Western to be part of new Canada research hub for pandemic preparedness

Professor Eric Arts in the ImPaKT facility at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry (Western Communications) Coalition links universities, hospitals with industry partners By Prabhjot Sohal , March 07, 2023 By Prabhjot Sohal , - With $2 million in federal funding from the integrated Canada Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF) and Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF), five new regional hubs have been established to prepare Canada for future pandemics and health threats. Western is one of the 80 partners of the Canadian Hub for Health Intelligence and Innovation in Infectious Diseases (HI³ ) created to support the development of life-saving vaccines and therapeutics, as well as processes that target existing and emerging infectious diseases. Anchored at the University of Toronto, the HI³  will be a multidisciplinary coalition linking the resources of eight Ontario universities and six research hospitals with regional and national commercialization, biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical partners. With its long-standing research programs in infectious diseases and contribution to vaccine development, Western is a crucial partner in HI³ . Western recently received $16 million in federal funding to enhance the capacity of its state-of-the-art biocontainment level 3 (CL3) facility, Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation (ImPaKT) , located within the new Pathogen Research Centre (PRC). "Western's role in the hub leverages its strength in monitoring infectious diseases, developing and testing interventions to prevent the spread of diseases and therapeutics to treat them.