(more information from an item in today’s newscast)

Fleming College’s Centre for Advancement of Water and Wastewater Technologies (CAWT) has been awarded $50,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for research infrastructure related to the CAWT’s COVID-19 research. 

The funding announcement was made today by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. The funding is part of the CFI’s Exceptional Opportunities Fund, which covers the urgent need for equipment for ongoing research related to COVID-19.  

The funds awarded to Fleming College will be used to acquire a refrigerated centrifuge and an ultra-low temperature freezer for the CAWT laboratory in Lindsay, Ontario. This equipment will allow researchers to safely extract and store samples of wastewater containing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The CAWT is currently working with an Ontario company to develop a technology that can quickly detect and monitor SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in wastewater.

“Companies have had to pivot because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Fleming College President Maureen Adamson. “Fleming College has been responsive to the shifting needs of our industry partners.  With the addition of this research equipment for the CAWT, we will be able to better support innovative water technology companies that are looking to develop solutions to some of the issues surrounding COVID-19.” 

Fleming is one of 52 universities and research hospitals, colleges, polytechnics and Cégeps across Canada to receive the Exceptional Opportunities Funding from the CFI.  

“Canadian researchers’ immediate response to the pandemic has demonstrated the research community’s crucial role in helping to resolve this crisis,” said Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and CEO, Canada Foundation for Innovation in a statement. “Working to find a vaccine, to learn about how COVID-19 affects the human body, or to study how this pandemic has influenced every aspect of our lives, Canada’s researchers have taken centre stage as our guides and our source of hope. The CFI is proud to support their efforts by equipping them with the research infrastructure they need to further their significant work.”