We are committed to achieving improved health outcomes for the benefit of society by accelerating the discovery and development of innovative biologic medicines in Canada.
Through the fostering of science excellence and talent development, we drive step-change innovation in collaboration with industrial, academic and government partners.
Our expertise spans across a range of areas including immunobiology, translational bioscience and bioprocess engineering (bacterial, viral and mammalian platforms), as well as downstream processing and analytics to enable progression through the drug development value chain.
Services and information
Research programs
Facilities
- Human Health Therapeutics research facility – Montreal
- Human Health Therapeutics Montreal Road research facility – Ottawa
- Human Health Therapeutics Sussex Drive research facility – Ottawa
- Human Health Therapeutics Oxford Street research facility – Halifax
- Clinical trial material facility
- Microbial fermentation pilot plant
- Cell culture pilot plant
- Preclinical in vivo facility
Expertise
Technology licensing
Biologic molecules
Vaccines
- Synthetic archaeosome adjuvants for improved vaccine formulation
- AMVAD adjuvant for mucosal vaccines
- Salmonella vaccine vector
- Adenoviral vectors for vaccines and cancer therapy
- Vaccine to prevent Moraxella catarrhalis infection
Expression systems and biomanufacturing
Why work with us
We host the largest research and development team dedicated to biologics development in Canada, helping our partners to accelerate and de-risk the drug development pathway through pre-clinical research support. Through engagement with a variety of partners and stakeholders, we provide collaborative research, technical expertise and advisory services, service agreements in biomanufacturing and bioprocess engineering, and technology transfer (e.g. asset licencing, co-development of assets, and intellectual property management). Our aim is to build a strong pipeline of assets suitable for commercial exploitation, across a range of expertise including:
- Broadly applicable technology platforms for drug delivery.
- Proprietary cell lines for the production of biologics.
- Specialized in vitro and in vivo disease models, as well as step-change vaccines and biologic products.
- Unique in Canada biomanufacturing expertise, including the ability to process at scale:
- up to 1500 L in microbial expression systems
- up to 500 L in mammalian expression systems for biologics production
- In vitro and in vivo research laboratories, which encompass containment up to biosafety level III.
Through our facilities, laboratories and extensive expertise, our role is to catalyze business innovation and public health solutions for unmet medical needs of importance to Canada in the areas of cancer, neurobiology and emerging infections, including:
- Disruptive technologies to advance made in Canada solutions for cell and gene therapy.
- Business innovation for multifunctional antibody-based therapeutics.
- Public health solutions such as vaccine development.
We work with a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including industry (start-ups, small and medium sized enterprises, and multi-nationals), hospitals and health networks, academia and government.
Contact us
Paul Payette, Director, Business DevelopmentTelephone: 613-204-8374
Email: Paul.Payette@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Our experts
Related links
- Advisory Board members
- Persistence against antimicrobial resistance: NRC tackles global health threat
- Carly Davis, Human health therapeutics (HHT) - National Research Council Canada
- New made-in-Canada research tool in the fight against COVID-19 - National Research Council Canada
- 360° video: Cell culture pilot plant
- 360° video: Microbial fermentation pilot plant
- Human Health Therapeutics factsheet (PDF, 1.4 MB)
- Made-in-Canada cancer therapy offers patients new hope
Research publications
- The SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein interacts with MAO-B and impairs mitochondrial energetics
- Astroglial Hmgb1 regulates postnatal astrocyte morphogenesis and cerebrovascular maturation
- Inducible HEK293 AAV packaging cell lines expressing Rep proteins
- A CHO stable pool production platform for rapid clinical development of trimeric SARS‐CoV‐2 spike subunit vaccine antigens
- Affinity-controlled capture and release of engineered monoclonal antibodies by macroporous dextran hydrogels using coiled-coil interactions