Inside the Montreal lab working to prepare Canada against future pandemics

MONTREAL — In a biomedicine laboratory at Polytechnique Montréal, animal protein grows in a bubbling orange solution as researchers in white lab coats take samples with large syringes. Neatly-labelled glass bottles filled with clear liquid line the shelves next to computer monitors, where the scientists examine the antibodies produced by the cells. In a room down the hall, a large cryogenic freezer is filled with tubes containing samples of proteins and cells that can be used to develop vaccines and medicines.

Six years after the spread of COVID-19 caught the world by surprise, the Polytechnique lab is spearheading efforts to prepare Canada against future pandemics. It’s part of a federal initiative called Ramp Up, which collaborates with research institutions across Canada to address gaps in the biomanufacturing sector. While it’s impossible to predict the timing and nature of the next pandemic, head researcher Gregory De Crescenzo says preparation is critical.

“It’s not a matter of if, but when,” he said during a tour of the lab, which spans several rooms at the downtown Montreal engineering school. With the proliferation of vaccine misinformation during the pandemic, De Crescenzo hopes giving the public a look inside his lab can help rebuild public trust in medicine. He says Ramp Up aims to fast-track vaccine and biomedical processes, as well as training students.

While scientists mainly work with viruses such as influenza and bird flu, De Crescenzo says the research can be applied to a wide range of diseases. De Crescenzo says part of Ramp Up’s mission is to avoid repeating Canada’s mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic, when governments, academics and industry stakeholders were working in silos. Canada’s biomedical production capacity was also limited, he said.

The supply chain is one of the main challenges identified by Ramp Up, as Canada was not capable of producing vaccines on a large scale and imports were limited. Students and researchers work with the same equipment found in commercial labs, says De Crescenzo, including tubes to grow cells and industrial freezers where samples and bacteria are preserved for the long term. Partner labs help identify key components, such as antibodies or viral proteins, that the Polytechnique team then produces and works to scale for industrial production.

De Crescenzo compares the lab’s role to creating recipes.