It should come as no surprise that students in Acadia University’s computer science department are doing work that seems right out of science fiction. With Dr. Esteve Hassan’s new project, if Fantastic Voyage pops into your head, it’s understandable.

When Acadia University researcher Dr. Nicoletta Faraone and her team made headlines and social media buzz this spring with their tick research breakthroughs, they garnered something greater than likes and clicks — they inspired a remarkable act of generosity.

Impressed by her work, Peter and Susan Gordon of Ontario have donated $755,000 to support the creation of the Canadian Tick Research and Innovation Centre (CTRIC) at Acadia, the first facility of its kind in Canada.

In apple breeding only around 0.014% of seedlings planted will make it to the final round of evaluations. And even fewer become commercially available cultivars. Researchers at Acadia are bringing together biology and computer science to bump that percentage up and make apple breeding and cultivation more sustainable.