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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s part of a federal initiative called Ramp Up, which collaborates with research institutions across Canada to address gaps in the biomanufacturing sector.<\/p>\n
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While it\u2019s impossible to predict the timing and nature of the next pandemic, head researcher Gregory De Crescenzo says preparation is critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of if, but when,\u201d he said during a tour of the lab, which spans several rooms at the downtown Montreal engineering school.<\/p>\n
With the proliferation of vaccine misinformation during the pandemic, De Crescenzo hopes giving the public a look inside his lab can help rebuild public trust in medicine.<\/p>\n
He says Ramp Up aims to fast-track vaccine and biomedical processes, as well as training students. While scientists mainly work with viruses such as influenza and bird flu, De Crescenzo says the research can be applied to a wide range of diseases.<\/p>\n
De Crescenzo says part of Ramp Up\u2019s mission is to avoid repeating Canada\u2019s mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic, when governments, academics and industry stakeholders were working in silos. Canada\u2019s biomedical production capacity was also limited, he said.<\/p>\n
The supply chain is one of the main challenges identified by Ramp Up, as Canada was not capable of producing vaccines on a large scale and imports were limited.<\/p>\n
Students and researchers work with the same equipment found in commercial labs, says De Crescenzo, including tubes to grow cells and industrial freezers where samples and bacteria are preserved for the long term.<\/p>\n
Partner labs help identify key components, such as antibodies or viral proteins, that the Polytechnique team then produces and works to scale for industrial production.<\/p>\n
De Crescenzo compares the lab\u2019s role to creating recipes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is normalized, is written, carefully verified, approved, transferred to the industries,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are way more prepared than before COVID, that\u2019s for sure. The government has done a great job here to patch the blind spots.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, he says there is still work to do to ensure the processes developed at the lab can be scaled to industry. He adds that actors in government, academia and industry are learning to work together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want to make something better and more resilient, please give us a couple of years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to\u2026make sure that everybody\u2019s on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, says a coordinated, multi-sector approach to pandemic preparedness is crucial.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a whole of government and a whole of society response. There\u2019s not one lab that\u2019s going to do it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
While Bogoch finds the government\u2019s investments in biomedicals encouraging, he says areas such as transportation, food safety, and public health infrastructure must also be improved.<\/p>\n
He pointed to Canada\u2019s response to the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in May \u2013 when four Canadians had to be repatriated and placed in preventive quarantine \u2013 as an example of cross-sector collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have the tools to be prepared,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are political questions, not scientific questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Launched in 2024, Ramp Up collaborates with several institutions, including Universit\u00e9 Laval, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, HEC Montr\u00e9al, Simon Fraser University, and the BRIDGE Research Consortium. Their goal is to address gaps in Canada\u2019s biomanufacturing sector.<\/p>\n
According to the Ramp Up website, Canada will need more than 15,000 highly skilled workers in the field by 2029.<\/p>\n
Health Canada says it has made significant investments to bolster the country\u2019s pandemic response capabilities.<\/p>\n
The federal agency reports that $712 million has been dedicated to upgrading biocontainment facilities across Canada, as well as the creation of research hubs led by institutions such as the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, the University of Ottawa, McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and Polytechnique Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n
Since 2020, the government invested $2.5 billion in vaccine, therapeutic and biomanufacturing projects, including supply chain resilience. Moderna\u2019s vaccine production facility in Laval, Que., built in 2024, produced its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine last year.<\/p>\n
The federal agency says these developments will ensure Canadians can have timely access to life-saving medicines during future public health emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes preparation for epidemics and pandemics, which are inevitable even if their timing is unpredictable,\u201d said Health Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson in an email.<\/p>\n
The health agency says it is also aiming to release details of a new emergency response plan in 2027 that will create better coordination between different levels of government, as well as international partners and Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n
Master\u2019s student Marie-Gael Tchummo says working with Ramp Up has helped her tackle vaccine hesitancy in those around her.<\/p>\n
She says some of her family members and friends were skeptical at the speed at which COVID vaccines became available and were hesitant to get the jab. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was open to tell them about what my study was and what is going on, the skepticism came down,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Like De Crescenzo, Tchummo says public trust is essential for the success of initiatives like Ramp Up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the public, we need to \u2026be transparent and they need to see what is going on, what is being put in those vaccines, how the process is going and how those vaccines are created,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Erika Morris, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s part of a federal initiative called Ramp Up, which collaborates with research institutions across Canada to address…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84],"class_list":["post-861138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}