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Bio-Matrix Golden HorseshBiosc iences Netwo
greening
Ontario wineries are drinking in savings in their energyusage by embracing responsible environmental policies.Their eco-ethiquette means that thinking green isreaping long green. And even the animals in somevineyards are getting into the act.
Wineries increasingly see eco-stewardship makesnatural sense and also dollars and cents. NarelleMartin, a consultant to the Wine Council o Ontarios
environmental plan, says it was made clearthroughout development o the program since 2003that good environmental practice is good business.
It is now a driving political issue, even withintoughening economic conditions recently, sayswinemaker Ron Giesbrecht, o Henry o Pelhamwinery. Energy champions, such as Tawse, Stratus,and Flat Rock wineries, are among the key driversalong Niagaras green roads.
Wineries are doing energy audits, investing in newstrategies and equipment, and developing an open
culture o energy conservation, says Giesbrecht. Hisown company is insulating lines and tanks, puttingin new boilers and compressors, and doing below-ground construction to reduce cooling and heatingcosts or wine storage and aging.
The movement even has movers and shakers romthe animal kingdom. At Southbrook and Featherstonewineries, sheep strip o low-hanging vine leaves toincrease sun exposure or grapes. O course, they leavebehind their own ertilizer. At Rosewood, bees eed onwildowers, clover and orchards and produce honeyused in the making o mead at the Beamsville estate.
Like other industries, wine producers began gettinghit with rising electricity, natural gas and other powercosts early this decade. OCETA the Ontario Centre orEnvironmental Technology Advancement developed anenergy benchmarking and best practices project in concertwith the wine council.
That led in 2006 to the report, Sustainable WinemakingOntario: Energy Best Practice or Wineries. The study ounthat smaller wineries were less energy-efcient thanmedium and larger acilities. It also ound that, as a generule, processing o the grape crop consumed the most enollowed by space heating and cooling within buildings.
Energy is integral to winemaking. Controlling temperaturduring ermentation is a big energy user and varies rom
acility to acility. Rerigeration in making and storing premwine may occupy 50 per cent o all energy consumed.
The 2006 best practice study was ollowed in 2007 by anenvironmental charter, touching on wastewater euent atreatment and renewable energy systems, among other th
The charter also oered pointers on the LEED program Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design thatocuses on reducing environmental impact. The Stratus win Niagara-on-the-Lake was way out-ront here: it became2005, the worlds frst winery to gain LEED green certifca
Stratus uses deep geothermal wells to transer heat to an
rom the ground and relies on a gravity system or grapesorting and crushing (eliminating or minimizing the needor pumps). Stratus believes LEED-certifcation details havreduced energy needs by an estimated 40 per cent.
Tawse also uses gravitational ow and has a geothermalsystem at its Vineland acility. At Flat Rock, theyve gonegreen literally. Insulating grass sod on the roo thatoverhangs wine barrels and ermentation tanks (see relastory on page 2) helps reduce heating and cooling costs.
Henry o Pelham and Southbrook Vineyards are amongoperations that have developed natural flter channels to
handle runo water. Such management plans make use obio-swale, a vegetated open channel designed to attenuaand treat stormwater drainage, and a wetland to providetertiary treatment o wastewater.
GHBN Blog The voices of
InnovationThe Golden Horseshoe
Biosciences Network
Blog (www.ghbn-blog.
blogspot.com) is the
rst Regional Innovation
Network Blog to start
up in Ontario. The blog
eatures posts by a
diverse group o authors,
and they ocus on areas
o innovation, networking,biosciences, and other
related elds.
We have already gotten a
number o GHBN authors
submitting their posts, and
together with this we have
these authors eatured
on the GHBN homepage
(www.ghbn.org). I you
have ideas on current news
rom Biotech, Pharma,
Agriculture, or other
related elds that you eel
should be shared with the
public, become a GHBN
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Inside
nA nose forenvironmentalexcellence[page 2]
nSeeding thecommunityfarm[page 4]
nTwo careersin search ofa cure
[page 5]
nWinter 2008-09 n volume 2 n issue
Thegreeningof Niagaras wineries
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A nose for environmental excellence
Bottling aneconomicharvest
The wines are
impressive but the
Ontario winery and
grape-growing sectors
impact is just as
substantial. Thats the
conclusion o a KPMG
study, released last all,
that shows the value-
added impact o the
industry to the provinces
economy is about $530
million.
