Loyalist Partners with Boston-based University on Cannabis Research

Loyalist Partners with Boston-based University on Cannabis Research

Dec. 6, 2019 – Loyalist College is partnering with Northeastern University in Boston, to create more opportunities for students and advance applied cannabis research at both institutions.

Representatives from both institutions signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday.
 
Northeastern’s CEO and Regional Dean for its Toronto campus Aliza Lakhani says the process began about a year ago, after a conversation with Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini led to a campus visit.
 
Dr. Jared Auclair is Northeastern’s Director of Biotechnology and says the two institutions share similar philosophies on how to educate students.
 

Dr. Auclair added that Loyalist’s ongoing work with its state-of-the-art CO2 Extraction Lab was a big key in the partnership.

Loyalist President Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan says the agreement will open more doors for students in the Biosciences.
 

Click to Read More: Loyalist Partners with Boston-based University on Cannabis Research (Quinte News)

Loyalist, Northeastern Strike a Joint Venture

Loyalist, Northeastern Strike a Joint Venture

Dec. 6, 2019 – A partnership between Loyalist College and Northeastern University’s Toronto campus has lit the fuse for innovation in application-based cannabis research.

Friday, Loyalist President and CEO Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan and Aliza Lakhani, Regional Dean and CEO at Northeastern, signed a memorandum of understanding designed to benefit biosciences and cannabis applied science students, and advanced applied cannabis research at both institutions.

“This means a great deal for Loyalist,” said Vaughan. “What this does is it leverages our combined expertise in the areas of biotechnology and cannabis research, and one of the real advantages is it will allow us to apply for research projects for students, joint research projects between the institutions and collaborative program development. The hub of biotechnology research in the U.S. is in Boston, and I would like to think the hub for biotechnology research in Canada is now going to be in this region. It’s a natural partnership, it’s an amazing opportunity and comes together because of some exceptional faculty members who combine their expertise for the benefit of this region and their students,” Vaughan added.

Click to Read More: Loyalist, Northeastern Strike a Joint Venture (Belleville The Intelligencer)

Loyalist Partners with MediPharm Labs, Delivers Cannabis Applied Science Post-grad Certificate

Loyalist Partners with MediPharm Labs, Delivers Cannabis Applied Science Post-grad Certificate

Oct. 28, 2019 – Loyalist College of the Applied Arts and Technology has partnered with MediPharm Labs to deliver the “first post-graduate certificate” in Cannabis Applied Science Program, reports MediPharm. As part of the partnership, MediPharm Labs will donate cannabis concentrates, full spectrum extracts, and specially formulated distillates and/or isolated – together valued at $100K – over the four-year alliance. Research projects developed through the program will focus on cannabis product development; inform process optimization; and address natural product quality, consistency, and safety.

Click to Read More: Loyalist Partners with MediPharm Labs, Delivers Cannabis Applied Science Post-grad Certificate (Academica Group)

State Marijuana Legalization Aids Research Very Little

State Marijuana Legalization Aids Research Very Little

Sep. 20, 2019 – It took psychiatrist Staci Gruber four years to wrangle approval to run a clinical trial testing whether a liquid cannabinol product administered orally can ease symptoms of anxiety. She had to get the okay from the US Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. 

Cannabis research, she tells The Scientist, is “not for the faint of heart.”

Eleven states and Washington, DC, have legalized recreational and medical marijuana use, with Illinois being the latest to join in January 2020, and 19 have legalized medical marijuana. It is a popular drug—a survey of nearly 170,000 adults published today (September 20) in JAMA reports that around 8 percent of respondents use marijuana, and nearly 4 percent do so daily. Yet despite its ubiquity in American society, researchers say their hands remain tied by a decades-old federal law classifying…

Click to Read More: State Marijuana Legalization Aids Research Very Little (The Scientist)

Cannabis Courses and Programs Wafting Across Canadian University and College Campuses

Cannabis Courses and Programs Wafting Across Canadian University and College Campuses

July 26, 2019 – Call it higher education if you must.

But since cannabis was legalized in Canada last year, courses dedicated to the plant have taken root on college and university campuses across the country.

According to the Cannabis Council of Canada, at least 12 post-secondary schools have joined the budding educational boom, having launched programs — or announced plans to do so — covering everything from production research and training to marijuana law and business.

“In this sector it was going from amateur production to professional production … and that takes expertise,” says Rene Van Acker, dean of the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College.

