12 r researchers recognized with Connaught Innovation Awards
Published: June 1, 2023
Twelve researchers at the r are receiving Connaught Innovation Awards to help accelerate the development and commercialization of promising technologies with strong socio-economic potential that will have a positive impact on society.
“The r congratulates this year’s recipients, whose work is addressing some of society’s most important challenges,” said Leah Cowen, r’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “From energy-saving windows to the use of plant hormones as appetite suppressants or the development of therapeutic targets that hold promise for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases, these researchers’ inventions have the potential to make life-changing impacts here in Canada and around the world.”
This year's recipients are:
- : A tool to optimize complex formulations based on evolutionary computation accelerated by artificial neural networks
- : The use of a plant hormone CX as an appetite suppressant
- : Development of broad-spectrum, host-directed antivirals
- : Reducing microplastic fibre pollution using low friction polymer brush as textile coatings
- : A hardware accelerator for fully homomorphic encryption-based machine learning applications
- , r Mississauga: Development of an artificial intelligence-driven platform to explore the undruggable genome
- : Smart building facades for scalable operational energy management
- : Production and evaluation of hemoglobin-bis-tetramers for oxygen transport to increase supply of lungs for transplant by enhancing ex vivo perfusion of donor lungs
- : A platform for safety evaluation of chemical agents
- : Targeting TDP-43 aggregation as therapeutics for TDP-43 proteinopathies
- : Novel electrodes for non-invasive electrical nerve stimulation
- : Autonomous additive manufacturing system
The Connaught Innovation Award, which provides one-time seed funding to support the development and commercialization of the researchers’ innovative technologies, is backed by – the . Established 50 years ago through the sale of Connaught Medical Research Laboratories, which is known for the discovery and production of insulin, the fund supports r scholars through programs such as the , the , the , and international doctoral scholarships.
