LIFE SCIENCES

Saskatoon’s life sciences sector is unlike any in the world. The city’s life sciences sector is world-leading, encompassing various fields such as biotechnology, agriculture, and healthcare. The city is home to several world-renowned research institutes and companies dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge, food security, improving human health and solving global issues and challenges.

A key factor contributing to Saskatoon’s strength in the life sciences sector is its proximity to the University of Saskatchewan, a top-research-intensive university in Canada and internationally, and home to numerous world-leading facilities, centres and networks in the world.

Saskatoon’s list of key research organizations and companies includes:

• Canadian Light Source is Canada’s only synchrotron and one of the most advanced facilities in the world.
• Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS), is helping to build a food-secure world in Saskatchewan, working with academics, industry, producers, consumers and governments both at home and abroad to decrease the time between the discovery of innovative science and its delivery to market at home and around the globe.
  • GIFS also operates Canada’s first integrated Omics and Precision Agriculture Laboratory, a one-stop shop for plant analyses at the molecular level.
• Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), is one of Canada’s leading providers of applied research, development and demonstration (RD&D) and technology commercialization.
  • SRC has contributed $13.6 billion in total economic impacts since 2003, achieved more than $1.8 billion in direct economic benefit to the provincial economy, created or maintained over $627 million worth of jobs and has returned 59 times the return for every dollar invested by the Saskatchewan government.
• Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation supports and advances Saskatchewan’s position as a global leader in nuclear innovation, including nuclear science and medicine research.
• Vaccine Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) is a world leader in infectious disease research and vaccine development and will be home to Canada’s only non-governmental BSL-4 facility and employs more than 170 employees, including scientists from 26 countries.