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Province funds two more research projects
The U of S will receive $521,100 in provincial funding for two research projects – one that will enhance the oil and potash industries and another that could have a far-reaching impact on the electronics industry.
The projects were among three announced April 17 for Saskatchewan universities under the Strategic Investment Fund of the provincial Dept. of Economic and Co-operative Development.
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| Jeremy Lee |
The first U of S project grant is $271,100 to biochemist Jeremy Lee for a machine that will manufacture and test new light-based electronic transistors that have the potential to revolutionize the electronics industry.
The transistors will use a new conductive material, M-DNA, which is a new type of DNA molecule that can conduct electricity. Prof. Lee’s research team is the first in the world to create M-DNA. This "molecular wire" is the ultimate in miniaturization for electronic circuits.
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| Chris Holmden |
Transistors are one of the basic components of all computers, and light-based transistors would have the advantage of very small size and very fast speed of operation. Potentially, these bioelectronic circuits could even replace the smallest of silicon microchips that drive the world’s information technology.
The project could also lead to spinoff benefits in medical diagnostics and drug discovery.
The second U of S project grant is $250,000 to geological sciences professor Chris Holmden for an isotope "fingerprinting" project to develop the subsurface brines found through oil and potash drilling.
Analysis of these brines could become a useful tool in petroleum exploration and production and in enhanced monitoring of water in-flows in potash mines. The project will also map the distribution of economically important concentrations of rare elements found in brines.
"These projects will advance knowledge in emerging areas of biochemistry and geological sciences and potentially provide new tools for industry," said Michael Corcoran, U of S Vice-President of Research. "Provincial investments in university research of this type often have long-term economic spinoffs," Corcoran said.
"These cutting-edge projects help further build the reputations of our two universities as centres of innovation," Economic and Co-operative Development Minister Eldon Lautermilch said.
"Support to this applied industrial research underscores our government’s commitment to the ‘R&D’ that is crucial to our knowledge-based economy and which ultimately creates jobs and opportunities for all of us," he said.
The Strategic Investment Fund encourages the development of new technologies and research infrastructure in the province. The fund is designed to enhance the competitiveness of Saskatchewan industries, as well as to develop new value-added products and processes to expand the Saskatchewan economy.
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