At the opening of the new Innovation Wing of the Saskatchewan Centre for Cyclotron Sciences today, Minister Responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan Tina Beaudry-Mellor, announced $11.6 million in new funding over the next five years for the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation.

“Research supported by the Fedoruk Centre places Saskatchewan among global leaders in areas of nuclear innovation,” Beaudry-Mellor said.  “With investments like these, we will continue to attract world-class researchers to Saskatchewan by providing facilities that allow them to work at the cutting edge of nuclear science and technology in medicine, energy and the environment.”

“We are grateful for financial support from the provincial and federal governments,” Fedoruk Centre Executive Director John Root said.  “Their investments in innovation at the Fedoruk Centre, combined with income from other sectors, are helping to strengthen Saskatchewan’s place as a global leader in nuclear research, development and training.”

The new Innovation Wing is key to developing treatments for cancer and other diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.  It is also home to the new BioPETx, a real-time imaging detector; the first of its kind in Canada and invented in Saskatchewan.  Access to a cyclotron, synchrotron, and phytotron, along with the BioPETx, will advance agricultural knowledge and technologies and strengthen global food security by improving crop yields and resilience to weather.

The Fedoruk Centre operates the Saskatchewan Centre for Cyclotron Sciences where students, researchers and industry can conduct research in medicine, veterinary health and agricultural technologies.  Its location on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan is ideal for collaboration, benefitting from its proximity to Royal University Hospital, with the medical school and veterinary college, the International Vaccine Centre, and the Canadian Light Source synchrotron.

The new five-year funding agreement with the province replaces one that expired at the end of March 2019 and brings the total provincial government funding to the Fedoruk Centre to $45.4 million since 2012.

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For more information, contact:

Karen Prokopetz
Innovation Saskatchewan
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0279
Email: karen.prokopetz@gov.sk.ca