The University of Ottawa is set to build a new six-storey medical research facility to help grow the medical biotechnology sector in the Ottawa region.
“For years, researchers, innovators and health-care leaders have noted how a shortage of up-to-date research, and wet-lab facilities has limited this region’s potential to be a leader in health-care innovation and biotech commercialization,” says uOttawa President Jacques Frémont. “This has impeded, not only health-related research and development, but our ability to attract and retain top global talent in health-care innovation.”
The Advanced Medical Research Centre (AMRC) on Smyth Road is scheduled to open in 2026 and set to be built adjacent to the Faculty of Medicine and close to the Ottawa Hospital General Campus.
According to a media release, it’s set to be 350,000 square feet that will house house laboratories, technology platforms and other essential infrastructure.
One key feature will be the Ottawa Health Innovation Hub, where researchers will team up with clinicians and investors to incubate and scale up startups to accelerate the commercialization of novel treatments.
“(The AMRC) will allow us to accelerate the pace of our discoveries and train more scientists for the future. It will permit basic discoveries to move quickly through the research and innovation pipeline so that we can maximize the impact of our work for the community.”
Dr. Julie St-Pierre, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and associate vice-president, research support and infrastructure, at uOttawa
On May 6, minister of public services and procurement Jean-Yves Duclos announced that uOttawa and McMaster University would share an investment from the Government of Canada of more than $115 million to lead the new Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub, which will be part of the AMRC.