Grant: Technology Access Centre

With presence in Belleville, Bancroft, Port Hope, Tyendinaga, and Toronto, Loyalist College serves primarily rural communities where small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the economic drivers. Canadian SMEs in rural environments go largely underserved when it comes to innovation supports for growth, skills development, and access to funding. Established in 2019, Loyalist’s Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis (CNPMC) has become the crown jewel of the College’s 19-year track record in cultivating a research environment that fosters innovation and champions applied research as a catalyst for change. The CNPMC is a research hub for emerging entrepreneurs and organizations in natural products. This sector includes cosmetics and personal care, food and beverage, and natural health product sectors. With specialties in extraction and advanced analytics, product development and formulation, accurate mass spectrometry as well as microbiology and molecular biology, the CNPMC has built a reputation locally and nationally working with industry to drive innovation in bio-based product consistency, stability, and safety research. Responding to evolving industry needs and given the increased interest in potential therapeutic uses of psilocybin, Loyalist received its Health Canada license for psilocybin research in 2023 – a first for a Canadian college. A natural extension of their cannabis license, this represents a significant milestone and opportunity to contribute to the research of psychedelics that highlights a commitment to safety and economic growth. The infrastructure and expertise the CNPMC developed over the past five years will allow for continued support to the aforementioned industries, while also responding to new and emerging opportunities under the natural products umbrella, such as synthetic biology. To better reflect the new areas of focus, the CNPMC will rebrand to the Centre for Natural Products (CNP). The renewed TAC funding will allow the CNP to hire experts in synthetic biology and support additional clients in this sector. Further, TAC renewal funding will continue to enhance the CNPs capacity to provide high quality, industry-relevant training to engage and inspire students. The CNP seeks renewal with a strong operational foundation, an enviable base of diverse, long-term industry partners, and a track record for producing commercially beneficial research results for today’s changemakers in natural products.