Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Health Research II
Meeting Summary and Recommendations
A workshop sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with participation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Ottawa, June 1-3, 2006
Three CIHR Institutes Consult with Leading Scientists and NSERC to Advance its Mandate to Improve the Health of Canadians by More Effectively Exploiting Research Excellence in the Physical and Applied Sciences
A two-day workshop entitled “Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research II” was held in Ottawa in June 2006 to build on efforts to improve the health of Canadians by accelerating the translation of research breakthroughs in the physical and applied sciences into biomedical research and clinical practice. The recommendations of this workshop follow those of a white paper prepared at the inaugural Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research workshop held in Vancouver in September 2003. The second workshop, which included participation by 35 leading research scientists, was hosted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Genetics and the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction in partnership with the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research and the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity and included participation by the presidents of CIHR and NSERC and representatives of their administrative staff.
Host Institutes
CIHR Institute of Genetics
The CIHR Institute of Genetics supports research on all aspects of genetics, biochemistry and cell biology related to human health and disease.
Primary areas of research include (i) the human genome, (ii) genetic determinants of health, polymorphisms, genetic epidemiology and gene-environment interactions, (iii) interventions including health promotion, disease prevention and health services delivery, (iv) clinical genetics (diagnostics, genetic counseling, treatment), (v) pathogenesis and mechanisms of disease and dysfunction related to gene function, (vi) molecular biology and genetics: gene identification, sequencing, structure and function, regulation, gene-gene and gene-genome interactions, (vii) gene products, proteomics, protein chemistry, structural biology, (viii) comparative genomics involving model organisms, (ix) technology development in genomics (e.g. microarray, sequencing) and application as health technologies and tools, (x) bioinformatics, and (xi) ethics issues related to research, care strategies, and access to care (e.g. population screening, privacy and use of genetic information, community and population-based risk management strategies).
CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
The CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction supports research to enhance mental health, neurological health, vision, hearing, and cognitive functioning and to reduce the burden of related disorders through prevention strategies, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation. Associated research advances our understanding of human thought, emotion, behavior, sensation (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell), perception, learning and memory. Primary areas of research include (i) mental health and neurological health promotion policies and strategies, (ii) addiction prevention policies and strategies, (iii) health determinants, (iv) identification of health advantage and health risk factors related to the interaction of environments (cultural, social, psychological, behavioral, physical, genetic), (v) disease, injury and disability prevention strategies at the individual and population levels, (vi) head injury prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, (vii) addiction, mental health, and dysfunction of the nervous system affecting sensation, cognition, emotion, behavior, movement, communication, and autonomic function, (viii) clinical research and health outcomes research into diagnostic technologies and methods, therapies, treatment, care, and rehabilitation models (long and short-term), (ix) co-morbidity of conditions and impacts on prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and rehabilitation, (x) design and implementation of health services delivery - from prevention, to screening, to diagnosis, to intervention or treatment, to rehabilitation, to palliation, (xi) development and implementation of health technologies and tools (e.g. imaging, bio-engineering, drug delivery technologies), (xii) development, regulation, function and dysfunction of the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, (xiii) human psychology, cognition and behavior, sleep and circadian biology, and pain, and (ixv) ethics issues related to research, care strategies, and access to care (e.g. informed consent, hospitalization, addiction, mental health and the justice system).
Partnering Institutes
Institute of Cancer Research
ICR fosters research based on internationally accepted standards of excellence, which bear on preventing and treating cancer, and improving the health and quality of life of cancer patients
ICR is dedicated to supporting research that reduces the burden of cancer on individuals and families through prevention strategies, screening, diagnosis, effective treatment, psycho-social support systems, and palliation. More details can be found under research priorities and in our Annual Report.
Questions surrounding cancer research transcend all borders. This is reflected in the broad variety of workshops and symposia hosted and funded by ICR that bring together the wide variety of researchers, scientists, partners, stakeholders and organizations that make up the ICR community.
Institute of Infection and Immunity
The CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity (III) supports research and helps to build research capacity in the areas of infectious disease and the body's immune system. Through the Institute's programs, researchers address a wide range of health concerns related to infection and immunity including disease mechanisms, disease prevention and treatment, and health promotion through public policy.
Through a virtual, global network of researchers, stakeholders and partners the III plays an important role in generating and disseminating information on infectious disease and immunity. In addition, the III plays an important leadership role on infectious disease issues in Canada, including helping to coordinate Canada's rapid research response to infectious disease outbreaks, especially those caused by new, emerging pathogens.
