FedNor Investing In AMRIC Research Lab

By Angela Gemmill

The federal government sees the value in medical research.

Greg Rickford, the Minister of Federal Economic Development for Northern Ontario (FedNor) was in Sudbury today to announce $4,998,960 for the Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada (AMRIC), the research branch of Health Sciences North.

The money is meant to help renovate and retrofit a 12,000-square foot building (56 Walford Road), into a new research laboratory.

AMRIC Research Chair and Principal Investigator, Dr Janet McElhaney, says the facility will mean they can expand their team.

Currently 90 employees work for AMRIC, and McElhaney hopes by the time the renovations are complete they’ll have 160.

The construction work will create 30 jobs during the renovations.

The city of Greater Sudbury is also providing $1.75-million for the facility.

Minister Rickford says the federal government believes this opportunity will translate into economic growth for the region.

The work is expected to be finished by January 2018.

The building is an old school, the former St Theresa Catholic elementary School.

AMRIC was created three years ago with just four researchers.

Since its inception, AMRIC has attracted over $14 million in funding for equipment, research and capital expansion.