Researchers leading projects worth more than $31M

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/software_guysdn1.jpg” caption=”Alan Wassyng, Tom Maibaum and Mark Lawford, co-principal investigators who received $6.9 million from the ORF. Photo by Simon Wilson. “]McMaster researchers have received nearly $11 million from the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) to certify safety-critical software and improve the sustainability of crops.

McMaster will establish the Centre for Safety-Critical Software Certification- the first in North America and only the second in the world- a $20-million dollar project involving nineteen researchers from three universities and eight industry partners. Applications will initially focus on the operation of pacemakers, health monitoring equipment, banking transactions, financial reporting, and nuclear reactors.

“Almost everything we do today relies on software, whether it's making a heart beat properly, transferring funds or generating electricity,” said Tom Maibaum, principal investigator for the initiative and Canada Research Chair in Foundations of Software Engineering at McMaster. “Software failure can have catastrophic consequences on our lives and property. This project is about making a major improvement in the way we build safety-critical software applications, and the way in which we evaluate those applications in order to certify them as safe and effective.”

While the Centre will be improving software to avoid catastrophic consequences, Elizabeth Weretilnyk, a professor in the department of biology will be researching the genomics of a plant that will make crops less vulnerable to the sometimes catastrophic and severe weather patterns that seem to be more frequent in Canada.

Weretilnyk will be leading a study of a plant that is widespread in the Yukon-Thellungiella salsuginea- commonly known as salt lick mustard. This hardy little plant can survive droughts and freezing and true to its name, can survive in salty conditions. Weretilnyk and her team will use new sequencing technologies to better understand those traits that allow the plant to grow under minimal conditions, information that can then be used to help develop weather-tolerant crops, which will increase crop yields in commercial crops, such as canola.

Ontario has a finite supply of farm land and faces growing needs for both food and bioenergy crops, necessitating a sustainable solution for crops that are more tolerant of poor weather and less fertile soil. The sustainable solution lies in the critical genes of the Thellungiella salsuginea that make the plant so stress-tolerant.

“Ideally, plants used for biofuels crops shouldn't need energy to feed and water. If we're able to plant these crops on marginal lands, we can free up prime agricultural areas for other valuable crop production,” notes Weretilnyk. “Essentially, we hope to develop crops that are capable of 'doing more with less'.”

Mo Elbestawi, vice-president, research and international affairs, welcomed the ORF awards, announced at McMaster's Innovation Showcase, saying “these two projects represent significant potential economic benefit for our province and our country. McMaster will be providing solutions to real problems in the software and agricultural industries with research that will have global impact.”

The Centre for Safety-Critical Software Certification received $6,924,691 from the ORF that will be matched by the Government of Canada and industry partners for a total project cost of almost $21M.

The Thellungiella Stress Genomics for Sustainable Crop Production in Canada received $3,553,045 from the ORF that will be matched by private sector partners for a total project cost of more than $10M.