Integrating the Physical and Applies Sciences into Biomedical Research Workshop II - June 1-3, 2006
Executive Summary
Workshop Overview and Motivation
From 1 – 3 June 2006, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Genetics and the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction in partnership with the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research and the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity convened 35 leading researchers from the physical, applied and biomedical sciences, as well as representatives from the leadership of CIHR and NSERC, in a focused workshop to:
- Determine the research areas of greatest opportunity that integrate the physical and applied sciences with the health sciences
- Define the current and long-term funding requirements in Canada
- Determine how funding in these areas will impact funding in the core disciplinary strengths of CIHR and NSERC, or in other potential interdisciplinary research opportunities
- Define how an overall funding structure should be organized -- how much inter-agency cooperation should there be?
- Determine the best mechanisms for ensuring that research dollars are distributed to achieve the highest impact -- how is sustainability of worthy projects and scientists best accomplished
Define how scientists can best support the CIHR and NSERC leadership in advocating the need for increased federal funding for basic research and development in Canada (to government and the public)
The workshop was structured into several sessions, each focused on a particular aspect of the functional integration of the physical and applied sciences into health research. These sessions included:
- Science Funding Context in Canada
- Current Needs
- Funding Integrative Biology: Ultimate Goal and Requirements for Success
- Advocating for Increased Funding of Science: How Can Scientists Help?
A series of key recommendations – along with a set of proposed actions - emerged from a synthesis of the discussions held over the two-day meeting.
Agenda and Participants
The workshop organizing committee, agenda and participant list are available in Appendices A, B and C, respectively. Summaries of the content and desired outcomes of the four major workshop sessions are provided below:
Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences with Biology: Progress to date
The 2003 white paper entitled "Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research" provided a set of recommendations to the CIHR for improving the quality, quantity and overall impact of health research in Canada led by or involving physical and applied scientists. These recommendations were intended to provide CIHR with a framework for accelerating the discovery of transformative technology, the translation of that technology to the solution of pressing problems in medical science, and the establishment of potent interdisciplinary research clusters capable of delivering breakthroughs in health research. Furthermore, over the past 3 years, two new, but non-recurring, funding mechanisms in this area have been in place (CHRP and CIHR strategic initiatives). Each program has funded ~$2M in new operating grants each year, but there is no long-term plan to sustain these programs.
In this session, which was intended to provide context to the objectives of the current meeting, we briefly reviewed the key recommendations made in the 2003 white paper, the initiatives created prior to or in response to those recommendations, and the 3 year funding history of these initiatives. We then held an open discussion on the extent to which the recommendations of the 2003 white paper have remained relevant, and the impact and repercussions of the CHRP and CIHR strategic initiatives funding mechanisms.
Critical questions considered in the session included:
- Have the 2003 white paper recommendations remained relevant? To what extent have they been implemented?
- What have we learned from the CHRP and CIHR strategic initiatives funding mechanisms?
Science Funding Context in Canada
The Canadian government is in the midst of investing substantially (potentially brilliantly) over a 10-year period in research and development and innovation in Canada (through CFI, CRC, Indirect costs of research, Genome Canada, NCE, and increases to CIHR and NSERC). During this period, there has been an increasing trend towards the concept of matching monies (provincial, industrial), which has been the subject of some debate in the scientific community. In addition, agencies such as CFI and Genome Canada have fixed timeframes, while others, such as the CRC program, provide long-term salary support but not operating money. Critical to maximizing the long-term benefits of these various funding streams is achieving an overall balance among three types of investments: infrastructure (facilities, instrumentation), personnel (principal investigators, trainees, research staff), and operating funds (dollars that fuel the research).
A major recommendation of the previous white paper was to establish a permanent interagency funding mechanism (modeled after the CHRP) with substantial new recurring operating dollars to adequately fund research at the interface between the physical and applied sciences and the biological sciences. A fundamental conflict of interest was recognized - that is, a potential negative impact on the CIHR/NSERC core disciplinary constituencies - if new programs are advocated without advocating increases in overall funding. This conflict extends to other deserving new strategic areas worthy of support. The aim of this session was to provide the national science funding context for our subsequent workshop discussions, by examining current Canadian funding vehicles, programs, and initiatives in a very broad sense.
Critical questions considered in the session included:
- Currently, is there balance in support for research infrastructure, personnel and operating dollars?
- How should Canadian science funding be structured in the broader scope?
- Is the balance of big vs small, operating vs. strategic funding appropriate?
- How much and how fast should the overall national funding capacity grow in total dollars? What should the funding structure look like in 5 years?
- What are the roles of interagency programs and cooperation?
Current Needs
Initiating and sustaining truly productive and innovative collaborations and programs that integrate the physical and applied sciences into biological and biomedical research requires an in-depth appreciation of the needs and capabilities of both research communities. It also requires a long-term funding strategy that adequately supports and sustains the research programs and teams with the greatest potential to solve questions and problems of real significance to Canada and society as a whole. In this session, we identified current and emerging research areas that are best driven by an interdisciplinary approach, and then held a frank and lively discussion of strategies and policies that might be adopted to foster productive interdisciplinary research collaborations and the frequency of scientific breakthroughs arising from them, and to fund them at an appropriate level.
Funding Integrative Biology in Canada: What is the ultimate goal and what is required?
Given the complexity of biological systems, research programs and strategies that integrate different disciplines of knowledge, different types of technology and informatics, and different levels of biological organization are increasingly making the greatest advances in answering previously inaccessible questions of broad significance and application. The potential of this integrative approach to science is therefore clear, but the specific goals of the Canadian integrative-biology research community and the requirements for achieving them are not. In this session, we worked toward identifying Canada's current position in Integrative Biology, defining our immediate and ultimate goals, and then defining how our research communities, funding agencies, and government must organize to achieve these goals in an efficient and economical manner.
Critical questions considered in the session included:
- Convincing the Canadian tax-payer to properly support fundamental and applied research requires a compelling vision. What is ours?
- Can we define a reasonable budget for supporting integrative biology research in Canada?
- Is the current grant selection committee/peer review committee structure of NSERC/CIHR effective in selecting and adequately supporting the research programs with the potential to do the best work? Would an interagency program be more effective?
- What type(s) of funding mechanism(s) would be most likely to result in the biggest return on investment – operating grants program/RFAs/small teams / large teams or networks/training awards/ infrastructure support/etc.?
- How can growth of overall funding for this type of research be achieved without drawing funds away from other important areas of research? What must we do to make that happen?
Advocating for Increased Funding of Science: How Can Scientists Help?
A central theme in this workshop was to establish a long-term funding strategy that will support and sustain interdisciplinary research, which integrates the physical and applied sciences into biomedical research. In the current funding environment, there are substantial pressures on both the scientific and medical funding agencies to support more than they can afford. This climate will substantially limit the support of researchers (even those involved in interdisciplinary funding) from supporting any new programs, unless substantial increases in new funding are forthcoming.
This session was aimed at determining how the scientific community can be better involved in making the case for increased federal support of basic research in Canada, and to generate a short list of action items to be implemented by both committees and individuals.
Critical questions considered in the session included:
- What are the current mechanisms for lobbying government in Canada?
- Are there other models (for example, US, UK) that should be adopted?
- Unified or divided? There are different groups of researchers who are petitioning for increased scientific and medical funding (nanoscience, systems biology, etc.). Should we unite these perhaps disparate topics under a unified banner or should we each focus on our own goals?
- What are the best arguments for the value of basic research (economic and medical impact, training HQP, examples of major successes, statement of funding shortfall, etc.)? How can scientists take active roles in communicating these arguments to government and the general public.
Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences with Health Research: The Current Landscape
Canada’s leading universities and the NRC are aggressively revising their strategic plans to create research centres that promote the convergence of modern life sciences with the physical, mathematical, and applied sciences. Examples of recently established multidisciplinary centres designed to address important problems in the life sciences and healthcare include
- NINT - The NRC National Institute for Nano-Technology (Edmonton)
- CCBR - The Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, (University of Toronto)
- CBB - The Centre for Biorecognition and Biosensors (McGill University)
Over the past five to eight years, the Canadian government has made a series of significant investments in research personnel and research infrastructure, through the funding of 2000 new chairs in research excellence (the Canada Research Chairs program), through the sharing of the indirect costs of research and development (Indirect Costs Program), and through the development of a nationwide network of advanced infrastructure for research (the Canada Foundation for Innovation). Together, these and many related initiatives have significantly built research capacity in Canada, and have positioned our country to become a key driver of this era of unprecedented bio-innovation and to reap the associated economic, health, and social benefits.
However, an essential component is clearly limiting, namely the Federal operating grants that fuel the day-to-day expenses of research. New operating funds are desperately needed to support both innovation through the convergence of research fields, and to support core programs that generate the fundamental knowledge and discipline-specific training needed to establish effective multidisciplinary research teams that will drive Canadian innovation and improvements in healthcare.
