Funding to help UVic-Genome BC Proteomics Centre

Dr. Christoph Borchers (left), director of the UVic-Genome BC Proteomics Centre, shows off one of two new mass spectrometers to John Duncan, MP for Vancouver Island North and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. The minister visited the proteomics centre on Oct. 12 to announce $663,000 in funding from the federal Western Diversification Program to purchase the two instruments. Mass spectrometers are powerful instruments that can identify a protein or part of a protein by its molecular weight. These two will be used to detect biomarkers—molecules that indicate the presence of disease such as cancer. The centre has the highest concentration of mass spectrometers at any Canadian university and one of the highest in North America.