UWindsor spearheads cross-border $15 million project to enhance Canada’s pandemic preparedness

From mandatory masking to gathering restrictions to vaccine passports, most people are happy to leave the day-to-day impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past.

But a cross-border research project which has received $15 million in federal government funding is looking to ensure Canada is more prepared for the pandemic of the future.

"Whether it's this year, next year or 100 years from now," said Mike McKay, director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor.

McKay and the University of Windsor are spearheading the project called ‘INSPIRE — Integrated Network for the Surveillance of Pathogens: Increasing Resilience and Capacity.’

It started this past March and brings together 43 experts from seven universities and public and private agencies in Canada and the United States.

They are partnering with researchers in Michigan, Ohio and New York to track the cross-border flow of pathogens.

This team of microbiologists, biochemists, engineers, computer scientists, and experts in supply chains and public policy will look for ways to improve bio manufacturing and health sector supply chains, bolster cross-border trade and mobility and explore new technologies in pathogen surveillance.

According to McKay, the goal behind the project is to correct the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We had supply chain shortages that manifested in a lack of PPE, therapeutics and vaccines in this country," said McKay.

Those are issues which officials at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) remember all too well.

"We definitely saw challenges with personal protective equipment because there were all kinds of sectors that suddenly wanted personal protective equipment that is normally used in hospitals," said WRH's Pandemic Planning Director Erika Vitale. "We weren't able to get our standard masks and N95 respirators."

According to McKay, the University of Windsor is leading the INSIRE project to take advantage of its position on the map.

"We're playing to our location with 25 per cent of trade between Canada and the U.S. crossing over the Ambassador Bridge,” he said. “Part of this being trade that supports our biomedical and health sectors.”

The $15 million is expected to cover four years of research and equipment.

The project is also expected to offer unique training opportunities for graduate students.