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

All stories

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Ontario

Keeping pollution in check, at the world’s freshwater laboratory

A network of lakes in Ontario provides a globally unique perspective on how human activity affects lakes and watersheds, so we can find ways to preserve them
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Ontario

Cataloguing all the world’s living things, at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics

The University of Guelph is building a powerful inventory of every species on Earth in an effort to monitor and conserve biodiversity in the face of crisis
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Quebec

Making movies of matter as it changes, with the Advanced Laser Light Source

Researchers at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique use Canada’s most powerful laser to probe everything from how plants grow to how metals behave under stress
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Quebec

How Canadian research could help determine if we are alone in the universe

The James Webb Space Telescope has a uniquely Canadian invention aboard that, with help from research on the ground, reveals the composition of the atmosphere of planets outside our solar system and their potential to harbour life
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Quebec

Concussions: A dizzying field of research!

There are 200,000 concussions every year in Canada. If you’re not an elite athlete, your odds of having a concussion are one in 10,000. Professional athletes, on the other hand, will experience three or four by the age of 20. But since there is no way of objectively diagnosing a concussion, and those affected are notoriously reluctant to report their symptoms, the real numbers are likely higher than anyone wants to admit. What stands in the way of acceptance and proper management of concussions?
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Alberta

Applying quantum technology to solve some of our toughest real-world problems

University of Calgary partnerships exploring how quantum research can help to address “hard problems”
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Nova Scotia,New Brunswick

Tracking the North Atlantic right whale

Ocean Tracking Network leveraging new technology to track whales and design interventions
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Manitoba

Sea ice dynamics

University of Manitoba researchers look to the Churchill Marine Observatory for answers about a changing climate
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Alberta

Searching for new cures with Western and Traditional Knowledge

Traditional Indigenous Knowledge helps guide the Prairie to Pharmacy initiative’s quest to fill Canada’s gap in natural product research and find new cancer drugs in prairie plants
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Quebec

Christian Messier has found his field of dreams

A world-renowned specialist in forest management and biodiversity pays colourful tribute to the living organisms we call trees.
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Ontario

Changing our approach to brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

Canadian researchers are making links between the immune system and brain disease to develop better treatments for neurological disorders
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Manitoba

New digital archive will be a record of Canada’s residential school history

Archiving millions of documents to catalogue part of this country’s history and serve as a profound tool for understanding its legacy for Indigenous people