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New uOttawa medical research centre poised to boost city’s biotech sector

May 9, 2024
4:26 PM
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The University of Ottawa is poised to start construction on a state-of-the-art medical research facility that is expected to fuel the creation of new biotech startups and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic spinoffs. Work on the university’s $280-million Advanced Medical Research Centre is slated to begin next week, Sylvain Charbonneau, uOttawa’s vice-president of research and innovation, told OBJ in an interview before the official groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday afternoon. Charbonneau said the “cornerstone” of the 350,000-square-foot complex, which is expected to open in 2026, will be the Ottawa Health Innovation Hub. The space will bring researchers, health-care professionals and industry experts together under one roof with R&D facilities, laboratories and offices dedicated to incubating the next generation of biotech companies, Charbonneau said. “Right now in Ottawa, we have no ability to incubate these companies,” he explained. The hub’s partners include research institutes at The Ottawa Hospital, the Montfort Hospital and CHEO as well as The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, Bruyère Research Institute, Carleton University, Algonquin College, Collège La Cité, National Research Council and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. According to an economic impact study commissioned by the hub in 2021, the facility is eventually expected to employ up to 650 researchers and contribute nearly $1.1 billion to Ontario’s economy by 2030. The companies that result from its research are forecasted to generate $320 million in revenues and investments and create more than 1,300 jobs in the same period. Located at 451 Smyth Rd., the six-storey building will include several floors of laboratory space equipped with cutting-edge technology aimed at discovering new therapies and treatments for cancer and other diseases. A couple of floors will be “shells” with room for additional lab space, Charbonneau added. “Our hope is that we are going to be able to attract other research expertise in Ottawa over time,” he said. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred just days after the federal government announced funding for an expanded biotherapeutics manufacturing facility at the new Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital that is slated to open in 2028. Ottawa is already firmly established as a leading biotechnology centre with more than 130 companies as well as world-class universities and research facilities, Charbonneau said. But the city currently lacks the capacity to support promising medical technology ventures as they scale up, he added. As a result, many of those companies are forced to relocate to bigger centres such as Toronto or Montreal or head south of the border to reach their full potential. Charbonneau hopes the new facilities at uOttawa and The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus will change that. “More often than not, (growing biotech startups) will leave the region,” he said. “We want to attract this talent here in Ottawa.”