Genome Innovation Network reflects major shift in research support

Collaboration among 10 nodes

Genome Canada is betting that access to enhanced computational resources and expertise at new innovation centres across Canada will increase collaboration, competition and commercial outputs. The Genomics Innovation Network (GIN) will use $31.5 million — awarded in two funding stages — to enhance core operations, facilitate technology development and stimulate collaborative projects designed to extract meaningful results from an ever-increasing mountain of valuable data.

The launch of the GIN marks a significant evolution in how the agency approaches genomics R&D, moving from a standalone to a collaborative model designed to leverage cutting-edge technology by boosting research, computational and analytical capacity in conjunction with public and private partners.

The initial $15.5 million in funding — the result of a competition of 36 proposals reviewed by an international panel of experts — has been disbursed amongst the 10 successful centres and must be matched on a 1:1 basis. The same leverage is required for the second tranche of $15 million which will flow to the centres over a two-year period beginning April 1st. That will result in at least $61 million in total funding for GIN.

"This initiative goes with the trend towards collaboration. The nodes are already working together and this will allow them to go even further," says Dr Pierre Meulien, Genome Canada's president and CEO. "The main thing we mandated is for the nodes to stay at the cutting edge of technologies and be accessible to a broad selection of researchers in Canada."

The GIN is a calculated response to the current status and size of genomics research in Canada, building on a history of collaboration and research excellence to compete with other nations with far greater financial and research resources. For example, the Broad Institute — a joint venture between Harvard Univ and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — has a massive $700-million endowment from its backers (Eli and Edythe L Broad) — with far more researchers engaged in biomedical and genomic research.

"We can't build a Broad Institute so we're building a network that works to capitalize on two trends: lots of bioinformatics and high through-put functionality," says Meulien. "We can compete by getting our best brains together."

Many of the centres already have European and US money coming in. "They're magnets for inward investment," he says.

Of the 10 nodes in the GIN, five are existing genome centres – previously known as Science, Technology and Innovation Centres (STICs). The other five are university- or hospital-based research institutes that have developed capacity and expertise of value to the national genomics research enterprise.

"Half are new to us. They're not funded by Genome Canada but they qualified in the sense that people are breaking down their doors to get access to their technologies," says Meulien. "The program gives them rare monies for operations – highly qualified technical people to operate machinery."

Meulien notes that the five GIN nodes that were previously STICs are relying less and less on Genome Canada for their operations. The most successful node is the McGill University & Génome Québec Innovation Centre (MUGQIC), which is on the cusp of recouping its operating costs .

The MUGQIC is one of four Quebec-based GIN nodes which collectively received $5 million of the initial $15.5-million tranche. The specialized sequencing centre achieved $3 million in billings in 2014 from international clients alone and will benefit further from being networked with the nine other centres.

"In the old days, operating money for the platforms (STICs) was to provide services. Then it provided for operating and technology development. Now, there's some money for operating but mostly for technology development. It's more forward-looking funding," says Marc LePage, Génome Québec's president and CEO. "With GIN, researchers will be able to harness skill sets across the country. We are further along than we think."

LePage's association with Genome Canada stretches back to before the agency was launched in 2000, affording him a holistic view of its progression as the technologies advanced and the environment shifted from fundamental research towards applied R&D in a wide range of sectors, from health and life sciences to mining and forestry.

"Networking is so easy now. People now go to the platform technology that appeals to them. The boundaries have been abolished," says LePage. "The next step will be big projects to harness the full capacity of genomics by engaging in big science programs together. That will be the third stage of the GIN program."

GIN addresses several recommendations contained in a recent five-year evaluation performed by Montreal-based Science Metrix. Released in March, the evaluation report contains several recommendations to the GIN nodes (previously referred to as Genome Centres).

The report recommends that Genome Canada "further improve working relationships with Genome Centres and collaboratively develop focused and customized funding programs that address the needs of specific sectors, including both large- and small-scale projects".

It also recommends seeking out or creating "joint incentives with a broader range of public and private organizations aiming to achieve similar objectives (such as) R&D funding programs, partnership programs and business innovation."

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