Dialog-designed life sciences lab opens at Seneca@York

Left to right: Min Chen, Jay Levine, Steven Ploeger, Shahab Narimani, Hooman Aboutalebi and Umer Kasuji. Photo courtesy Dialog.

Toronto’s Seneca Polytechnic College recently marked the grand opening of the $9.4-million Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS), designed by Dialog.

The new 3,000-sf research and development (R&D) laboratory, located at Seneca@York (i.e. part of York University‘s main campus) and overseen by Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, has been designed to expand the college’s capacity for applied research, testing and development of new products in controlled operating environments.

The National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI’s) College Fund, the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) and industry research partners and institutional investments have financed the creation of SCILS, which will provide access to infrastructure, talent and funding opportunities for Ontario’s life sciences industry. By way of example, it is home to Canada’s first graduate certificate program in cosmetic science.