Genome Canada inks deal with Karolinska institute

Genome Canada has signed its first international agreement with the Swedish Karolinska Institutet Center for Gen-omics and Bioinformatitcs, capitalizing on strong existing ties and previous efforts to strengthen interaction in genomics research between the two countries. The letter of intent (LOI) is expected to lead to the identification of a large-scale project both nations can pursue before the end of the year.

Officially titled the Agreement to Promote Science and Industrial Cooperation between Sweden and Canada in the Field of Genomics, the LOI is an initial four-year undertaking that will focus on increased interaction by public and private sector players, including visits and exchanges by biotechnology and venture capital firms.

“There’s already lots of interaction — human traffic if you will — in the background and this will exploit those existing scientific and human linkages,” says Lepage, Genome Canada’s executive VP corporate development, who helped engineer the LOI with Karolinska Institutet president Dr Hans Wigzell. “The Karolinska Institutet is a prestigious, world renowned institute and it will be coordinating the broader Swedish effort.”

The pact caps groundwork initiated three years ago with a visit to Sweden by Dr Henry Friesen, then president of the Medical Research Council, and Marc Lepage. Lepage says the opportunity to enter an official LOI arose early in Genome Canada’s work on formulating its international strategy, and preliminary discussions are ongoing with other countries including the UK, US and France.

“The Swedish agreement was a little opportunistic on our part because we still have to get our projects going domestically,” Lepage says. “But with increased visits to both countries, we’re optimistic we’ll have something on a large-scale project quite soon.”

Helping to facilitate the agreement was the Canada-Sweden Business Institute, which has recently been stressing innovation. Its incoming president is Per From who heads up AstraZeneca Sweden, but was instrumental in establishing the Astra Research Centre in Montreal.

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