The study ound the
wine industry supported
about 7,000 jobs during2007. KPMG also
concluded that, or each
litre o Ontario wine
purchased by residents,
the value-added return
to the provincial
economy is $8.48
combined income
or labour, business
and government versus 67 cents a
litre o oreign wines
consumed in 2007.
It commands the highground, poised like a
space-age actoryon steel stilts atopthe escarpment.This distinctivelook almost masks
the eco-innovationthat is a hallmark
o Flat Rock Cellars. Avisitor sees the six-sided
buildings and connecting bridge, not so much thepond out back or the grass sod that sits on oneroo o part o the winery.
But the pond and sod are among key designeatures that have shaped the Jordan-area acility.Beneath the pond water are some o the almost5,000 metres o glycol-flled pipe that act as ageo-thermal heat and cold transer system. Belowthe six or so inches o sod is the contained spacedevoted to wine barrels and ermentation tanks.
The grass not only blends into the surroundinglandscape, it acts to insulate the tank room, tolimit energy loss, and to trap carbon dioxide,identifed as one o the greenhouse gases behind
dramatic climate change. It also helps stop waterruno that would otherwise send rainwatercascading onto soils below.
The act that the green roo is there is really (sowe are) not intrusive on the landscape, says FlatRock president Ed Madronich. Weve tried to haveas small a ootprint rom the winery as possible.
That means using anti-microbial ozone technology toclean barrels and tanks and to rinse bottles, resulting in
the use o no chemicals, such as chlorine or ammoniumcompounds, and producing only water runo.
The environmental stress even comes into play with thetakeaways, the bags that visitors carry their newly bougwines in. Flat Rock used to oer cardboard boxes, saysMadronich. Now reusable fbre bags are supplied as weas biodegradeable plastic bags.The design insights that went into Flat Rock hadtheir beginnings in the early 2000s. That was just asthe Canada Green Building Council began dratingits audit standards or energy and environmentallysustainable buildings. So, the acility doesnt have aLEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifcation. (It was only in 2005 that nearby Stratusbecame the worlds frst LEED winery.)
Madronich says Flat Rocks environmental and energythemes are not a matter o money he says he does nohave an estimate o energy cost-savings earned, thanksto eco-sustainable innovations but are more a moraand ethical thing, frst and oremost. Ater all, the winehe notes, exists within the escarpment, a World BiospheReserve.
Flat Rock does its grape processing via a gravity-edoperation: the ruit enters the winery at the top andmoves down through various stages, minimizing the neor pumping and handling equipment and causing lessdamage to grapes.
The cellars turn out their 120,000 litres annually keyvarietals are Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir ro80 acres o vineyards. The Wine Spectator lauded FlatRocks 2006 Nadjas vineyard Riesling in its May 15, 20issue, part o a tour by the consumers wine bible o theNiagara region.n
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Niagara sees promise in bio-economy
The potential is clearly there, now its time to assess the
promise. Niagara economic leaders are about to proceed
with an investment-marketing strategy as they continueto plan or a bio-industry cluster within the region.
The marketing strategy, which will be done in 2009, is
the next step in going rom the existing Niagara embryo
o bio-oriented companies and public institutions to a
ull-scale, critical-mass economic cluster that will create
new jobs and attract outside businesses and researchers.
The investment study ollows a consultants report,
Bioeconomy Industry Development Opportunities or
Niagara, that surveyed the current state and potential o
the regions bio-inrastructure in the public and privatesectors.
Big dollar fgures come with a successul bio-cluster.
For example, the worldwide market or bioproducts
alone is estimated to reach $150 billion US by 2050, the
consultants report notes. In Canada, as much as 10 per
cent o organic chemicals and plastics could be derived
rom biomass by 2010.
The report was helpul in terms o identiying more
o the research and development in the broader
community, said Alan Teichroeb, vice-president obusiness development and services with Niagara
Economic Development Corporation.
The survey report, done by Vista Science and Technology,
o Welland, ound extensive bio-research and
development ongoing in both private and public sectors
but that collaboration is limited. The report urges
networking and mobilizing o R & D resources, which
could include sharing o best practices, as the wine
industry has done in Ontario.