Significant credit must be given to our two primary national research funding agencies, NSERC and CIHR, for recognizing this growing need and freeing up limited resources to establish and support the jointly sponsored Collaborative Health Research Project (CHRP) that currently awards a total of $2.18 million per annum. The CHRP encourages the NSERC and CIHR communities to collaborate and integrate their expertise and research activities, to advance interdisciplinary research leading to knowledge and technologies useful for improving the health of Canadians, and to train highly qualified people in collaborative and interdisciplinary research of relevance to health. This program and a small number of other limited-budget RFA-based programs (e.g. the NRC-CIHR Science and Technology Convergence for Health Innovation Partnership, the CIHR New Emerging Team Grants, the CIHR Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine Initiative, and the CIHR Invention - Tools, Techniques & Devices for Research and Health Care Grants) represent a significant effort on the part of the funding agencies to support important multidisciplinary research programs aimed at improving Canadian healthcare.
In Canada, there is currently an unprecedented demand for CIHR/NSERC investment in multidisciplinary research projects, technology development, and health research involving the physical and applied sciences. For example, in the most recent 2006 CHRP grant competition, 18 applications were funded out of a total of 234 submitted letters of intent, representing a 7.7% rate of success for researchers across Canada requiring operating funds to support new health research based on multidisciplinary teams. Outstanding research opportunities are therefore being lost due to lack of adequate funds. The low rate of success in obtaining grant support for worthy projects also clearly threatens the sustainability of multidisciplinary health research programs and initiatives in Canada, as well as our ability to retain our best research scientists and to accelerate breakthroughs in important areas that cannot, at the present time and within existing funding arrangements, be effectively addressed within a single discipline.
This growing problem of insufficient operating support for interdisciplinary science was not only recognized by the participants of this meeting, but also by the Council of the Canadian Academies in their recently authored State of Science and Technology in Canada report (ISBN 0-9781778-0-0). The report states, "There is a paradigm shift under way in the way science is done around the world. Multidisciplinarity is becoming the norm, as illustrated, for example, by the subjects around which the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are organized." The report also states, "Many of the front-line, exciting and innovative areas of scientific investigation as it relates to human health require a multidisciplinary approach that spans both the physical/life sciences and the health sciences. Proposals at the interface of NSERC-funded and CIHR-funded research are increasingly falling between the cracks because neither agency has the mandate or the capacity to adequately respond to and fund such requests." Indeed, the problem is sufficiently threatening to the health and prosperity of Canadians that it is attracting increasing attention from the mainstream media. For example, in an article in The Montreal Gazette just days before the meeting (May 26, 2006), Roberto Rocha presented the argument that Canada currently lags in nanotechnology and risks losing top researchers in nanotechnology if it does not promote the industry.
The power and importance of a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare innovation is evident in a wide range of far-reaching areas of life science inquiry, including systems biology, structural and functional genomics, chemical biology, cancer research, regenerative medicine, stem-cell biology, nanomedicine, and the technology platforms (e.g., sequencing, imaging, microfluidics, mass spectrometry, robotics) that support these initiatives in critical ways. The tremendous growth in these multidisciplinary areas of health research in Canada over the past decade is exemplified in the recent discussion document on Integrative Systems Biology, which articulates the value and critical need for establishing mechanisms to fund functional genomics, integrative biology, and systems biology at an internationally competitive level in Canada.
Consensus Recommendations and Conclusions
The future success of Canada depends on the discovery of new knowledge through cutting edge research. This will require substantial increases in long-term, sustainable support of internationally competitive, multidisciplinary research programs, along with increased support of the core disciplines themselves to provide the fundamental knowledge and expertise upon which larger programs must be built to be successful. There is an emerging international consensus that the convergence of modern biology and genomics with mathematics, physics, chemistry, and the applied sciences will drive the economy of tomorrow. How Canada responds to the unique opportunity presented by this convergence will unquestionably shape Canada’s prosperity in the coming decades.
A central goal of this second two-day workshop on "Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research" was to provide a set of recommendations to the CIHR for improving the quality, quantity and overall impact of health research in Canada involving the physical and applied sciences. These recommendations are intended to provide CIHR with a framework for accelerating the discovery of new technology and the rapid adoption and integration of that technology into life science research to accelerate the solution of pressing problems in healthcare.
1. The CIHR in collaboration with NSERC, should intensify their efforts to adopt the vision and recommendations articulated in the white paper of the first "Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research" workshop, all of which remain relevant
The complete 2003 white paper is provided in appendix D. Key recommendations made in that original white paper include
- The CIHR should identify and support emerging and established fields of physical and applied science that have the potential to make or are already making important contributions to health research
- The CIHR should be proactive in identifying important areas of health and health-related research where the involvement of the physical and applied science research community is essential to progress. These areas potentially include chemical biology, microbial systems, integrative functional genomics, and systems biology
- The CIHR should establish and widely publicize programs to rapidly inform physical and applied scientists about current research opportunities and needs in health research
- The CIHR should strengthen programs that accelerate the formation of potent cross-disciplinary teams of investigators.
