McGill celebrates new era of life sciences research in Canada

Montreal, QC – McGill University has opened its new multimillion-dollar McGill University Life Sciences Complex. The facility, the largest construction project in McGill’s history, is intended to encourage increased interdisciplinary research by bringing some of the world’s key scientific talent under one roof, speed up the process of translating discoveries into treatments and cures, and in the process strengthen Montreal’s position as a hub of biomedical research.

“The opening of this state-of-the-art Life Sciences Complex is a development of monumental importance, not only for McGill, but for health research in general,” said Prof Heather Munroe-Blum, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University. “I am certain the co-operative efforts of our outstanding researchers, cutting across a variety of scientific and medical disciplines, will yield significant discoveries and, ultimately, much-needed treatments for some of the world’s most devastating illnesses.”

The Life Sciences Complex encompasses two new facilities, the Francesco Bellini Life Sciences Building and the Cancer Research Building, as well as the existing McIntyre Medical Sciences Building and Stewart Biological Sciences Building. The newly named Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Centre will be housed in both the Cancer Research Building and the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building.

In addition to providing the lead gift to support the cancer centre, the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation’s donation will also support a chair to attract a leading cancer scholar, with emphasis on pulmonary cancer.

Integrating the existing buildings with the new structures eliminated the physical separation of people and creates an innovative space designed to encourage researchers in different disciplines to work more closely together in achieving scientific breakthroughs and developing new medical treatments.

The Life Sciences Centre is home to 60 principal investigators and 600 researchers, joined by over 2,000 researchers, technical personnel, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the renovated Stewart and McIntyre buildings.

To help cover costs of construction and equipment, McGill received more than $41 million in funding form Quebec’s provincial government, and more than $27 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).