I think awareness-building is going to be very criticalhere, said Vista president Amy Lemay. because I dont
think anybody, including mysel, expected to fnd this R
& D aspect as strong as it is.
The report, which is still being refned, concluded that
the nascent bio-community needs a stronger investment
and venture capital base and ar more alignment
between the various players. But it notes that there
are great strengths in the amount o biomass in the
region, and its expertise in ermentation, plant genetics,
biomanuacturing, biouels, and bio-energy.
The regions wineries are all about ermentation.
Both Niagara College and Brock University are
working with plants and biomass. Brock plans a$90-million health and biosciences complex. Two
Port Colborne frms, Jungbunzlauer and CASCO
Inc., collaborate in making bio-processed products.
Biolyse Pharma in St. Catharines makes paclitaxel,
a cancer drug, rom the yew tree.
In all, the Vista report identifes 22 Niagara
organizations active in the bioeconomy, 18 o
which are in the private sector. Overall, more
than 80 per cent o organizations, mostly private
companies, were doing R & D. That knowledge
base itsel could be a draw in persuading outsidecompanies to locate in Niagara.
But the rush to develop local bio-economic
communities is headlong across Canada and
around the globe. Many areas o Southern
Ontario are heavily involved in R & D, bio-
product development, unctional oods,
nutraceuticals, and energy-rom-waste projects.
One o the things I think Niagara has to do is
to try to identiy the very unique opportunities
that exist . . . (but) we are somewhat behindthe curve in terms o some o the regions in the
country and in the world, said Lemay.
Funding or Niagaras bio-economy cluster study
is coming rom several partners, including the
Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network, and
rom the ederal Community Investment Support
Program.n
Mac grgets t
recogniti
McMaster P
chemistry/biochemis
grad Weian Z
has won honoura
mention at a natio
sciences competition
a report on how a gnanoparticle-detec
system might prot
against and capt
harmul pathogens s
as the SARS vir
Zhaos rep
Biodetection kits us
gold nanoparticle-coa
paper, extolled the c
fexibility and sensitvirtues o using g
nanoparticle-coated pa
compared to curr
detection syste
The technology is p
o the Sentinel Bioac
Paper Networ
Canadian public-priv
consortium led
McMaster Univers
The network ho
to develop pap
based syste
such as a
mask, to prot
against, det
and deactiv
pathoge
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Fromgrapes togreenhouses
Isabelle Lesschaeve, an
expert in development
and marketing o Ontario
wines, has moved rom
the vineyards to the
arms and greenhouses
o horticultural science
and innovation.
Dr.Lesschaeve is now
Research Chair, Sensory
and Consumer Sciences,
at Vineland Research
and Innovation Centre.
She will be working with
consumer researchers,
plant breeders,
production researchers
and stored productsspecialists as they
ocus on research in
horticulture breeding,
production and yield
security.
Dr. Lesschaeve was
ormerly head o the
Cool Climate Oenology
and Viticulture
Institute at Brock
University. While
at Brock, she was
deeply engaged in
the sensory and
marketing aspects
o wine production
and sales.
Seeding the community farm
Each week, six amilies in Dawn Wards west-endHamilton neighbourhood go to a depot to pick up mucho their ood. They take home organic ruit and veggies
grown at a West Flamborough arm or on other armsnot that ar away.
Depending on what type o share-plan they participatein, the amilies may also buy during winter, gettingroot vegetables or ruit that comes either romgreenhouses or rom cold storage. Sometimes, winterpickings include ood rom organic arms inMexico or other places.
The amilies are all participantsin a community operation called
Plan B Organic Farm. They putdown money it could be onebig cheque or several post-dated ones to buy ood shares.A amily-sized share might getthem several ood items weekly. Thesubscription shares translate into up-ront capital or seeds, soil amendments, andother supplies needed or the growing season.
We love the share because everything we getrom it we just throw in the blender and eed tothe babies, says Ward, the mother o two youngboys. Im all or supporting the small, local organicrather than the big corporate thing.
Plan Bs membership-share plan is not really a co-op system where local armers and investors poolmoney to orm a larger venture. But its operators dowork co-operatively with other organic armers to fllood boxes. And Plan B is typical o non-traditionalfnancing that keeps the amily arm alive during atime o globalization, ree trade and deregulation.
