October 21, 2004

Friday: Canadian Light Source

Media are invited to interview and visit the lab of a University of Calgary science professor who will be using the new Canadian Light Source to develop new insights for combating the mysterious bacteria Clostridium difficile – a potentially deadly hospital superbug that is blamed for almost 100 deaths in Canada.

On Friday, Canada’s scientists will celebrate the opening of the Canadian Light Source – a $173.5-million national synchrotron facility described as a stadium-sized ‘microscope’ for medical, environmental and industrial research.

A synchrotron provides high-powered light – millions of times more powerful than the Sun – so that researchers can view the structures and compositions of materials, right down to the level of the atom.

The Canadian Light Source is the largest national science infrastructure project in 30 years and is based at the University of Saskatchewan.

Alberta has contributed close to $10 million to the construction of the new facility.

Canada was the only G8 country that didn’t have a synchrotron. About 400 Canadian scientists, including U of C professors, currently travel outside our borders to use synchrotrons at facilities in the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere.

To arrange an interview, contact Dennis Urquhart, U of C Research Communications, at (403) 220-7722 or (cell) 651-2515.

A detailed backgrounder on the Canadian Light Source is also available on request. Print-quality images of the Canadian Light Source (courtesy of the University of Saskatchewan) are also available at: http://www.lightsource.ca/