[News-releases] With CFI Support, Saint Mary's Research Initiative Builds on TRIUMF Strength in Isotopes

[Tim Meyer]

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January 13, 2013 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

New Research Initiative May Help Cancer Fight and a Better Understanding of
the Origins of the Universe  

 

Dr. Rituparna Kanungo's newest research collaboration has some lofty goals:
improve cancer research, stimulate the manufacturing of high-tech
Canadian-made instrumentation and help explain the origin of the cosmos.

 

The Saint Mary's nuclear physicist's goal moved one step closer to reality
today when the federal government announced $1.6 million in support for an
advanced research facility that will allow her to recreate, purify, and
condition rare isotopes that haven't existed on the planet for millions of
years.

 

The federal fiscal support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation
together with additional provincial and private sector investment will allow
the $4.5 million project to be operational in 2015.

 

"The facility will dramatically advance Canada's capabilities for isolating,
purifying, and studying short-lived isotopes that hold the key not only for
understanding the rules that govern the basic ingredients of our everyday
lives but also for crafting new therapies that could target and annihilate
cancers cell-by-cell within the human body, " said Dr Kanungo.

 

The CANadian Rare-isotope facility with Electron-Beam ion source (CANREB)
project is led by Saint Mary's University partnering with the University of
Manitoba and Advanced Applied Physics Solutions, Inc. in collaboration with
the University of British Columbia, the University of Guelph, Simon Fraser
University, and TRIUMF. TRIUMF is Canada's national laboratory for particle
and nuclear physics. It is owned and operated as a joint venture by a
consortium of Canadian universities that includes Saint Mary's University. 

 

The CFI funding helps to build the bridge across Canada for knowledge and
skills development, joining expert hands from coast to coast.

 

As one of the nation's top nuclear researchers (she was one of only two
Canadians invited to speak at a Nobel Symposium last June about exotic
isotopes), Dr. Kanungo has been conducting research at the TRIUMF facility
for many years, carrying out analyses from her office at Saint Mary's
University together with teams of students. Her students also often spend
semesters at the Vancouver facility. 

 

As the project leader for the new initiative, she said TRIUMF is the ideal
location because of its world leading isotope-production capabilities and
its ability to produce clean, precise, controlled beams of selected exotic
isotopes not readily available anywhere else in the world.

 

In recent studies in the U.S., some of these isotopes have been shown to
have dramatic impact in treating types of cancer, by delivering radioactive
payloads directly to the cancerous cells. Canada's mastery of the technology
to isolate, study, and control these isotopes will change the course of
healthcare.

 

An integral part of the project is the creation of a new generation of high
resolution spectrometer using precision magnets. Advanced Cyclotron Systems,
Inc. a company in British Columbia, has been selected for the work with the
hope that the expertise it develops during the venture will empower it to
design and build precision-magnet technology products for cutting-edge
projects all around the world.

 

"Research and innovation is a forceful driver of growth in our communities,"
said Gilles G. Patry, president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for
Innovation. "Today's funding will allow a talented group of researchers and
students to create the solutions, products and ideas Canada needs to
prosper."

 

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About Saint Mary's University

Saint Mary's University in Halifax helps students explore big ideas with its
small class sizes and accessible teaching staff. It offers a wide range of
undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Arts, Business, and Science
with social and career outreach opportunities in the local community and
through partnerships around the globe. It is home to The Sobey School of
Business, the largest and most respected business school in Atlantic Canada.
We are proud of the high standard of our academic programs, our innovative
research, and our commitment to be a living laboratory where we create a
more sustainable future.

 

 

About the Canada Foundation for Innovation

The Canada Foundation for Innovation gives researchers the tools they need
to think big and innovate. By investing in state-of-the-art facilities and
equipment in Canada's universities, colleges, research hospitals and
non-profit research institutions, the CFI is helping to attract and retain
the world's top talent, to train the next generation of researchers, to
support private-sector innovation and to create high-quality jobs that
strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life for all Canadians.
For more information, visit innovation.ca.

 

 

For more information, contact: 

Steve Proctor

Communications Manager - External Affairs

Saint Mary's University

Tel 902.420.5513  |  Cell  902.237-3915

steve.proctor at smu.ca | www.smu.ca 

 

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