CFI Awards $25.8M for major projects at Canadian Light Source

Saskatoon, SK – A total of $25.8 million was awarded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation for three projects to be built at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) national synchrotron facility at the University of Saskatchewan.

The projects are led by teams from three universities: the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of British Columbia. Construction and operation will be done in collaboration with CLS scientists.

These investments represent a tremendous boost to Canadas research capacity, says Bill Thomlinson, CLS executive director.

The three projects together comprise five new beamlines. Construction is expected to begin in early 2008, with some of the new facilities operational as early as 2011.

CFI will provide up to 40% of the total $64.5 million in funding for the beamline projects, with the balance to be made up from other partners. Operating costs will be covered by CFI and the CLS operating budget. The funding was part of more than $422 million in funding to support 86 projects at 35 institutions across Canada that was announced.

The new beamlines include:

– The Brockhouse X-ray Diffraction and Scattering Sector: Under the leadership of Stefan Kycia from the University of Guelph, this $27.8-million project includes two beamlines which will be devoted to characterizing the structure of a wide variety of materials for applications such as advanced alloys and polymers, novel batteries, food science and petroleum products.

– BioXAS: Life Science Beamline for X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy: Led by University of Saskatchewan Canada Research Chair Graham George, this $20.6 million project will develop two beamlines to be used to study biological and health-related metals, in diseases such as Alzheimers, as environmental toxins, in metal-containing drugs, and as essential constituents of living systems.

– The Quantum Materials Spectroscopy Centre: Under the leadership of Andrea Damascelli, Canada Research Chair in Electronic Structure of Solids at the University of British Columbia, this $16.1-million project is expected to propel Canada into the forefront of research into the electronic properties of novel materials, with applications from high-performance computing to energy storage technologies.

These projects bring to 19 the number of beamlines in various stages of planning, construction, commissioning and operation at the CLS. There is room for about 30 beamlines at the national synchrotron facility.