“It’s like the difference between growing some tomatoes in your backyard and being a tomato supplier for Loblaws,” says Van Acker, whose school is in the process of opening the country’s largest cannabis program.

Another of the early entrants into the new cannabis league was Loyalist College, which sits on the western edge of Belleville off the Bay of Quinte.

“There’s an incredible gap in the sector as it relates to knowledge in terms of the science of cannabis, and applying that knowledge to product development,” says Kari Kramp, head of Loyalist’s Cannabis Applied Science Program.

“We were able to fill that gap,” says Kramp, whose post-graduate course began last October. “It’s an innovative, dynamic hands-on program.”

Click to Read More: Cannabis Courses and Programs Wafting Across Canadian University and College Campuses (Toronto Star)

College Cashes in on Cannabis at Technology Access Centre

College Cashes in on Cannabis at Technology Access Centre

College Cashes in on Cannabis at Technology Access Centre

Jun. 19, 2019 – Loyalist College has received two grants that will go straight into their Technology Access Centre.

The school was given $1.75 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, along with $1 million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
 
College President Dr. Anne Marie Vaughan says the money goes to Loyalist’s Applied Research Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis.
 
She says the funding allows the college to do two things.
 
Vaughan says they are able to work with industry not only in this region, but across the country.
 
Vaughan says funding like this will be a staple to assisting the college to work with industry.
 

Click to Read More: College Cashes in on Cannabis at Technology Access Centre (Quinte News)

Ontario College Gets Federal Grants for Cannabis Program

Ontario College Gets Federal Grants for Cannabis Program

June 14, 2019 – Loyalist College in Belleville, Ont., says it will launch Canada’s first Technology Access Centre (TAC) for natural products and cannabisis after receiving a grant of $1.75-million grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) College and Community Innovation (CCI) program. In addition, Loyalist received $1-million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF) to add specialized equipment to the TAC.

Click to Read More: Ontario College Gets Federal Grants for Cannabis Program (The Globe and Mail)

Tech-Access Canada Welcomes 17 New Technology Access Centres into Our Family

Tech-Access Canada Welcomes 17 New Technology Access Centres into Our Family

BARRIE, ON, June 13, 2019 /CNW/ – Congratulations to the 17 new Technology Access Centres (TACs) awarded across the country by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, today at Georgian College as part of the College and Community Innovation Program and College-Industry Innovation Fund awards.

After the first grueling, merit-based Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)-administered competition in three years, the 17 new TACs were awarded to colleges and cégeps across the country from Kelowna, BC to Inuvik, NWT, to Rimouski, QC, bringing the total number of Canada’s Technology Access Centres to 47.

Congratulations as well to the six TACs across the country that were renewed with another five-year award, validating the Technology Access Centre model and joining the previous 15 TACs that have also been awarded a second mandate.

 “We are very excited to welcome the 17 new TACs into the Tech-Access Canada family” said David Berthiaume, Executive Director of OLEOTEK and Chair of Tech-Access Canada’s Board. “We look forward to sharing our best practices and assisting them to hit the ground running and solve the innovation challenges of industry partners in their regions.”

Canada’s 47 Technology Access Centres (TACs) are specialized applied research & development centres affiliated with publicly-funded colleges and cégeps. Each TAC serves a specific geographic area, with a focus on strengthening the industrial sector of significance to that region. These demand-driven centres, from BC to PEI, help Canadian businesses – especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) – get their products, processes and services market-ready by:

• offering objective advice and specialized technical services;

• providing training related to new types of equipment and processes; and

• conducting applied research and development projects focused on company problems.

Click to Read More: Tech-Access Canada Welcomes 17 New Technology Access Centres into Our Family (Wire Media Services)

Local Cannabis Jobs in High Demand in Simcoe County

Local Cannabis Jobs in High Demand in Simcoe County

April 25, 2019 – We are witnessing a resurgent local manufacturing sector sparked from Federal cannabis legalization. The growth of this industry has created a burgeoning cannabis job market all across Canada, including right here in Simcoe County, but filling this job market can be sticky. Weed puns aside, big cannabis business requires a workforce with particular qualifications and skill sets.

This means Canadian Colleges and Universities need to include more cannabis programming. And they have. This began to happen nearly a year ago for Loyalist College, when the college launched an eight-month Cannabis Applied Science (CSGS) post-graduate certificate program. That new program was the first of its kind in Canada.

Click to Read More: Local Cannabis Jobs in High Demand in Simcoe County (Barrie 360)