- The CIHR should recognize the CHRP competition as a critical first step in supporting multidisciplinary health research and commit to expanding and sustaining its multidisciplinary research programs over the next decade
- The management and review process of the current CHRP program should be reviewed and revised periodically to ensure that the program continues to support the most deserving applicants
- The CIHR should exploit its existing RFA competition funding proof-of-principle (POP) grants to support very early stage health-related research by physical and applied scientists or by multidisciplinary teams
- The CIHR should improve linkages between major funding agencies (CIHR, NSERC, Genome Canada, CFI) supporting multidisciplinary health research to accelerate major scientific and technological breakthroughs
2. The CIHR and NSERC should remain the primary funding agencies in Canada to support research at the interface between the life sciences and the physical and applied sciences
Guiding principles for this recommendation include:
- Fundamental science is required for strong applied science; it is the pipeline to sustained socio-economic benefit and growth. Open, investigator-initiated research is highly strategic and essential to the overall research and development goals of CIHR, NSERC, and the country
- Open competition, based on the criterion of research excellence, best ensures the creation of new knowledge and innovation and a strong return on investment. Canada must be committed to open peer review as the best means of evaluating excellence and awarding research-operating grants to the strongest projects
- CIHR and NSERC are renowned for open and unbiased scientific peer-review across the disciplines. The scientific community endorses these two agencies as the primary science research funding agencies in Canada
- The best means for funding the interface between the health sciences and the physical and applied sciences is through an expansion of collaborative programs between CIHR and NSERC. CIHR and NSERC should be invested with substantial new funding and a directed mandate to expand interagency collaboration
3. The CIHR should define a long-term strategic plan, and cooperate in developing a national science funding strategy, for supporting and growing productive research, training, and education that integrates the physical and applied sciences with the life sciences
To effectively compete with other countries who have recognized the tremendous value of multidisciplinary science in emerging areas through major funding initiatives, the Government of Canada, in collaboration with CIHR and NSERC, must act decisively by providing new support, and a new funding paradigm, to fuel the convergence of the modern life sciences (genetics, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology) with the physical (chemistry and physics), mathematical and applied (engineering and computer) sciences, in a comprehensive national research, training and education program.
Proposed action items to realize this recommendation include:
- Continue to build on the current CIHR vision that many of modern society’s greatest healthcare challenges and opportunities lie at the interfaces between traditional scientific and engineering disciplines
- Build on the success of the CHRP and strategic RFA programs with increased and improved coordination across agencies and institutes to better manage programs supporting multidisciplinary team based science
- Establish a sustainable inter-agency program to accelerate breakthroughs in important areas that cannot, at the present time and within existing funding arrangements, be effectively addressed within a single discipline and by the individual funding agencies
- Convert (and grow) existing multidisciplinary RFA programs into permanent open-competition programs through this inter-agency program
- Establish a set of dedicated interagency multidisciplinary review panels (4 to 6) and external peer review guidelines to ensure that research dollars are distributed to achieve highest impact
- Continue to support and grow core programs that generate the fundamental knowledge and discipline-specific training needed to establish effective multidisciplinary research teams
4. The CIHR should work with the Government of Canada and NSERC to support current efforts of the Council of Canadian Academies to establish accurate metrics for objectively evaluating contributions to research, benefits to society, and return on investment
A competent, objective and comprehensive analysis of the scientific disciplines and areas of technology in which Canada currently excels and can excel due to unique National and International advantages is essential to the process of setting an appropriate Federal budget for basic and applied research and for identifying those areas where funding of high-caliber research and technology development will have the greatest impact.
