TBA The Biotechnology Initiative

The Voice of Bioscience in Ontario



University of Guelph tour

TBI’s mandate is to promote, educate, inform, network and advocate on behalf of Queen’s Park. TBI tries to combine all of those traits by educating with fellowship, while visiting interesting places.

One of these interesting places was the University of Guelph as well as Sleeman Brewery. Ltd., during one of TBI’s recent tours June 27. The purpose of the tour, for the 25-30 TBI members who attended the tour of the University of Guelph’s new Science Complex and their Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, was to educate the members of the research being conducted at the university and the new life sciences concept. A separate tour to understand the process of how beer is made at the Sleeman Brewery plant was a bonus for the TBI members to enjoy. The tour was between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and led TBI members through the University of Guelph for an hour during each facility then for about an hour and a half at the brewery.

The Science Complex tour was given by Professor Dr. Chris Whitfield, the VP of research at the University of Guelph, Dr. Alan Wildeman and Dr. Anthony Clarke. Clarke’s tenure as acting associate VP of research and international relations recently ended after the TBI tour and Clarke is currently the acting associate VP (academic).

TBI president Bill Laidlaw said the science complex captivates a new way of looking at research as they have biologists, chemists, physicists and other science experts all working together as the entire building is structured in such a way where all the buildings are connected so cross-disciplinary collaboration can take place between the scientists.

The science complex, which has 390,000 square feet of new space, consists of 40 teaching labs, 38 research labs, four computer labs, 18 equipment and prep rooms, 233 offices, 23 meeting rooms or lounges, a 12,000-square-foot atrium, an information technology infrastructure to support hands-on learning and a 19,000-square-foot advanced analysis centre that gives researchers and students access to leading-edge scientific instruments. The complex building is combined with renovated space in two existing buildings, where the entire facility devoted to the basic sciences, encompasses 620,000 square feet. The Science Complex is where there is a fair amount of agriculture research.

The other place TBI visited at U of Guelph was the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario where the institute is setup for individual projects primarily the Barcode of Life project. DNA barcoding is the process where animal species can be identified using a small fragment of DNA. The tour of this facility was given by researchers Paul Hebert, who is the founder of DNA barcoding, and BIO program research co-ordinator Alex Smith. TBI was educated on animals, inspects, birds and other life forms throughout the world as researchers attempt to capture the DNA of each of these creatures. “The Guelph scientists explained how important these animals and life forms are towards human existence and that it is important to capture what their DNA is,” said Laidlaw.

The last part of the tour brought the TBI members in an exclusive tour through Sleeman Brewery, where the president, John Sleeman, gave the tour himself. “Some of the major biotech companies in Canada were originally funded by beer companies,” explained Laidlaw, “such as Cangene by Molson and Labatts for Allelix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., so we thought visiting the third largest brewery in Canada would be useful.” Since the tour was personally given by John Sleeman, the president opened up all sorts of sites that wouldn’t normally be seen. Sleeman also told his business story as well as explained how important biotech scientists are to the brewing industry, such as coming up with beer hops as well as scientists came up with the concept of spraying the inside of a beer can with an oil that prevents the taste of the can from getting into the beer.

“All of the TBI members were very impressed with John and his success and the challenges he has faced in making it golden in the beer business in Ontario,” said Laidlaw. He said the University of Guelph/Sleeman’s Brewery tour will give people the importance of attending these events which help their development by networking and meeting new people they wouldn’t otherwise meet. “Coming up with ideas and understanding different perspectives during these events will help our industry (biotech) grow in Ontario.” Laidlaw said TBI would like to organize the University of Guelph/Sleeman’s Brewery tour again.

This fall TBI will attend the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University and a winery in the area, which stems from the same idea of tour as the Guelph/Sleeman Brewery tour.