Toronto (Nov. 8, 2005) - A new laboratory facility opened today in Shanghai by the Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty and University Health Network Vice President, Research, Dr. Christopher Paige will accelerate an international research program aimed at developing drugs for diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular and immune disorders.
The new laboratory, officially named the Shanghai-Toronto Institute for Health Research, is a joint initiative of University Health Network and the Institute for Health Science, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The institute is located on the campus of the Institute for Health Science and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. It features a state-of-the-art laboratory for identifying disease biomarkers as well as chemistry laboratories for analyzing potential new drugs.
The institute's Toronto counterpart, a new laboratory in the Toronto Medical Discovery Tower, will open in the coming months. In addition to accelerating cancer research and offering the promise of new cancer drugs, the joint program is expected to support a training exchange program for scientists and physicians and a commercialization portfolio for intellectual property. Premier McGuinty presided at the ribbon-cutting in Shanghai as part of the Ontario Trade and Investment Mission to China, a mission focusing on innovation and strengthening ties with the Asian powerhouse.
About Research at University Health Network
UHN Research (www.uhnresearch.ca) is a leading-edge biomedical and healthcare research organization with international stature, and is a teaching partner of the University of Toronto. Our research institutes (Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto General Research Institute and Toronto Western Research Institute) are home to 465 scientists and clinician scientists, and more than 1900 staff and trainees. In 2004/2005 UHN Research had a research budget of $161M. Our researchers lead programs in cancer, cardiology, transplantation, immunology and autoimmunity, infectious diseases, tissue injury, diabetes, neural and visual sciences, musculoskeletal disease, and urban and community health. UHN Research brings together the innovation, talent and resources to achieve global impact in basic, translational and clinical research.