Proposed action items to realize this recommendation include:
- Support and utilize the Council of Canadian Academies current responsibility to identify the scientific disciplines and technological applications in which Canada currently excels in a global context, or that have the potential to emerge as areas of prominent strength for Canada
- If necessary, work with Government to establish guidelines to ensure the analysis is objective and sufficiently detailed to permit proper and productive decisions to be made concerning a Federal budget for research and its distribution
- Work with Government to make the metrics and insights drawn from this study widely available to the research communities of Canada and to the public at large
- Establish a mechanism for public and professional feedback that might improve the accuracy and depth of the analysis
- Working together with NSERC, use these data to develop a compelling unified argument for the value of basic and multidisciplinary research to Canada’s prosperity, industry, health and environment
5. The scientific community, across all disciplines, should be pro-active in establishing a campaign to mobilize and lobby for increased support for basic and applied research to improve health & wealth in Canada
- The NSERC and CIHR scientific communities should become more active in articulating the value of basic research to the Canadian federal and provincial governments and to Canadian citizens. Key messages include: i) Research is transforming Canada’s economy from resources to technologies; ii) Research drives training and education; iii) Research is improving health and quality of life of Canadians
- Effective communication to the public will require dissemination of accurate and interesting information about the impact of basic biomedical research. The CIHR and NSERC should work with scientists and institutions to assemble a ‘dossier’ of recent scientific breakthroughs, science heroes and personalities, and examples of how major discoveries derive from basic research discoveries. Communication should be via the web (CIHRs website needs significant improvement in this regard) and through news media
- Industry leaders and research stars need to be recruited to these efforts to make the message credible and resonate with the business sector
- Follow-up to this meeting should include the development of a coordinated interagency long term plan called the “Science Convergence Initiative” (SCI), engagement of the scientific community at large, and communication with university leaders and government.
The following Action Plan was formulated to implement Recommendation 5:
Action Plan (2 months). Define why the Science Convergence Initiative is critical to Canada. Define true metrics of funding and return on investment. Gather data supporting impact of science. Prepare a SCI vision statement outline. Make plans for a petition and a website to drive the initiative and vision.
Action Plan (4 months). Prepare a unified vision statement of the Science Convergence Initiative as a briefing document to government (in consultation with CIHR/NSERC leadership, and leading scientists). Organize a scientific advocacy group and line-up meetings with federal government officials and university leaders. Designate representatives to meet directly with government and to speak to each university president to inform them of the Science Convergence Initiative and to enlist their support in lobbying government.
Action Plan (1 year). Get Science Convergence Initiative funding in the 2007 Federal budget.
Appendix A
Workshop Organizing Committee
Yves De Koninck
Université Laval
John-Bruce Green
University of Alberta
Charles Haynes
University of British Columbia
Philip Hieter (Co-Chair)
University of British Columbia
Christopher Yip (Co-Chair)
University of Toronto
Appendix B
Workshop Agenda: Integrating the Physical & Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research Workshop II
June 1 - 3, 2006
Marriott Hotel, 100 Kent Street, Ottawa
Hosted by the CIHR Institute of Genetics (IG) and the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA)
| June 1, 2006 | ||
| 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Welcoming Reception & Registration |
Rideau Salon |
| June 2, 2006 | ||
| 7:00 am - 8:00 am |
Continental Breakfast |
Dalhousie Salon Third Floor |
| 8:00 am - 8:15 am |
Welcoming & Introductory Remarks Co-Chairs: Philip Hieter and Christopher Yip, Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Biomedical Research, IG Priority and Planning Committee
|
|
| 8:15 am - 9:30 am |
Mini-Symposium Highlighting Recently Funded Interdisciplinary Projects Chair: Rod McInnes, University of Toronto Speakers:
|
|
| 9:30 am- 10:00 am |
Goals and Background Chair: Philip Hieter, University of British Columbia Five key questions, active participation, aim at generating recommendations in a second a white paper
|
|
| 10:00 am- 10:30 am | Break | |
| 10:30 am- 10:45 am |
Introductory Remarks
|
|
| 10:45 am- 11:30 am |
Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences with Biology 1. Progress to date Previous white paper, progress to date in implementation, data on funding history (RFA’s, CHRP), application pressure/capacity |
|
| 11:30 am- 12:15 pm |
Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences with Biology 2. Science Funding Context in Canada (big picture) Integrating PAS/B in context of other needs (systems biology, genomics, other), inter-agency interdisciplinary funding mechanisms, needs |
|
| 12:15 pm- 1:00 pm |
Lunch |
|
| 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm |
Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences with Biology: Plenary Discussion
|
|
| 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm |
Building a National Program in Integrative Biology: Parallel/Complementary Opportunities Plenary Discussion
|
|
| 3:30pm - 4:00 pm | Break | |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm |
Funding Integrative Biology in Canada: What is the ultimate goal and what is required? Vision of funding architecture that is needed Table Discussions
Table Reports and Plenary Discussion |
|
| 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm |
Dinner & Keynote Speech
|
Cartier I Salon Lower Level |
| June 3, 2006 | ||
| 7:00 am - 8:00 am | Continental Breakfast | Dalhousie Salon Third Floor |
| 8:00 am - 9:30 am |
Advocating for Increased Funding of Science: How Can Scientists Help? Plenary Discussion
|
|
| 9:30 am - 10:00 am | Break | |
| 10:00 am- 11:50 am |
Summary & Wrap-Up
Plenary Discussion Synthesizing the discussions held over the past day and half, with a focus on next steps – i.e. five essential action items |
|
| 11:50 am- 12:00 pm |
Closing Remarks & Adjournment |
|
| 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm | Lunch | |
Appendix C
Participant List
Andrews, Brenda
Professor and Head
Department of Medical Genetics & Microbiology
University of Toronto
1 Kings College Circle
Toronto, ON M5S 1A8
(416) 978-8562
brenda.andrews@utoronto.ca
Baillie, David
Professor
Dept. of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6
(604) 291-4597
baillie@sfu.ca
Bernstein, Alan
President
CIHR
160 Elgin Street, 9th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
AWilcox@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Bisby, Mark
Vice President
Research
CIHR
160 Elgin Street, 9th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
pdagenais@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Bundle, David
Director
Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Carbohydrate Science, Department of Chemistry
University of Alberta
11227 Saskatchewan Drive
Edmonton, AB T6G 2G2
(780) 492-8808
dave.bundle@ualberta.ca
Chen, Pu
Associate Professor
Chemical Engineering
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
(519) 885-1211 X 5586
p4chen@cape.uwaterloo.ca
Davies, Julian
Professor Emeritus
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
University of British Columbia
300-6174 University Blvd.
Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z3
(604) 822-4737
jed@interchange.ubc.ca
Davis, Ron
Professor and Director
Stanford Genome Technology Center
Stanford University
855 California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 812-2021
dbowe@stanford.edu
De Koninck, Yves
Associate Professor
Neurobiologie Cellulaire
Université Laval
2601, Chemin de la Canardiere
Beauport, PQ G1J 2G3
(418) 663-5747 X 6885
yves.dekoninck@crulrg.ulaval.ca
Ellison, Michael
Professor
Department of Biochemistry
University of Alberta
367b, Medical Sciences Building
Edmonton, AB T6G 2H7
(780) 492-6352
mike.ellison@ualberta.ca
Figeys, Daniel
Professor
Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Ottawa
4204, Guindon Hall
Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5
(613) 562-5800 X 8674
dfigeys@uottawa.ca
Finlay, Brett B.
Professor
Michael Smith Laboratories
University of British Columbia
2185 East Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
(604) 822-2210
bfinlay@interchange.ubc.ca
Fortier, Suzanne
President
NSERC
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON KIA 1H5
(613) 995-5840
exec@nserc.ca
Freund, Michael
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Manitoba
532, Parker Building
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2
(204) 474-8772
michael_freund@umanitoba.ca
Gray, Michael
Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Dalhousie University
5850 College Street, Room 9-B1
Halifax, NS B3H 1X5
(902) 494-6436
M.W.Gray@dal.ca
Green, John-Bruce
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Alberta
W4-17, Chemistry Centre
Edmonton, AB T6G 2G2
(780) 492-7140
john.green@ualberta.ca
Gros, Philippe
Professor
Department of Biochemistry
McGill University
McIntyre Medical Bldg., Room 907
Montreal, QC H3G 1Y6
(514) 398-7291
philippe.gros@mcgill.ca
Hall, Christopher
Professor
Department of Environmental Biology
University of Guelph
ECBL Rm:2225
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
(519) 824-4120 X 52740
jchall@uoguelph.ca
Hallett, Michael
Professor
McGill Centre for Bioinformatics
McGill University
3775 University Street, Rm 332
Montreal, QC H3A 2B4
(514) 398 - 5928
hallett@mcb.mcgill.ca
Haynes, Charles
Professor
Michael Smith Laboratories
University of British Columbia
2185 East Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
(604) 822-5136
israels@chml.ubc.ca
Hieter, Philip
Professor and Director
Michael Smith Laboratories
University of British Columbia
2185 East Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
(604) 822-5115
hieter@msl.ubc.ca
Hughes, Timothy
Assistant Professor
Banting and Best Dept. of Medical Research
University of Toronto
112 College St., Room 307
Toronto, ON M5G 1L6
(416) 946-8260
t.hughes@utoronto.ca
Ingalls, Brian
Assistant Professor
Department of Applied Mathematics
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
(519) 888-4567 X 5457
bingalls@math.uwaterloo.ca
Jackson, Allison
Assistant Director, Ottawa
Institute of Genetics
CIHR
160 Elgin Street, 9th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
(613) 954-0533
ajackson@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Jessop, Eileen
Program Officer
NSERC
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H5
(613) 996-4764
eileen.jessop@nserc.ca
Kaern, Mads
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa
451 Smyth Road
Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5
(613) 562-5800 X 8691
mkaern@uottawa.ca
Lennox, Bruce
Professor
Department of Chemistry
McGill University
801 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, QC H3A 2K6
(514) 398-6999
bruce.lennox@mcgill.ca
Li, Ying-Fu
Associate Professor
Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences
McMaster University
4H31B Health Sciences Centre
Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5
(905) 525-9140 X 22462
liying@mcmaster.ca
Lilge, Lothar
Assistant Professor
Department of Medical Biophysics
University of Toronto
610 University Avenue, Rm 7-411
Toronto, ON M5G 2M9
(416) 946-4501 X 5743
lilge@uhnres.utoronto.ca
Lloyd, Nigel
Executive Vice-President
NSERC
