Loyalist College helps seven businesses to grow and develop the bioeconomy

Belleville, Ontario, September 19, 2022 – Loyalist College’s Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis is helping seven companies grow and develop innovative natural products and processes through its COLLABORATE program, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) new Applied Research and Technology Partnership (ARTP) grants.

“On behalf of Loyalist College, I’d like to thank NSERC for their additional support as we expand our sustainability focused research collaborations with small and medium-sized (SMEs) enterprises across the region,” said Mark Kirkpatrick, Acting President of Loyalist College. “This funding will empower the College to create unparalleled work-integrated learning opportunities for students where they can help SMEs solve real-world challenges and advance the bioeconomy.”

As a recent signatory on the UN Sustainable Development Goals Accord, Loyalist continues to identify opportunities to integrate the SDGs into its academic programming, applied research, and campus initiatives. By supporting SMEs with the development of new sustainable technologies in the bioeconomy, the College and its partners are collectively working to advance SDG #12 Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns. For SMEs, enhancing their sustainable practices and procedures requires advanced commercial and technical expertise, but accessing this support during the research and development phase can be challenging for small businesses. Loyalist’s COLLABORATE program is solving this problem by providing $440,000 of funding over two years for SMEs to work with the Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis to accelerate development of their bio-based products and services.

“This additional support from the Government of Canada is a testament to the value of colleges, CEGEPs and polytechnics and how they contribute to Canadian innovation – from exceptional applied research expertise and training experience to outstanding facilities and equipment,” said Alejandro Adem, President of NSERC. “On behalf of the tri-agencies, congratulations to the successful colleges who will benefit from this special investment that will help their students, local businesses and communities thrive.”

In the first year of the program, Loyalist has allocated NSERC’s ARTP COLLABORATE funding for projects with the following companies:

Afiya Beauty develops and sells clean, all-natural beauty products through their online store. This project will look to develop an extract from apple pomace to be incorporated into cosmetic products.

Black and Blue Foods is a company focused on using natural products to treat chronic medical conditions. They are currently working on a natural health product to treat inflammation. Through funding from its COLLABORATE program, the Centre will create a design of experiment protocol for the manufacturing parameters to define the approach for the formula.

Cold Plasma Group Inc. is developing a patent-pending, sterilization technology for the cannabis industry. This technology consists of cold plasma processing cycles, tailored to be effective at reducing the microbial contamination on cannabis products, yet gentle towards product quality and chemical composition. This project will perform prototype “field” testing that will facilitate the implementation of the technology under typical customer operational conditions.

Finda Beauty Care is an aesthetic and hair care centre that provides beauty services to those with sensitive skin and/or those sensitive to strong scents. This project will assist in the development of a unique, natural, low- to no-fragrance product to moisturize very dry skin during the winter months.

MediPharm Labs is a pharmaceutical company specializing in cannabinoids. This project will evaluate the suitability of a technological methodology to isolate THC of pharmaceutical purity from the distillate input, and will also make recommendations on scale-up to commercial processing.

Terra Plant is a Toronto-based startup in synthetic biology, which has developed a proprietary plant-based production system that can be used to produce small molecules and proteins faster, cheaper and with greater scalability. The technology is highly adaptable and can produce multiple products including vaccines, insulin, vitamins, biofuels and protein supplements. This project will build and validate a prototype and minimum viable product for a cannabinoid production system.

Vive Crop Protection is a Canadian crop protection technology company that creates Precision Chemistry to expand the horizons of Precision Agriculture. Using the Allosperse® Delivery System, Vive greatly improves the targeting and performance of chemical and biological active ingredients, helping growers achieve better results. This project expands on initial proof-of-concept work to investigate the ability of Vive’s Allosperse polymers to disperse non-polar chemicals in water.

About NSERC
NSERC invests over $1.2 billion each year in natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC investments enable partnerships and collaborations that connect the makers and users of discoveries. Research partnerships established by NSERC help inform research and development and solve scale-up challenges. NSERC also provides scholarships and hands-on training experience for more than 30,000 post-secondary students and post-doctoral fellows. These young researchers will be the next generation of science and engineering leaders in Canada.

About Loyalist College
Loyalist College is located on the territory of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, and the Haudenosaunee people. We acknowledge our shared obligation to respect, honour, and sustain these lands and the natural resources contained within. Ranked one of Canada’s top 50 research colleges, Loyalist College empowers students, faculty, staff, and partners through experiential, industry cluster-based education, training and applied research programs. As Ontario’s Destination College, the College provides job-ready graduates for, and knowledge transfer to, industry and the community. Located on more than 200 acres in the beautiful Bay of Quinte region, the College is perfectly positioned between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Loyalist College offers more than 70 full-time diploma, certificate and apprenticeship programs in biosciences, building sciences, business, community service, health and wellness, media studies, public safety, and skilled trades. Continuing education options are available through LoyalistFocus.com, including hundreds of online, distance and in-class courses, and through the College’s 100+ university transfer agreements. Loyalist College is a key driver of social and economic health in eastern Ontario. It contributes 3.8 percent of the Gross Regional Product, representing $396.3 million annually to the regional economy – based on an October 2021 report by Emsi. For more information on Loyalist College’s Belleville, Bancroft and Toronto campuses and Port Hope satellite location, visit loyalistcollege.com. To learn more about Loyalist College’s Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis and the College’s Applied Research and Innovation Office, visit loyalistappliedresearch.com.

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Contact:
Braden Root-McCaig
Director, Marketing and Communications
Loyalist College
647-543-4300
Brootmccaig@loyalistcollege.com