Based on our success in placing over 70 students in companies across the province through the Boosting Biotech initiative, BioAlberta is pleased to have been chosen by the Government of Alberta as a partner industry association to pilot the Work-integrated Learning Industry Voucher (WILIV) program for the STEM and life sciences sector. This means we will continue to work with post-secondary institutions and employers to match students with new learning opportunities on the job.

"Work Integrated Learning opportunities build capacity in the next generation of life science graduates by providing them with hands on experience and mentoring to build on their academic training. Using WILIV we are also able to support Alberta SMEs by giving them access to a young, well trained labour force to help their business grow,” said Robb Stoddard, President and CEO of BioAlberta. 

"Building talent and culture in life sciences is critical to the growth of the sector. In 2019 we identified a number of tools Alberta could use to bridge the skills gap between new graduates and industry’s expectations, including a focus on WIL opportunities," added Stoddard. "By building on learning from Boosting Biotech to deliver WILIV, and under our new Talent Hub umbrella initiative, we’ll continue to deliver on that commitment."

Over the next three (3) years. BioAlberta will use WILIV to support a total of 136 unique (16-week long) full time life science and STEM student internships to qualifying Alberta small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who successfully recruit skilled students enrolled in under-graduate, graduate or post-graduate degree programs. Students are matched as placements become available.

SME internships must provide students with practical work in a field related to their studies within the Alberta life sciences eco-system that enable them to gain a better understanding of your company’s work. Eligible SMEs will be awarded $5000 in matching wage support per student placement. These Alberta SMEs are then free to match WILIV support with either their own operational funds or apply to other available student funding programs (i.e. BioTalent Canada, MITACS, etc). 

BioAlberta is ready to recruit SMEs to participate in WILIV. The deadline for SMEs to apply for Fall 2021 WILIV funding is September 10th and November 1st for Winter 2022. For WILIV details or to apply contact Trish@bioalberta.com. 

The Trade Commissioner Service Division of the Canadian Embassy in Ireland is partnering with the 2nd annual Smart Health Summit (virtual) on September 14, 2021.

Canadian companies interested in attending this event can receive a 20% discount on the ticket price using the code “Canada”.

The event will focus on the shift to digital healthcare – the need for electronic health records, eHealth, tele-medicine, data management and security, etc. Any companies interested in learning more about the Irish health ecosystem and possibly gaining access to key decision makers in this space would be well-placed to attend this event. See details here and contact Hanna at Hanna.Wajda@international.gc.ca.

Knowde Group, Inc™. is a Canadian-based, Global Contract Research Organisation (CRO) and Hybrid Consultancy dedicated to the advancement of Plant-Based and Progressive Therapeutics™. As a decentralized CRO, Knowde Group can engage, and project manages clinical trials around the globe. As a catalyst, Knowde Group embraces the shifting paradigm of treatment protocols and pharmaceutical applications of medicinal cannabis, psychedelics, novel therapeutics and technologies. In addition to its clinical trial support, Knowde Group is a provider of accredited continuing medical education and providing its clients with a strategic pathway to commercialisation.

By identifying the need for a more focused CRO in this industry, we are poised to add value to these markets. The global psychedelics market is estimated to grow to a $6.85 billion market share by 2025 and cannabis is estimated at $90.5B by 2027. Additionally, the Canadian NHP and Functional Food market are estimated to hit $19.8B by 2026.

By adapting traditional CRO services and becoming decentralized, our focus is to be flexible to the current and future needs of managing trials virtually, forge international and multi-site collaborations, utilize Artificial Intelligence and computational science to support the “fast-tracking” of drug discovery while remaining hyper-focused on advising on the unique challenges of plant-based and progressive medicine. Our additional services include, but are not limited to, providing strategic advisory services, due diligence, and research license applications.

Established in early 2020, we are a multinational company headquartered in Calgary (incorporated in Canada, the United Kingdom and with Australia pending), our team bring decades of senior-level clinical trial, regulatory, business development, data management and project management experience from the Licensed Producer (Cannabis), Pharmaceutical, Academic, Medical, large scale CRO and Corporate sectors.

We are currently working with a number of clients in several countries, and have forged incredible partnerships with organizations such as LMC Manna Research and the Legion Veteran’s Village. Our continued focus is to create translatable research that can be applied to clinical practice and be made accessible to patients in a quicker time frame. A large portion of our current work is focused on Mental and Cognitive Health and working with Veterans, First Responders, Active Military and High Performace Athletes.