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H5
(613) 947-2620
nigel.lloyd@nserc.ca
MacKenzie, Alex
Professor
Faculty of Medicine
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
401 Smyth Road
Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1
alex@mgcheo.med.uottawa.ca
Marcotte, Eric
Associate Director
Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine Initiative
CIHR
160 Elgin Street, 9th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
(905) 467-1822
emarcotte@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
McInnes, Roderick
Director
Institute of Genetics
CIHR
123 Edward Street, Suite 1211
Toronto, ON M5G 1E2
(416) 813-7400
rodig@sickkids.ca
Milks, Jennifer
Project Officer
Institute of Genetics
CIHR
160 Elgin Street, 9th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
(613) 957-6126
jmilks@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Norton, Peter
Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Western Ontario
Room 063, Chemistry Bldg
Londong, ON N6A 3K7
(519) 661-4180
pnorton@uwo.ca
Pawson, Tony
Senior Investigator
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
Mt. Sinai Hospital
600 University Avenue
Toronto, ON M5G 1X5
(416) 586-4800 X 8262
pawson@mshri.on.ca
Petersen, Nils
Director General
National Institute for Nanotechnology
National Research Council Canada
1200 Montreal Road, Bldg. M-58
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6
(613) 993-9101
petersen@uwo.ca
Rutenberg, Andrew
Associate Professor
Department of Physics
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS B3H 3J5
(902) 494-2952
andrew.rutenberg@dal.ca
Siu, Michael
Professor
Department of Chemistry
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
(416) 650-8021
kwmsiu@yorku.ca
Thomson, Dave
Administrative Manager
Michael Smith Laboratories
University of British Columbia
2185 East Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
(604) 827-3913
dthomson@msl.ubc.ca
Tyers, Michael
Professor
Department of Medical Genetics & Microbiology
University of Toronto
4398, Medical Sciences Building
Toronto, ON M5S 1A8
(416) 586-8371
tyers@mshri.on.ca
Voyer, Normand
Professor
Départmente de Chimie
Université Laval
1084, Pavillon Alexandre-Vachon
Quebec, QC G1K 7P4
(418) 656-3282
normand.voyer@chm.ulaval.ca
Walden, Janet
Vice President
Research Partnerships Programs Directorate
NSERC
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H5
(613) 996-1545
janet.walden@nserc.ca
Wheeler, Aaron
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Toronto
80 St. George Street, Rm. 629A
Toronto, ON M5S 3H6
(416) 946-3864
awheeler@chem.utoronto.ca
Wilkins, John
Professor
Biochemistry & Medical Genetic
University of Manitoba
336 Basic Medical Sciences Building
Winnipeg, MB R3E 3J7
(204) 789 3835
jwilkin@cc.umanitoba.ca
Wiseman, Paul
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
McGill University
801 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, QC H3A 2K6
(514) 398-5354
paul.wiseman@mcgill.ca
Wodak, Shoshana
Professor
Hospital for Sick Children, Research Institute
University of Toronto
180 Dundas Street, Suite 1300
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8
(416) 813-6351
shoshana@sickkids.ca
Woodgett, Jim
Professor
Department of Medical Biophysics
University of Toronto
610 University Avenue, Rm 7-411
Toronto, ON M5G 2M9
(416) 946-4501 ext 4897
woodgett@mshri.on.ca
Woodside, Michael
Department of Applied Physics
Stanford University
Gilbert Hall 371 Serra Mall M/C5020
Stanford, CA 94305-5020
mtw@stanford.edu
Wright, Gerry
Chair
Department of Biochemistry
McMaster University
1200 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5
(905) 525-9140
wrightge@mcmaster.ca
Yip, Christopher
Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry
University of Toronto
1 King's College Circle
Toronto, ON M5S 1A8
(416) 978-7853
christopher.yip@utoronto.ca
Zandstra, Peter
Assistant Professor
Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
University of Toronto
4 Taddle Creek Road, Suite 407
Toronto, ON M5S 3G9
(416) 978-8888
peter.zandstra@utoronto.ca
Appendix D
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