Instrumentation to address the collaborative applied research needs of Ontario's broader life sciences sector

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The life sciences sector, with annual revenues estimated at $40B, contributing approximately $38.5B to Ontario's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and supporting approximately 167,000 jobs, is a significant contributor to Ontario's economy. In Toronto alone, the sector employs more than 36,000 highly skilled workers at more than 2,430 firms, with greater than 25% of them focused on R&D. Seneca has the opportunity to be a significant contributor to Ontario's life sciences industry by, in part, helping companies address the gap between the desire to innovate and the physical infrastructure, capital, and professional assistance required to do so. Over the past 2 years, Seneca, through its School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry (SBSAC), has been supporting SMEs from the broader life sciences sector through applied research collaborations. In this time, we have collaborated with more than a dozen SMEs to address their research and development challenges under the themes of metabolomics, diagnostics and analytical testing. We have developed a unique offering, in the college system and in the region, providing out partners with unparalleled access to talent, infrastructure and funding opportunities to support growth, competitiveness and productivity.****We are requesting funds from NSERC to purchase three pieces of instrumentation: a microwave digester, a multi-modal, high throughput plate reader, and an HP-TLC. This equipment will complement and enhance our existing infrastructure, and significantly expand our capacity to support applied research collaborations. Each piece has been carefully selected to address the needs of our collaborators, and can be applied to multiple projects with new and existing partners. Without each piece, Seneca will be limited in its ability to address existing industry demand, and effectively unable to accelerate and scale out growing, industry-driven applied research program in SBSAC.****