Sometimes, the entry or exit o a big corporate
thing creates an opportunity. When Italian dairy
giant Parmalat closed its operation in Millbank, northo Stratord, in 1999, local armers literally grabbed achallenge by the horns. They ormed a new co-op, toda
the largest goats milk co-op in Ontario.
The Mornington Heritage Cheese and Dairy Co-operatiis oten heralded as among Canadas new-generationco-ops. But it wasnt easy. The venture was under-capitalized or a long time. Were always just under apositive cashow, key ounder Bob Reid told The Rura
Voice publication back in 2006.
Farmers requently cannot go it alone. Butwithin a co-op or community structure,they have a chance. At Plan B, theyre
looking at establishing a largearmers co-op among the growersweve been working with or years,part-owner Alvaro Venturelli said in an
email message. And that might lead toa certifed organic kitchen down the line,
he wrote.
The movement to local produce, or locavore o coursenot all locally grown oods bear an organic-certifed lab is one spur to arm survival. Locavore plays on themeo global warming, energy emissions, and a sustainableenvironment.
The armers market at your local mall pushes locavore. do the provinces wineries, whose buy-Ontario campaigtells buyers that their purchases o VQA wine meanscheaper transportation and energy costs relative to thoborne by wine imports.
The locavore movement has a strong online presence.There are several websites, including the Local Food Plusite http://www.localoodplus.ca/ and a Hamilton-baseblog http://www.hamiltoneatlocal.blogspot.com/. FoodSarah Elton o CBC Radios Here and Now program is
writing a book on the subject.n
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P R O F I L E S I N
E X C E L L E N C E
Two careers in search of a cure
Sheila Singh
An overhead bridge links the two worlds o Sheila
Singhs career.
At one end o the passageway is the stem cell
laboratory space she shares with other principal cancer
investigators at McMaster University. At the other is the
university medical centre where she works as a pediatric
neurosurgeon.
The bridge is a metaphor, she says, between her clinician
and scientist roles. Her bedside watch allows her to ollow
a childs progress. The lab environment gives her time to
reect and storm ideas with other investigators.
But there is also a bridge to the past, back to the memory
o a fve-year-old boy who succumbed to a brain tumouralmost a decade ago.
He and another fve-year-old boy, both named
Christopher, were treated or brain cancer at SickChildrens Hospital in Toronto. Both received surgery,
chemo, and other treatment. One lived, the other did not.
At that point, in my head, it crystallized, says the
mother o two boys. Why did they have the same
disease? Why did one survive and the other one die? .
. . That child (the boy who died) is the one who always
stayed with me and what really drives my work today.
To me, its not important unless its clinically relevant, not
unless theres something you can do to help someone.
Her residency at Sick Kids led to leading-edge researchwith Dr. Peter Dirks and other colleagues. In 2003, they
discovered an abnormal stem cell the brain tumour
initiating cell (BTIC) that may drive ormation o brain
tumours. It was the frst isolation rom a solid tumour o
what is believed to be a cancer stem cell rom the central
nervous system.
Brain tumours are the most common solid tumour inchildhood and come with a high mortality rate. The
mystery o why children develop brain cancers still
combusts a fre in Dr. Singh. A two-year-old with
a brain tumour is the most unair anomaly you
could ever see. ... I rage against it. It is something
that makes me angry.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) the phrase remains
somewhat controversial, with critics saying the
idea amounts to only a hypothesis are seenas the sel-renewing equivalents o normal
adult stem cells. Like normal adult stem cells,
CSCs can divide indefnitely, giving rise to both
more cancer cells and progeny that ultimately
dierentiate into the dierent cell types in a
tumour.
The CSC model has several implications, oneo which is that successul treatment requires
complete elimination o the CSC population.
Excising a tumour surgically might not stop
new cancer cells arising later. It is as i, saysDr. Singh, the CSCs hide out or a while.
So, she and other investigators in McMasters
stem cell and cancer research institute seek
to identiy CSC-specifc surace markers that
might be targeted or antibody therapy. They
look or molecular signaling pathways that can
be pharmacologically targeted and evaluate
agents that promote the dierentiation o CSCs
into progenitors that do not sel-renew.
