laboratories in the world. The laboratory has attracted international attention for genetically identifying the “Unknown Child” of the Titanic disaster. Additionally, there are many other research projects involving the identification of disease, sex, species, and DNA analysis going on at the lab.
The area has also established a presence in the bio-product sector with the Atikokan Research centre, an institute supporting the development and testing of clean energy research. On top of this commitment, Ontario is investing $25 million in the new Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE) in the area. This centre will attract world-class researchers to develop the next generation of renewable forestry bio-products and in replacing products now made with fossil fuels with those created from renewable resources. Additionally, it will focus on research, development and commercialization as it relates to the use of fibres, molecules and cellulose from Ontario forests for new products and processes such as resins and medical compounds.
The city as such is attracting world class research talent. Among the many researchers that have relocated to Thunder Bay, Dr. Mark Poznansky, the former President and Scientific Director of Robarts Research Institute, is now the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute’s Chief Research Officer. Sander adds that the molecular medicine initiative is recruiting 16 leading edge researchers to come and relocate within the facility as well. Part of the attractiveness of Thunder Bay is that it provides favourable cost advantages relative to other clusters across the country in terms of its labour force, taxes and facility costs, specifically related to biomedical R&D.
In addition the growth of research infrastructure being seen in the area, local biotech companies are also starting to find success. At the front of the pack is Genesis Genomics, a cancer biomarker discovery company specializing in the development of molecular diagnostics tests for cancer and other diseases. It was recently named as one of Canada’s Top 10 Life Science companies. It is moving from research and development to the commercialization of its products.
Sander explains that the success Genesis has enjoyed has paved the way for the development of a local organized angel network in Thunder Bay that supports some of the area’s early stage to companies, giving them the capital they need going forward. But she adds the challenges moving forward are that they are still quite a distance from all the centres where most of the risk capital flows in Canada and there are still attitudes and questions of how much cutting edge technology comes out of the north that need to be overcome.
“We don’t have huge numbers here, and we’re a lot closer to places like Winnipeg than we are to Toronto. But we are starting to see all kinds of things coming together, we’re creating quite a bit of activity, most importantly we’re not having troubles recruiting talent to the area. With the presence of anchor institutions, such as Lakehead University and the Medical School, institutes with international reputations and biotechnology companies already established I think it’s safe to say we’ve got some good things coming,” says Sander.
Shawn Lawrence
Staff Writer
Biotechnology Focus
24-4 Vata Court, Aurora ON L4G 4B6
(905) 727-3875 ext. 223
Back to December 2008 e-BIOSCAN Newsletter
