The Bioindustrial Process Research Centre at Lambton College has received another funding boost to support collaborations with Canadian companies.
Parliamentary Secretary for Science and London West MP Kate Young was in Sarnia Monday, to deliver the news on behalf of Minister of Science Kristy Duncan.
Lambton College President Judith Morris (left) and London West MP Kate Young (right)
"The centre will receive more than $850,000 for new research infrastructure, congratulations," Young told a crowd of local dignitaries and college students and staff.
Young said Lambton was the only college in Ontario included in Monday's investment of over $7-million from the federal government in six centres.
"There's one in Calgary and the others are in Quebec. So, this is great news for Ontario as well," she said.
Dean of Applied Research and Innovation Dr. Mehdi Sheikhzadeh said the centre was established two years ago, but they've had some infrastructure gaps.
"This money will help us buy 11 pieces of equipment, up to the total amount that we are going to receive from both federal and provincial government and also our partners is more than $2-million," said Sheikhzadeh. "The main one is the 30 L bioreactor, with all of the instrumentation centres. We are going to buy four [pieces of] equipment for our testing site and five to six [pieces of] equipment are going to be mainly general lab equipment -- an incubator, shaker, microscope."
The Bioindustrial Process Research Centre is part of Lambton's Centre of Excellence in Energy and Bio-Industries, which is currently being renovated and expanded at the south end of the campus.
Sheikhzadeh says construction of the $14-million project started about a month ago and is going very well.
"The hope is that, based on the timeline that we have, by March 2018 we will be able to move all of our labs to the Centre of Excellence."
.@KateYoungMP announcing $850,000+ for @LambtonCollege for new equipment to be housed by the Bio-industrial Process Research Centre. #SLont pic.twitter.com/prtaSdQyO3
— Melanie Irwin (@MIrwinCHOKNews) April 24, 2017