Research stories

Our investments support research that benefits Canadians

In CFI-funded labs and facilities across the country, researchers in all stages of their careers are making discoveries, supporting a robust innovation ecosystem and helping solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. 

Portrait of Nafissa Ismail professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa.

How neuroendocrinology crosses sectors to create promising new insights

Nafissa Ismail focuses on the effects of hormones on the brain to pin down the interactions between our organs and our emotions
Listen now
Hilary Earl kneels on the floor with her laptop as she prepares for an interview. In the foreground is a video camera.
article

Investigating the causes — and consequences — of war and genocide

How immersive simulation, film, video and podcasting tools are giving Hilary Earl and her colleagues fresh insights into the history of state-sponsored violence
All articles
Portrait of Nafissa Ismail professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa.
podcast
Ontario

How neuroendocrinology crosses sectors to create promising new insights

Nafissa Ismail focuses on the effects of hormones on the brain to pin down the interactions between our organs and our emotions
All podcasts
Image of various cellphones on a wooden table displaying photos of researchers.
video

A promising future, now: 25 years of investing in ideas that change our world

The Canada Foundation for Innovation has supported cutting-edge research in Canada for 25 years. In these videos, researchers reflect on how CFI funding has advanced their work and how future generations will benefit. They tell passionate stories of curiosity, commitment and innovation.
All videos

All stories

Young man falling on a large purple mattress, wearing a helmet and protective pads, while researchers in the back of the falling laboratory monitor the impact of his fall on a computer.
video
British Columbia

How to prevent falls

Researchers at Simon Fraser University are analyzing how people fall with the aim of preventing injuries
An conceptual image of a finger touching a free-floating screen, with action icons streaming out the back.
article
Quebec

It’s clear as glass

By integrating microscopic ducts into the glass that screens are made of, researchers have developed an amazing interface
A tiny baby's dark eyes and nose peak out from the blanket she's swaddled in, her little fingers grip the edge.
article
Quebec

Combating premature births

Births before 37 weeks are linked to early intrauterine inflammation. Researchers have developed a molecule that inhibits this.
A graphic of a blue gear containing the male symbol and a pink gear containing the female symbol.
article
Quebec

For sex equality

Until now, experiments to understand chronic pain used mostly male mice. To scientists’ surprise, however, females react differently. Our way of understanding pain circuitry is changing...
Lightning arcs between two skyscrapers in a nighttime city scape
article
Quebec

Taming lightning

A physicist has mastered one of nature’s most impressive forces in his laboratory, setting the stage for multiple applications
Tour guide and taxi driver, Bill Baker, poses in front of the synchrotron beamlines inside the Canadian Light Source
video
Saskatchewan

Research builds my local community

Saskatoon cab drivers introduce visitors to their city’s pride and joy: the Canadian Light Source
Andrew Pelling, wearing a microphone, points to a slice of apple in a petri dish.
article
Ontario

Growing body parts from plants

Inspired by movies like Little Shop of Horrors and The Matrix, Andrew Pelling’s University of Ottawa lab is all about taking the most audacious ideas and turning them into reality
A vector graphic of opened head symbol with researchers and research infrastructure inside over the CFI logo on red background.
podcast

The CFI's origin story

This is the origin story of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, an organization dedicated to the future, that was born at a time when the country was heavily burdened by its past
Illustration of three men and a woman in grey suits carrying a giant watering can. From left to right: the woman is helping tilt the watering can by its neck, one man is supporting it from its base, and the other two men, one sitting on top of the other’s shoulders, is holding the handle. Water droplets pour out of the nozzle, falling onto the CFI’s circular red logo growing out of the soil. To the left of the logo, a fourth man is crouching on one knee in the dirt, holding a gardening spade
podcast

Episode four: An idea becomes reality

The fourth episode in a podcast series that traces the Canada Foundation for Innovation's unlikely origin story
Illustration of a giant grey head with an open skull cap, revealing his brain. A portion of the brain in the shape of a puzzle piece is missing. Two men in grey suits stand on top of the head. The man to the left is scratching his head, while the man on the right is carrying the CFI’s red circular logo above his head. Beneath them, a woman in a grey suit is holding up the brain’s missing puzzle piece
podcast

Episode three: The idea of CFI is born

The third episode in a podcast series that traces the Canada Foundation for Innovation's unlikely origin story
Illustration of a man in a grey suit aboard a little boat made out of newspaper. He is at sea and is looking through a nautical telescope. To the right of the boat, there is a large green dollar sign, mostly submerged under water. The top part of the dollar sign sticking out of the water has two palm trees growing on it.
podcast

Episode two: An unexpected opportunity

The second episode in a podcast series that traces the Canada Foundation for Innovation's unlikely origin story
Illustration of a man in a grey suit sitting on a unicycle with a dollar sign on it. He is balancing on a tightrope and looking down at the shark fins darting out of the water below. The sharks are waiting for him to fall.
podcast

Episode one: Fiscal Armageddon

The first episode in a podcast series that traces the Canada Foundation for Innovation's unlikely origin story