Two Concordia University researchers have been awarded $22 million to study ways to transform agricultural and forestry waste into reusable fuels.
The grants to Dr. Adrian Tsang and Vincent Martin of the Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, announced Monday morning in Saskatoon by Science and Technology Minister Gary Goodyear, are the largest ever by Genome Canada to investigate environmental sustainablility.
Tsang will receive $17.4 million from Genome Canada and Genome Quebec. He studies the genetic make-up of fungi in hopes of discovering more efficient and ecologically friendly ways to harvest the debris left over when forests and crops are harvested and convert them into bio-ethanol.
Tsang says fungi provide “an ideal natural laboratory” in which to study how decomposing leaves, shrubs and tree limbs break down to create sugars.
“Those sugars are the basic blocks required to build the advanced biofuels and biochemicals that can turn agricultural and urban waste into products and energy,” the biologist said in his description of the project. “Once we have developed new enzymes, they will become the cornerstones for the development of large-scale industrial biorefineries.” Tsang also hopes to develop enzymes supplements for use in cattle feed.
Martin, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics and Engineering, will receive $4.6 million for his team’s share in a joint project with researchers at the University of Calgary. Martin uses genetic engineering of the simple bakers yeast to synthesized natural products normally made by plants.
The grants were part of a $112-million grant package awarded to 12 genomics and proteomics projects across the country.
“These projects will help strengthen Canada's competitiveness in a number of important sectors namely agriculture, crops and bioproducts. As well, many of these projects will have a strong environmental benefit for Canada,” Goodyear said.
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