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Post: Acceleration Consortium Invests $1.2 Million in Innovation to Transform Scientific Discovery and Healthcare
The Acceleration Consortium has announced the provision of $1.2 million towards initiatives aimed at propelling scientific research forward. This comes at a critical time as Canada faces the challenges of an aging population, which places increased demands on the health-care system, notably in the area of hip and knee replacements. Currently, replacements last up to 25 years at best, but with life expectancy on the rise, there’s a growing need for materials that ensure these replacements last longer to reduce the frequency of subsequent surgeries.
Self-driving labs (SDLs) are at the forefront of addressing this issue by integrating artificial intelligence, robotics, and advanced computing to expedite the discovery of new materials and molecules for various applications, significantly reducing time and cost. Professor Yu Zou from the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) is leveraging SDL technology to hasten the development of durable materials for joint replacements by testing element combinations to find suitable alloys for longer-lasting hip and knee replacements.
Zou’s project is one among twelve funded by the Acceleration Consortium’s Accelerate Grants, which support research projects across nine departments within the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, the Faculty of Arts & Science, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and the University of Toronto Scarborough. These projects, enabled by a nearly $200 million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), aim at making significant advancements in healthcare, climate change, sustainable materials design, and food waste management.
Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium, highlights the role of AI and automation in enhancing the efficiency of laboratory experiments, thereby accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries. The Accelerate Grants, according to him, represent a vital investment in the future, reflecting the consortium’s commitment to achieving a materially different future within our lifetimes.
The grants are categorized into Accelerate Seed, Accelerate Moonshot, and Accelerate Translation, each supporting different aspects of SDL and accelerated discovery research, from building capacity and fostering high-risk, high-reward endeavors to projects with clear commercialization paths and societal impact.
Recipients of these grants are working on a variety of innovative projects, ranging from the synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles for bioanalytical sensing to the development of next-generation membranes for separations, and from the discovery of peptoid-DNA nanocarriers for therapies to efficient frameworks for AI-based materials discovery. These projects not only aim to advance scientific research but also foster interdisciplinary collaboration and partnership, thereby enabling high-impact research that promises to bring about material improvements to our world.
Acceleration Consortium Invests $1.2 Million in Innovation to Transform Scientific Discovery and Healthcare
With CFREF funding, the Acceleration Consortium is not just advancing the work of established researchers but is also supporting early-career scientists at the forefront of SDL technology, a revolutionary approach in the field of knowledge discovery. Projects aimed at enhancing SDL technology, like the development of software to manage data streams and resources for experiments, are also receiving support.
This initiative by the Acceleration Consortium not only positions the Greater Toronto Area and Canada as leaders in AI and discovery but also nurtures the next generation of groundbreaking researchers, pushing the boundaries of what is possible towards a materially better future. The consortium is set to open its next funding competition in the summer of 2024, inviting proposals for new research projects.
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About the Author: Bernard Aybout (Virii8)
