Fast Facts about the CLS - Canada's Brightest Light for Innovation:
Researchers looking to develop better paints or lubricants, new medicines and therapies, or better ways to track environmental pollutants will have a powerful new tool in the Canadian Light Source (CLS) which opened in October 2004 on the University of Saskatchewan campus.
Canada 's synchrotron accelerates electrons to nearly the speed of light in a huge, ring-shaped vacuum chamber, producing brilliant light for countless research applications. The $174-million U of S-owned national facility represents unprecedented cooperation between national, provincial and municipal governments, as well as academic, industrial and government researchers. Launched in 1999 with a key $56.4-million block of funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the CLS fosters cutting-edge innovation, attracting top researchers and students and helping establish Canada as a leader in synchrotron science.
CFI invested a further $18 million in 2004 to back a $44.5-million, five-beamline expansion at the synchrotron that includes a biomedical imaging and therapy line. Unique in North America, this beamline, scheduled to come online in 2008, will produce extremely clear and detailed images of body tissues, and offer precision tools for cancer treatment.
General Information
| Item | Date Posted |
| Watch a short video about the Canadian Light Source | March 2008 | Profile: Lighting the Way for Canadian Research (PDF file) | March 2005 |
| Lightsources.org, the global synchrotron website | March 2005 |
| Interesting Synchrotron R&D Applications (PDF file) | February 2005 |
| Media Backgrounder: "Science at the Speed of Light: The Canadian Light Source Project" | January 2006 |
| NRC Highlights: NRC in the Spotlight | February 2004 |
| Downloadable Photos |
CLS in the News
| Item | Source | Date |
| Canadian Light Source News | CLS | to date |
| Canada's Western Schools and Their Partners Rally To Call for Innovation (PDF) |
The Globe and Mail | 05/29/2006 |
| Prairie Fire and Ice: Saskatchewan's diamond research | Canadian Diamonds | 01/05/2006 |
| Unique Global Light Source Website Launched | PDF file | 2/17/2005 |
| Synchrotron: Canadian Light Source 70 years in the making (PDF files): Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 | Saskatoon StarPhoenix special section | 12/15/2004 |
| Inside Canada's Biggest Science Project | Discovery Channel Canada's Daily Planet | 10/22/2004 |
| Grand Opening of Canadian Light Source Ushers in New Era for Research | University of Saskatchewan | 10/22/2004 |
| Information Supplement on the CLS (PDF files): Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 | Globe and Mail | 10/22/2004 |
| Canada's Synchrotron Nanostructure Facility Established | Western Economic Diversification Canada | 10/21/2004 |
| "We're the first facility I know of in the world that started off long before turning on the switch, developing a - I'll call it a capacity in the industrial sector to use this facility . . . We hope that by being proactive prior to startup we'll have a better return on the industrial sector." - Bill Thomlinson, PhD, executive director of the Canadian Light Source Inc., discussing Canada's new synchrotron, the Canadian Light Source | Bioscience World's Science quote of the week | 10/6/2004 |
| Illuminating Research: The Canadian Light Source Opens in Saskatoon as the Country's First Synchrotron | Bioscience World | 10/6/2004 |
| Sask. high-tech tool sheds light on brain diseases | CBC Health & Science News | 8/11/2004 |
| Windows of Opportunity - Synchrotron opens new windows in chemical analysis | Canadian Chemical News | June 2004 |
“Medical and Veterinary Applications of the Canadian Light Source” (PDF document) |
AgBiotech Infosource |
March 2004 |
“Canadian Light Source – Applications in Plant Resea rch” (PDF document) |
AgBiotech Infosource |
February 2004 |
