INSPIRE in the News
July 30, 2024
Ontario has a globally praised system for monitoring diseases through wastewater. So why is the province shutting it down?
The Globe and Mail
“In a separate effort to reduce health care costs, researchers at the University of Windsor and the University of Guelph last month received $15-million in federal funding in part to explore how wastewater can be better used to anticipate demand for biomedical supplies and help avert supply chain problems ranging from vaccines to PPE.”
Photo: SAMMY KOGAN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
July 8, 2024
University of Windsor works with the community to help protect the Great Lakes
The Globe and Mail
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Dr. McKay and his team had spent years studying viruses that could help prevent ecosystem-disrupting algae blooms in the Great Lakes.
“Within a few weeks of the pandemic, we pivoted and started doing wastewater surveillance for SARS-COV-2,” he says. “We were already looking for viruses in an aquatic medium; we just changed the medium from freshwater to wastewater.”
Photo: UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR
June 12, 2024
Wastewater surveillance program ending July 31
CTV News
“When we are looking at the emergence of bio threats, we have to certainly look at our country but bio threats from elsewhere so having surveillance at strategic border locations such as Windsor-Detroit, Buffalo Fort Erie Niagara are important so we keep tabs on what is potentially entering the country,” adds Dr. McKay.
Photo: STEFANIE MASOTTI/CTV NEWS WINDSOR
June 7, 2024
COVID-19 wastewater surveillance continues in Windsor-Essex after province pulls plug: GLIER
CBC News
McKay said the provincial wastewater surveillance initiative covered all 34 public health units in Ontario and was lauded as probably the most comprehensive surveillance network in North America, if not globally.
Labs have shown the data gathered is “actionable” and can result in early mitigation or or containment and address a potential threat, McKay said.
Photo: CBC WINDSOR
June 1, 2024
Members of the University of Windsor Head-Up A Project to Strengthen Supply Chain Lines in the Event of Another Global Pandemic
Windsor Life Magazine
The INSPIRE project is not only at the forefront of early detection of the next pandemic providing guidance to public health, but is also examining ways of strengthening Canada’s ability to respond to consumer and commercial needs.
Photo: UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR
Photo: RADIO-CANADA
May 7, 2024
Feds put $15M into pathogen tracking, health-care supply chain research to prep for next pandemic
CBC News
A new $15-million cross-border research project is underway to monitor the movement of pathogens in Canada and the U.S. in the event of future pandemics.
The federal government put up the money that will cover four years of equipment and research.
Photo: KATERINA GEORGIEVA/CBC WINDSOR
May 6, 2024
UWindsor Spearheads $15 Million Initiative to Boost Canada’s Pandemic Preparedness
University of Windsor Public Affairs & Communications
INSPIRE, short for the Integrated Network for the Surveillance of Pathogens: Increasing Resilience and Capacity in Canada’s Pandemic Response, brings together 43 experts from seven universities and public and private agencies in Canada and the United States. This team of microbiologists, biochemists, engineers, computer scientists, and experts in supply chains and public policy will look for ways to improve biomanufacturing and health sector supply chains, bolster cross-border trade and mobility, and explore new technologies in pathogen surveillance.
Photo: UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR