{"id":100963,"date":"2025-04-24T16:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T20:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=100963"},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T15:21:13","slug":"research-retrospective-from-lab-to-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/04\/research-retrospective-from-lab-to-market\/","title":{"rendered":"RESEARCH RETROSPECTIVE: From lab to market"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a monthly series celebrating research breakthroughs and successes at Brock University over the past\u00a0<\/em>60 years<\/em><\/a>. To read other stories in the series, visit\u00a0<\/em>The Brock News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1991, Susan Clark accepted a proposal that set Brock on a path to decades of impactful industry collaborations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The then-Vice President, Academic had a meeting with scientist Erica Besso, a former program officer with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), a federal granting agency.<\/p>\n

Besso told Clark and then-Dean of Mathematics and Science Bill Cade about a growing trend at NSERC that saw grants supporting university-industry research partnerships. She hoped to help Brock University make the most of this opportunity.<\/p>\n

Clark and Cade jumped at the offer. Under Cade\u2019s direction, Besso proceeded to set up the Brock University-Industry Link Development (BUILD).<\/p>\n

“We’re building a bank of expertise at the University and taking that to the community,\u201d Besso said in the March 13, 1991, issue of Campus News<\/em>. \u201cWe want to serve both needs: competitiveness in the business world and the educational focus of the University.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besso\u2019s words are as relevant today as they were more than 30 years ago, says Acting Vice-President, Research Michelle McGinn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndustry collaborations give our students front-row, hands-on opportunities to build the knowledge and skills needed for their future careers,\u201d she says. \u201cBrock\u2019s research is expanded and enriched as faculty and students support industry within and beyond Niagara.”<\/p>\n

Throughout the decades, industry-Brock research partnerships made inroads in such areas as agriculture pest control, yeast molecular biology, environmental analysis and metal extraction and recovery.<\/p>\n

Since opening in 1996, for example, Brock\u2019s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI)<\/a> has created numerous research partnerships with local, national and international organizations in the grape and wine sector.<\/p>\n

With a growing reputation as a solid industry partner, Brock has established several structures in recent years to foster research collaborations.<\/p>\n

In early 2012, the federal government granted Brock more than $800,000<\/a> to establish a new centre, called BioLinc, in the Roy and Lois Cairns Health and Bioscience Research Complex, which was just months away from its official opening at the time.<\/p>\n

Among its many activities, BioLinc connected science researchers with local entrepreneurs to create bio-manufacturing businesses. The centre also contained several labs made available to industry partners and Brock researchers for their projects.<\/p>\n

One such team using the Cairns Complex labs was Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Ian Brindle (MSc \u201972) and his partners at the Niagara-based copper extraction company Destiny Copper. In that space, the team developed new methods<\/a> to produce copper \u2014 work that continues to this day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The University received a huge boost towards growing its industry research connections in 2019 launch of the Brock-Niagara Validation, Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute (VPMI)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With a $5-million investment by the federal government<\/a>, the VPMI houses cutting-edge equipment<\/a>, technical expertise, technology transfer and training, and other supports for Brock researchers and their partners in southern Ontario\u2019s bioproducts, bioscience, bioagriculture and chemical manufacturing sectors.<\/p>\n

The VPMI works alongside the Brock LINC<\/a> innovation hub, with both entities building on the work of their predecessor, BioLinc. Officially opening in the Rankin Family Pavilion in 2020, Brock LINC provides a range of programs and services to support research commercialization<\/a>, entrepreneurship and industry partnerships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The growth of University structures and supports has allowed Brock-industry partnerships to expand from an early focus on natural sciences into new disciplines, such as projects aiming to:<\/p>\n