The Government of Canada has announced nearly $134 million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support research infrastructure projects at 63 postsecondary institutions across the country.
These strategic investments—which will help propel innovation and build a resilient Canada—are made through the CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), a critical tool designed to help institutions attract and retain the very best researchers.
A total of 31 projects led by UBC researchers were awarded a collective $5.7 million in funding.
UBC-Led Projects
- Abdelrahman, Khaled (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics)
The role of GPCRs in Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology
- Ashraf, Mohammad Arif (Botany)
Function of nuclear envelope proteins in plant development and environmental response
- Capon, Francesca (Medical Genetics)
A platform for the systematic characterization of immune-related DNA changes in diverse populations
- Chen, Qian (School of Engineering, UBCO)
Digital Integration for Robotic Fabrication in Construction (DIRFIC) to facilitate rapid affordable housing in Canada
- Cheng, Miffy Hok Yan (Pharmaceutical Sciences)
The Lipid Nanoparticle-Enabled Gene Delivery (LEGenD) lab: A frontier for next generation nanomedicine
- Desjardins, Adrien (Mechanical Engineering)
Foundational infrastructure for marine robotics
- Domeier, Phillip (Microbiology and Immunology)
Exploring the protective and pathogenic poles of germinal centers
- Dubosq, Renelle (Earth and Environmental Sciences, UBCO)
From nano to tectonic: A centre for nanogeology research
- Feng, Haibo (Wood Science)
Infrastructure for innovative building materials and systems toward zero carbon buildings
- Fischer, Monika (Botany)
Fire fungi ecology & genetics lab
- Flake, Jessica (Psychology)
Social sciences methods and measurement laboratory
- Grenz, Jennifer (Forest Resources Management)
Relational restoration after climate event unit
- Hoiland, Ryan (Cellular & Physiological Sciences/Southern Medical Program)
The translational acute brain injury laboratory
- Huan, Tao (Chemistry)
Four-dimensional exposomics
- Islam, Muhammad Hashim (School of Health and Exercise Sciences, UBCO)
Real time assessment of metabolism in distinct human cell types across the health-disease continuum
- Joshi, Jaya (Wood Science)
Enzyme evolution for food, fuel and feedstock
- Kim, Kwang Ho (Wood Science)
Advancing sustainable biorefinery technologies for a circular bioeconomy by unlocking biomass potential
- Krentz, Nicole (Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Functional impact of variants in diabetes
- Kuhn, Mckenzie (Geography)
Advanced infrastructure for studying greenhouse gas cycling in under-represented Arctic-boreal ecosystems
- Kunimoto, Michelle (Physics & Astronomy)
High-performance computing infrastructure for exoplanet discovery and demographics
- Lees, Eric (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Electrification of chemical manufacturing and separations
- Lim, Emilia (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Environmental oncogenomics
- Mason, Chase (Biology, UBCO)
Applying plant evolutionary physiology for next-generation crop resilience: Establishing the SARC and CBIL at UBCO
- Ongchoco, Joan Danielle (Psychology)
An integrative approach towards understanding intelligence: Bridging the ‘seeing’ versus ‘thinking’ divide
- Papadimitriou, Isabel (Linguistics)
Computing infrastructure for the AI and computational linguistics lab at UBC
- Paradis, Gregory (Forest Resources Management)
Cumulative effects of Climate Change, Anthropogenic and Natural Disturbances on forest Ecosystem Services (CCCANDiES)
- Ryu, Min Hyung (Medicine)
AIR-Gen: Adaptive Integrated Respiratory Genomics
- Schindler, Corinna (Chemistry)
Development of new cycloaddition reactions for synthetic organic chemistry
- Stephenson, Corey (Chemistry)
Redox catalysis facilitates translational chemistry
- van Heusden, Klaske (School of Engineering, UBCO)
Data-driven control for safety-critical applications
- Yao, Yuan (Mechanical Engineering/Medicine)
3D models to study mechanobiological stimuli in cardiovascular disease
Projects supported through the JELF will receive additional funding through the CFI’s Infrastructure Operating Fund (IOF) to cover the costs of operating the research infrastructure. The total investment of $133,624,785 includes $30,836,489 from the IOF.
Proposals for matching provincial funding for CFI awards may be pending results.