“At Knowde, we are incredibly excited about the work we are doing with our clients and are keen to continue our growth into new markets and new areas of research,” says Jaspreet Grewal, CEO.

Knowde Group is proud to be female-founded and led. As a decentralized CRO, we have the capacity to engage and manage clinical trials around the globe. Working as a consultancy keeps us adaptable and quick to respond to the needs of our clients, continuously embracing the shifting paradigm of treatment protocols and pharmaceutical applications. To learn more about the team and our services, see our website here. For business development inquiries or partnership opportunities please contact Ming Bérubé-Sam. Director, Business Development.Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our latest projects and offerings. Instagram: @knowdegroup, Linkedin: @knowdegroup

The Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP) funds downstream research and development projects -see full details here. Genome Canada will provide support for projects ranging in size from $300,000 to $6 million ranging from six months to a maximum of three years that:

Deadline to submit Expressions of Interest is October 2021. Contact Ryan Mercer to discuss.

If you do conventional agriculture research, including biotechnology, agronomy, demonstration and adaptation research - make sure to look at this funding announcement - SAFDAC supports projects that develop or advance smart technologies to increase productivity, reduce production costs or increase the value of Alberta’s agri-food commodities. Learn more and apply here.

A new $50M investment fund to invest in early-stage Canadian companies developing naturally-derived alternatives to synthetic products. Learn about this new opportunity here.

Designed to help establish the commercial feasibility of innovative natural products and technologies, and attract and de-risk subsequent investment- research institutes, start-ups and SMEs, see details here.

AGE-WELL’s funding has been renewed through the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program to the end of fiscal year 2022-2023. They have $21.9 million over three years from GoC to provide Canadians with technology-based solutions to improve quality of life for older adults and caregivers. If you have an idea apply for these exceptional funding opportunities now. Details can be found at: http://ow.ly/fgsL50zE3oO Y

This Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) is being delivered by regional development agencies (RDAs) to help more businesses and organizations, that are key to the regions and local economies. A total of $304 million will be available for western Canadian businesses. To learn more or apply see Western Economic Diversification Canada. 

FREDsense Technologies Corp. on July 7th, announced the closing of a Convertible Debenture valued at $2.5 million from BDC Capital’s Cleantech Practice.

FREDsense has developed a biologically based breakthrough technology for rapidly measuring hard to detect chemicals in our environment. The company builds portable field kits for rapid measurement of these parameters to deliver chemical information in a fraction of the time required. With portable, simple, and scalable types of sensor solutions, FREDsense is changing the way we understand water chemistry. Read the full release here.

48Hour Discovery Inc and RayzeBio announced on July 12 tyhat the companies have entered a strategic research collaboration to discover and develop novel peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer.

Ratmir Derda, CEO of 48Hour Discovery: "For this collaboration project, 48Hour Discovery will identify potent ligands for a series of targets selected by RayzeBio. This project will help us further validate the potential of our billion-scale molecular libraries and cloud-based discovery pipeline. We are looking forward to accelerating the preclinical programs of RayzeBio and providing peptide drug candidates that will advance the radiopharmaceutical field.” Read the complete announcement here.

On July 12, FluroTech LTD. (TSXV: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF) and wholly owned subsidiary FluroTest Diagnostic Systems ("FluroTest" or The Company), a diagnostics technology leader in high output rapid antigen testing for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens, today announced it has filed its Pre-Emergency Use Authorization (Pre-EUA) Request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Pre-EUA submission is the Company’s latest step taken as it seeks authorization of its FluroTest Pandemic Response Platform, designed to facilitate widespread point of access and surge-scale SARS-CoV-2 testing by leveraging the disciplines of robotics automation, biochemistry, fluorescence detection and cloud computing. See details here.

On July 19 Knowde Group Inc.™, the decentralized Global Contract Research Organization and hybrid consultancy specializing in cannabis and psychedelic research, announced that it entered into a Strategic Partnership with LMC Manna Research, the largest network of fully owned and integrated clinical research sites in Canada providing Phase I-IV clinical trial services with a patient database of 1 million+ nationwide. See details here.

On July 19, PBG BioPharma Inc. announced that Health Canada issued them a Standard Processing Licence under the Cannabis Act, allowing the company to begin commercial scale cannabis/hemp manufacturing operations immediately. This Licence allows PBG to process and/or sell cannabis/hemp derived ingredients including extracts, concentrate, and isolates to other licenced partners. It also allows the company to develop and manufacture Cannabis 2.0 products including oils, topicals, vapes and edibles. See complete details here.