McMaster University is embarking on a major venture to develop and bring to market new molecular imaging probes -- agents to diagnose earlier and better treat diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

It will create a $25-million Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC) with $14.95 million from the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence, announced yesterday by Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

Partners in the project include the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, GE Healthcare Canada, the McMaster nuclear reactor and Cancer Care Ontario.

The money for Mac is part of $163 million that Prentice said will go to establish 11 centres of excellence for research and commercialization. Four, worth $60 million, will be in Vancouver.

The CPDC will be located in the McMaster Innovation Park being developed at Longwood Road and Main Street West.

John Valliant, acting director of the McMaster Institute of Applied Radiation Sciences, will be its scientific director.

He said such probes, which include radioactive isotopes, are a key component of molecular imaging, one of the fastest-growing fields in medicine, and Canada has a number of world-class centres working to create the next generation of probes to target a wide range of diseases.

The problem, he said, is moving promising probes from the lab to the clinic, an issue the Mac centre will address by focusing on the most promising probes "with the biggest impact on health and commercial impact."

He said it would be the first in the world to address every aspect of probe development and he predicted it would "have a tangible and significant economic and clinical impact."

University president Peter George said he's confident the centre "will generate enormous economic opportunities for Hamilton, the province and the country."

Mo Elbestawi, vice-president of research and international affairs, said it "will act as a magnet for related biosciences and research and development companies."

Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator