Journey to Discovery

Shown here is Dalhousie President, Dr. Tom Traves, CEO of Capital Health Don Ford and Vice-President Operations and Support Services, IWK Health Centre, Brian MacDougall. The trio participated in the poster unveiling of the Life Sciences Research Institute.

The planned Life Sciences Research Institute (LSRI) is one step closer to reality with the unveiling of architectural drawings in Halifax today. The LSRI will provide much needed research and incubator space for the region's growing life sciences and biotechnology sectors. The LSRI is a joint project of Capital Health, Dalhousie University and the IWK Health Centre.

"The LSRI is the culmination of years of community effort to create a facility that will enable our life sciences sector to truly flourish," said Stephen Dempsey, president and CEO of the Greater Halifax Partnership and host of today's event at Pier 21. "The life sciences is one of the fastest-growing sectors in our region's economy. It has tremendous potential not only to create employment and attract investment, but to improve quality of health care - and life - for people in the region."

According to a 2004 Conference Board of Canada report, Nova Scotia employment in life sciences grew by an annual rate of 9 per cent between 1999 and 2002, compared to 1.6 per cent in the overall economy.

The lead tenant of the LSRI will be the Brain Repair Centre (BRC), a world-renowned collaboration involving a multi-disciplinary cast of basic scientists, clinicians such as neurosurgeons and psychiatrists, other health professionals and trainees. The centre is led by neurosurgeon, Dr. Ivar Mendez. The BRC researchers are dedicated to finding treatments, cures and prevention strategies for such devastating conditions as Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer Disease and spinal cord injury.

"The LSRI will provide open-concept research space where all the brain-repair researchers can work together," Dr. Mendez said, noting they are currently working in separate labs located throughout Dalhousie Medical School, Capital Health and IWK Health Centre facilities. "The energy and synergy this kind of daily interaction generates are powerful catalysts for new ideas, discoveries and inventions."

Among his many achievements, Dr. Mendez has pioneered successful neural transplantation techniques to alleviate symptoms of Parkinson's, the world's first robotic tele-mentoring surgery, deep-brain stimulation in children, and a computerized pain control implant that can be recharged through the skin. He presented an audio-visual overview of the latest local neuroscience developments at today's event.

WHW Architects Inc. of Halifax designed the $34 million, five-storey LSRI, to be constructed on property at College and Summer Streets. Three representatives of the LSRI Governing Council - Mr. Don Ford, CEO of Capital Health, Dr. Tom Traves, president of Dalhousie University, and Mr. Brian MacDougall, Vice President of Operations and Support Services at the IWK Health Centre - unveiled the architectural drawings. The unveiling was followed by a virtual tour of the new facility.

The BRC will occupy two-and-a-half floors of the LSRI. More than half a dozen leading local research groups are competing to determine which will occupy the remaining research space. One floor will be devoted to helping scientists develop and find investors for commercially viable ideas.