Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the finance committee, thank you for travelling to Saskatoon and allowing us to highlight our viewpoint on today's topic, Canada's place in a competitive world. In this context, we would specifically like to address the significance of genomics to this region.
Genomics research is large-scale research. It involves looking at the DNA, finding all the genes, and deciphering what they do. Because all living things have a genome or set of genes, genomics is fundamental to all areas of life sciences and their associated business sectors. These can include vaccines, nutrition, crops, environment, forestry, and disease.
Genome Canada, along with the regional centres, wants to make Canada a leader in genomics. A few years ago, Canada was behind in its understanding of the genome. As a result, it was limited in its capacity for medical and agricultural research. Genome Canada has brought this nation from a position where we were behind our competitors, to one where we're world leaders in certain areas of medicine and agriculture.
To this region, Genome Canada has also been critical to the competitive success of our life sciences sector. Genome Prairie has led research activity valued at about $75 million, with approximately half this amount contributed by Genome Canada and the rest contributed by other partners in the academic, private, and regional sectors. It has led to several hundred highly skilled jobs; trained a hundred students in leading-edge science; resulted in about 15 inventions or patents; and published more than 175 scientific papers.
Currently, Genome Prairie is involved in research that looks at hereditary and infectious diseases, canola diversification, and crop adaptation to environmental stress. These research programs will offer significant benefits to this region. They will do this by reducing farm gate losses and costs, reducing health care costs, and providing new market opportunities. I'd like to provide a few examples of each of these three.
Firstly, at the farm gate, genomics creates cost savings with crops that are better protected against the elements of nature. For example, we're working on frost-tolerant wheat, which has the potential to protect farmers against multi-million-dollar losses. I believe Mr. Marit has already elaborated on the importance of the problems with flooding that occurred here in Saskatchewan, as well as in Manitoba. We're looking at ways by which crops can actually protect themselves against waterlogging that occurs during flooding. And Genomics Prairie is also researching higher-yielding varieties. Hardier crops such as these protect Canada against farm gate losses.
Second of all, in health care, Manitoba researchers have initiated a worldwide project to determine the function of every gene in the human body. This has been dubbed one of the most significant steps in medical research, and it will lead to numerous treatments for genetic diseases such as cancer. We're also looking at infectious diseases and developing new diagnostics and therapeutics, which will ultimately lead to a reduction in health care costs.
The third area I wanted to address was the idea that Canada's future competitiveness relies on our ability to seize new market opportunities. Two emerging areas that are of importance to this region are nutrigenomics and bio-oils. Nutrigenomics, which is a combination of nutrition and genomics, provides an understanding of how our food interacts with our genes. It can lead to preventative strategies to improve the health of Canadians and reduce associated health care costs. Even more so, the development of these novel value-added foods can also increase the international competitiveness of Canada's agri-food industry.
Mr. Marit has also mentioned biofuels or bio-oils. These can be used to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and can provide a renewable source of industrial feedstocks and energy. Diversification of plant crops to provide these bio-oils will also provide new value-added opportunities for our farmers.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, genomics examines the molecular world of genes, DNA, and protein. By the examples illustrated here today, though, you can see that an examination of the molecular world can be used to address some very big challenges, such as health care and agriculture, and to approach new market opportunities to remain competitive. By investing in genomics research, we are investing in agriculture, in health care, and in our country.
Thank you very much for your time. I would be pleased to answer any questions from the members of the committee.