|
About the Alberta Prion Research Institute
The Alberta Prion Research Institute is a $35 million initiative announced by the Alberta government in February 2005 to support top researchers working on solutions to the serious scientific and socioeconomic challenges associated with prions, the proteins thought to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
The Prion Institute is coordinating fundamental, applied and multidisciplinary research geared toward providing solutions and models of policy action that can meet the BSE challenge for the beef and food industries, and similar challenges from other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and other diseases in animals and humans related to protein misfolding.
The Prion Institute takes an Alberta-wide approach to prion-related research, incorporating a strategy that engages a broad spectrum of disciplines to address economic and social impacts of prion and related diseases. It supports outcomes-oriented research on prevention, mitigation and treatment of these diseases, and is developing the scientific evidence to inform public policy on solutions and best practices.
The initiative supports projects that:
- Focus on excellent research and innovation
- May eventually translate into products, services, and public policies
- May help Alberta companies develop, for example, new handling practices, surveillance procedures, diagnostic tests, decontamination technologies
- Can be applied beyond Alberta’s borders—nationally and globally
The Prion Institute is operated by Alberta Ingenuity, a $1 billion endowment established by the Government of Alberta to create and harness science and engineering research expertise in carefully chosen areas. Through funding programs that support highest caliber research, Ingenuity is building Alberta’s science community in areas with significant social impact and of strategic importance to Alberta.
|
|