Montréal — Polytechnique Montréal and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) have launched a new phase of RampUp (Rapid Actuation of Mass Production Under Pandemic conditions), a national initiative that helps Canada move quickly from vaccine and therapeutic design to large‑scale production, through the establishment of a shared laboratory space at the NRC’s Royalmount facility. 

By uniting academic expertise with the NRC’s biomanufacturing facilities, RampUp will strengthen Canada’s capacity to respond to future health emergencies and speed up the development of vaccines and other biotherapeutics, moving innovations faster from discovery to real‑world use. 

From design to manufacturing, under one roof 

RampUp builds on a long‑standing partnership between Polytechnique Montréal and the NRC. The NRC’s Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre is providing specialized laboratory space and infrastructure to three Polytechnique Montréal research teams. The new laboratories will feature bioreactors, purification systems and advanced analytical tools to facilitate the development and scale-up of manufacturing processes for vaccines and other biotherapeutics. 

Collaboration at the core of Canada’s biomanufacturing ecosystem 

The $20.5 million in funding is from the Canada Biomedical Research Fund and the Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund, to support pandemic preparedness and workforce training in advanced biomanufacturing. 

The initiative is led by Professor Gregory De Crescenzo of Polytechnique Montréal’s Department of Chemical Engineering, with Professors Olivier Henry and Jing Guo. Key NRC contributors include Kelley Parato, Director of Bioprocess Engineering and Yves Durocher, Principal Research Officer and biomanufacturing expert. 

Other partners include the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, college technology‑transfer centres (CERASP, TransBioTech) and companies from Canada’s biomanufacturing sector. 

“From the outset, RampUp was designed to break down silos so that biofabrication no longer happens in isolation, but instead fully leverages expertise at every stage of the innovation pipeline—from upstream research to downstream industrial applications,” said Gregory De Crescenzo, Professor at Polytechnique Montréal and Scientific Lead of the project. “By consolidating our equipment within the NRC’s secure facility, we are confident in our ability to deliver an agile platform that enables rapid response when the next pandemic emerges.” 

Built for partnerships 

When operational, the RampUp platform will be able to support technology transfer, collaborative innovation and process development aligned with industry needs. The intent is to make the RampUp platform open to academic, government and industry partners who want to accelerate the development and scale‑up of biomanufacturing processes. 

“The NRC’s mandate is to support innovation for the benefit of all Canadians,” said Kelley Parato, the NRC’s Director of Bioprocess Engineering. “Through partnerships like RampUp with Polytechnique Montréal, we are building strong, agile capabilities that align with Canada’s health and biosafety priorities.” 

Strengthening Canada’s biomanufacturing ecosystem 

This new phase of the RampUp project is part of a long‑term vision to strengthen Canada’s biological security sovereignty and to position Québec and Canada as hubs of excellence in advanced biomanufacturing. By pooling expertise and production infrastructure, the initiative aims to shorten development timelines, enhance supply‑chain resilience and stimulate innovation across Canada’s biopharmaceutical ecosystem. 

About Polytechnique Montréal

Founded in 1873, Polytechnique Montréal is one of Canada’s leading engineering education and research institutions and Québec’s benchmark for research activities in engineering. Internationally recognized, the university brings together more than 13,000 students and nearly 300 faculty members. Building on more than 141 research units, Polytechnique Montréal actively collaborates with over 225 partners around the world. 

Polytechnique Montréal offers more than 120 academic programmes across 12 engineering disciplines and stands out for its ability to turn ideas into action and tangible benefits for society, driven by the conviction that scientific and technological innovation must contribute to collective well‑being. 

Media enquiries and interviews

Christian Merciari
Media Relations Advisor and Spokesperson
Polytechnique Montréal 
514 742-8586 
christian.merciari@polymtl.ca