Elevated view looking northeast at National Research Council building, with Engineering Building in background.

Bio/Historical Note: In 1916 the National Research Council legislation was enacted and the institution was formed with the mandate to advise the government on matters of science and industrial research. For the first 15 or 16 years of its existence the NRC consisted of offices and borrowed lab space. It launched Canada’s first research journal, “Canadian Journal of Research” and funded research for human and bovine tuberculosis – a significant domestic problem in the 1920s. In 1932, NRC’s first dedicated lab was built in Ottawa. The NRC established a laboratory on the east side of the University of Saskatchewan campus in 1948. The original purpose of the facility was to “use chemistry and biology to diversify Canadian agriculture.” Originally called the “Prairie Regional Lab” then the “Plant Biotechnology Institute,” the facility is now known as “NRC Saskatoon.”

Two people perform an operation on a cat.

Robert (Bob) Teed operating Kjeldahl nitrogen analysis apparatus at the Cereal Chemistry Research Lab. The first stage of the two-step process shown entailed the boiling of concentrated sulfuric acid.

Bio/Historical Note: Robert Gordon Teed was born in Humboldt on 21 Dec.1924, He moved to Saskatoon and graduated from Nutana Collegiate. He joined the Royal Canadian Army in 1943, serving overseas from 1944 until July 1946, the last year as part of the Army of Occupation. In 1947 Teed joined the Department of Chemistry, where he worked as a technician until sickness forced him to retire. Teed died on 29 Dec. 1985 in Saskatoon.

M. Siddigueullab and W.W. Cram investigating the chemistry of natural products.

The Science Service Laboratory for the Department of Agriculture. Taken from the southwest just after completion.

View from southwest of the Science Service Laboratory of the Canada Department of Agriculture.

Touring the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) facilities are (l to r): R.W. Begg, University President; Dr. Christopher H. Bigland, director of VIDO; and Allan Blakeney, Premier of Saskatchewan.

Bio/Historical Note: The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) is a research organization of the University of Saskatchewan that operates with financial support from the Government of Canada, the government of Saskatchewan, livestock industry councils and agencies, foundations and human and animal health companies. VIDO worked to find cures for common infectious diseases in cattle, swine and poultry. VIDO scientists carved out an international reputation for their pioneering work in the 1980's on vaccines aimed at combating shipping fever and a disease which produces pneumonia and arthritis in cattle. In addition to the 2,500,000 sq ft facility on campus, VIDO-InterVac also operates a 160-acre research station. The laboratory took on its current name, International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), in March 2003. In October 2003 a large expansion was completed. In March 2004, VIDO received funding for the construction one of the world's largest and most advanced biosafety level 3 facilities, the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), for research into emerging and reemerging human and animal diseases. In 2020, VIDO-InterVac began developing a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

R.T. Coupland, Director of Matador Project (1966-1976) and professor of plant ecology, examines grain in a field.

Bio/Historical Note: From 1967 to 1972, plant ecologists at the University of Saskatchewan participated in the International Biological Program. As part of this worldwide study of agricultural productivity, ecologists established the Matador field station for grassland research carried out by scientists from thirty-four countries. The field station was located near Kyle, thirty miles north of Swift Current, in an area of natural grassland that was potentially the best wheat growing soil in the brown soil zone of Saskatchewan. The land (three square miles) was originally leased for 21 years from the Government of Saskatchewan; the lease (for $1/year) has since been renewed and currently expires in 2009. The Matador Project involved the study of the total grasslands ecosystem, including the interaction of animals, plants, microorganisms, soils and the atmosphere. Robert T. Coupland, Head of the Department of Plant Ecology, served as Director of the Matador Project.

Image of the federal government's agricultural farm at Indian Head, Saskatchewan. View of field of wheat stooks lined with trees.