Last Thursday, federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan announced that the University of Toronto Scarborough will receive $2 million in funding to develop disease-resistant vegetables.
Department of biological sciences assistant professor Adam Mott, as well as professors David Guttman and Darrell Desveaux from the department of cell and systems biology will carry out the experiments in partnership with the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.
The funding is coming from the Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP), a subsidiary of Genome Canada, a not-for-profit funded by the federal and provincial governments.
According to a UTSC news article, their goal is to help connect researchers with companies to “develop new gene-based technologies for sectors including health care, agriculture and environmental protection.”
“By investing in researchers,” Duncan said during her announcement, “we are giving them the opportunity to work with each other and their counterparts in the business, health, and agricultural sectors to find the ideas and innovations that power a stronger economy and a growing middle class.”