For example, there is evidence to suggest thatthe glycoprotein, CD133, is a marker or a subset
o leukemia and glioblastoma cancer stem cells. I
scientists can identiy these cells at a pre-cancerous
stage, they may be able to avoid maligancy
altogether.
All were saying is that the most primitive cells are
probably the most powerul cells, the ones that areprobably going to cause the cancer, said Dr. Singh.n
Salim Yu
Bay ArLogisti
goes glob
Bay Area Resea
Logistics has g
global in its rst y
o operation. The dr
packaging operatio
spino rom Bay A
Health Trust, is shipp
product or at least th
clinical tri
The company licen
by Health Canada
with Good Manuactur
Practices certica
packages and distribu
pharmaceuticals rom
plant on Wellington Str
in Hamilton. One o
lines is part o a worldw
heart-risks study run
Dr. Salim Yusu, hea
the Population He
Research Institu
out o Hamilton He
Sciences / McMas
Univers
Bay Area also lo
ater the pharma
placebo blind
controls or
various ongo
clinical tri
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McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery
5105-1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA L8N 3Z5
nAna Paredes Oce Administrator/Incubator Assistant Tel: 905-525-9140 Ext. 26602 Fax: 905-52nDarlene Homonko Executive Director Tel: 905-525-9140 Ext. 26609 Web: www.ghbn.org
C o n t a c t G o l d e n H o r s e s h o e B i o s c i e n c e s N e t w o r k
GHBN News is a quarterly newsletter published by GHBN. Director and editor: Darlene H
Writer: Mike Pettapiece Graphic Design: Nadia D
Events
listi
ng
McMastergets $15Mdigestive gift
McMaster University,
a leader in gastro-
enterology research,
has taken another step
towards global excellence
with creation o a newdigestive health research
institute. A $15-million git
rom the Farncombe amily
o Oakville will allow or ur-
ther ocus on infammatory
bowel diseases, including
the microbial environment
in the human gut.
McMaster, already with
top-fight researchers
such as bacteria specialist
Stephen Collins, recruited
pharmacologist John
Wallace, a ounder o
two pharmaceutical
companies, as the
institutes rst director.
In addition to capital
acilities, the Farncombe
git will allow or
creation o a digestive
health research chair
and three chairs,
endowed with
$2 million each,
to attract high
potential junior
researchers.
Bin BreakfastDate: Tuesday, January 13, 2009Time: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.Location: Burlington Art CentreCity: Burlington
For more information: visit www.bitnet.ca
InnovatIon Caf serIesa + scic = CDate: Wednesday, January 21, 2008Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.Location: The Art Gallery of HamiltonCity: HamiltonFor more information: visit www.ghbn.org
Future dates: Feb. 25, 2009, April 15, 2009
InnovatIon nIghts PiDate: Wednesday, January 28, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.Location: Emmas Back PorchCity: BurlingtonFor more information:
visit www.innovationnight.ca
nhealth researCh In the CIty feature: g-ei Ici
n p
The aged-old questions o nature and nurture or more properly, genetic and physical environm
and their eects on each other will be up or discussion at the next Health Research in the City
in Hamilton in February.
The theme o the Feb. 11 third annual conerence, geared to research investigators, students,
administrators and industry/public partners, is Gene-Environment Interactions.
Principals behind the all-day seminar include Dr. Sonia Anand, research chair in Population Health R
at McMaster University; Dr. Petra Arck, research chair in neuroimmunology at St. Josephs Healthca
and body institute; and Dr. Salim Yusu, director o the Population Health Research Institute.n
agrI-food InnovatIon forumTime: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.Date: February 10-12, 2009Location: Hyatt Regency 370 King St. WestCity: TorontoFor more information:
visit www.agrifoodforum.com
health researCh In the CItyg-ei IciTime: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009Location: Hamilton Convention CentreCity: HamiltonFor more information: visit www.ghbn.org
golden horseshoe venture foruDate: Wednesday, February 18, 2009Time: 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Location: Royal Botanical GardensCity: Burlington
For more information: visit www.ghvf.ca
2009 tBI gala:a Cbi sccTime: 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009Location: The Four Seasons HotelCity: TorontoFor more information: visithttp://ontbi.org/TBI_awards_Gala_2009
Feature
event
Stephen Collins
