HOME | THE YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS | Renewing the commitment to excellence

After completing a seven-year cycle, each network undergoes a renewal process, with its past work and future plans reviewed. In 2005-2006, The Canadian Stroke Network successfully secured NCE renewal for a second seven-year term.

The Canadian Stroke Network (CSN)

In the late summer of 2005, when the NCE program announced that the Canadian Stroke Network (CSN) had been awarded $25.6 million in funding for four years, it was both an acknowledgement of impressive accomplishments and an act of anticipation of more great things to come.

In its first six years of operation, under the direction of CEO and Scientific Director Dr. Antoine Hakim, the CSN established itself as an international leader in the stroke effort by assembling world-class research initiatives, setting standards for rehabilitation and supporting the creation of spin-off companies to develop new anti-stroke therapies.

The CSN built the Registry of the Canadian Stroke Network – the world's premier tool to monitor and evaluate stroke care – and forged a mutually beneficial partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) to translate state-of-the-art research into stroke care procedures and practice. And it created an award-winning training program for its highly qualified personnel.

Looking forward, the CSN is poised to make an even greater contribution to reducing the growing burden of stroke – a devastating disease that strikes 50,000 Canadians each year and is the leading cause of long-term adult disability.

In partnership with the HSF, the CSN is driving the Canadian Stroke Strategy to significantly improve stroke prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in every province and territory by 2010. The massive project involves everyone concerned with stroke care – from paramedics to policy-makers – and will ensure that the best practices for stroke are in place right across the country. "This co-ordinated stroke strategy will help us reduce death and disability from one of society's most sudden and devastating illnesses," said Dr. Hakim.

Along with driving the national strategy, the CSN's renewed funding is supporting a number of high-impact projects to decrease the physical, mental, social, and economic burden of stroke. As Dr. Alan Bernstein, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, pointed out at the renewal announcement, the work the CSN is doing to forge partnerships with industry, health care practitioners, public organizations, and policy-makers is ensuring that scientific innovations are "making it out of the laboratory and into the world where they can do the most good."

The year 2005-2006 also saw two networks – AquaNet and CANVAC – wrap up their participation in NCE program. Canada benefited significantly from the research these networks encouraged, the knowledge translation they fostered and the industry partnerships they forged.

AquaNet

AquaNet's activities helped Canadian aquaculture – the farming of fish, shellfish and aquatic plants in fresh or salt water – become a globally competitive and sustainable sector. Activities included:

• Mobilizing Canadian academic researchers into multi-disciplinary research teams.
• Connecting Canada to a world of R&D through international research collaborations.
• Providing industry, governments and other sector stakeholders with a trusted, independent source of research and scientific advice.

CANVAC – Canadian Network for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics

CANVAC, the Canadian Network for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, built a consortium of leading medical researchers across the country to develop vaccines to help in the fight against cancer and viral diseases. Among its accomplishments:

• CANVAC researchers identified 10 T-cell epitopes (antigenic sites against which antibodies react) of the SARS-Cov N protein.
• Work supported by CANVAC led to the development of the adjuvant 4-IBBL, an immune system booster with strong potential application in therapeutic anti-HIV and cancer vaccines.
• Research initiated by CANVAC is helping move forward preclinical and clinical trials in the effort to develop vaccines for melanoma, HIV, HCV, breast and prostate cancer, SARS and Yellow Fever.

The 2006 NCE Renewal Competition Selection Committee

Chair:
Dr. Camille Limoges
Consultant
Outremont, QC, Canada

Members:
Dr. John Clement
iCo Therapeutics Inc.
BC, Canada

Dr. Terry Dick
University of Manitoba
MB, Canada

Dr. Cathy Garner
Boweham House
Lancaster, England

Dr. Peter Hackett
Alberta Ingenuity Fund
AB, Canada

Dr. Shoo Lee
University of British Columbia
BC, Canada

Dr. Tim Mosmann
University of Rochester Medical Center
NY, USA

Dr. Jane E. Pagel
Jacques Whitford Ltd
ON, Canada

Dr. Mark Rosenberg
Queen's University
ON, Canada

In late March of 2006 the NCE program announced the investment of up to $21.9 million over three years to extend the research activities of two networks. One is involved in building better bridges, while the other is securing the sustainability of Canada's forests.

The funding renewal for Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures – ISIS Canada and the Sustainable Forest Management Network (SFM Network) came only after an in-depth review of their scientific accomplishments, future research priorities, and training and knowledge transfer activities.

That review process indicated the two networks not only have admirable track records for moving research out of their laboratories and into the world, they have put plans in place to do even more to provide benefits to Canadians.

Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures – ISIS Canada

Heading into the second half of its second seven-year funding term, Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures – ISIS Canada has good reason to be proud.

The network, which marked its 10th anniversary in 2005, has essentially rewritten the book on how bridges are built. Research and knowledge translation that ISIS championed on glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRPs) has led to the updating of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code.

The network is also having a global impact. International adoption of the ISIS Winnipeg Principles is shifting thinking and setting new standards and application specifications for the design and construction of concrete bridges. It is leading to the adoption of technologies for longer lasting structures that are easier and less-expensive to monitor and maintain.

"With our funding secured, we can continue our mission for the benefit of the engineering profession and Canadians at large," said Dr. Aftab Mufti, President and Scientific Director of ISIS.

Sustainable Forest Management Network (SFM)

The reason behind the success of the Sustainable Forest Management Network (SFM) can be summed up in two words: it listens.

Instead of funding research and then trying to find a use for it, the SFM Network first listens to what its partners in industry, government, First Nations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) indicate are their priorities. Funded university-based research teams then work in collaboration with those partners and the network's staff to make sure research knowledge is shared and implemented.

It's a system that works. "The structure and mandate of the SFM Network has provided Weyerhaeuser with an opportunity to contribute to setting research direction and to focus on research priorities that are of importance to the company," said Norm Denney, Alberta Forestlands Manager, Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. "As a result, our company has access to reliable scientific data on such issues as natural disturbance, variable retention, and a variety of wildlife projects."

The Canadian Genetic Diseases Network (CGDN)

The Canadian Genetic Diseases Network (CGDN) successfully completed its NCE funding in 2004-2005 and has received a total of $500,000 in research management funding (RMF) since that time to complete its activities and make the transition to sustainability.

As part of that process, CGDN held a series of bioinformatics workshops to meet the increasing demand for computational biology skills in Canada. The short, practical workshops provided a comprehensive introduction to the methodology and algorithms that underlie successful development and application of bioinformatics tools and software.

The Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems – IRIS

One of the original networks established by the NCE program in 1990, the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) was managed by Precarn Incorporated, an independent, not-for-profit company that supports the pre-commercial development of leading-edge technologies.

IRIS developed innovative programs to advance the understanding and application of robotics and intelligent systems. The Technology Gap Assistance Program bridged the gap between academic results and a marketable reality. The Precarn Scholars Program funded top students and promoted their work. The Emerging Opportunities Fund allowed tenured researchers to explore early-stage concepts with commercial potential. In partnership with the Canadian Space Agency and Precarn, IRIS funded a one-year agreement to promote Canadian leadership in space telerobotics and telemedicine technologies.

IRIS, which received transition funding in 2005-2006 after the successful completion of 14 years of NCE support, did outstanding work in developing HQP, patents, licences and start-up companies to commercialize inventions that will benefit Canada and Canadians.

IRIS research resulted in 151 technology disclosures, 50 licences, and 55 patent applications – of which 47 have been issued. Significant new knowledge was applied in areas such as robotic manipulation, data mining and motion planning.

The work IRIS undertook helped integrate innovations in robotics and intelligent systems with health care and industry. These successes are being carried forward by Precarn to transform university and government research into products and processes.

Protein Engineering Network (PENCE Inc.)

PENCE was one of the original 15 NCEs that were launched in 1989 and successfully completed their two cycles of NCE funding. NCE funding of PENCE came to an end in fiscal year 2004-05; however, NCE terms and conditions allow networks' researchers one year after NCE funding to complete their research and student training activities.

With an early mandate to engineer and study novel proteins for economic benefit, PENCE evolved as it responded to changes in the research and scientific climates.

As it evolved, PENCE created a vast wealth of knowledge. Its advances in carbohydrate technologies, protein analysis and protease studies have stood the test of time. It built a bridge between academic research and industry application by partnering with existing companies and helping to create new ones. It trained the next generation of protein scientists: more than 900 postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduate students, summer interns and technicians were trained directly through the network.

PENCE's work has had direct application in the health sciences by helping to create vaccines and treatments, including advances made by a PENCE research group in the treatment for Tay-Sachs Disease. As well, PENCE was quick off the mark when SARS struck in 2003: within days of the announcement of the determination of the SARS genome sequence, network researchers were working on proteins that play key roles in how the virus replicates.

PENCE proved the power of collaboration. The "network approach" of recruiting multidisciplinary researchers – including bioinformaticians, protein biochemists, physicists, chemists, cell biologists and engineers – to overcome challenges was the cornerstone of its achievements. Without PENCE, many of the outstanding Canadian accomplishments in protein engineering and proteomics over the past 15 years simply would not have occurred.