news releases

Vancouver, British Columbia, September 4, 2009 — Burcon NutraScience Corporation (TSX - BU) (“Burcon” or the “Corporation”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Lawrence Wang to its board of directors.

After an extensive teaching and research career, Dr. Wang retired in 2005 and became Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. Dr. Wang undertook his graduate studies in the United States and finished his Masters degree in Biology at Rice University, Houston, Texas, and his Ph. D. degree in Animal Physiology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in the 1960’s.

Dr. Wang’s research involved energy and fat metabolism and the enhancement of cold tolerance in man, hibernation and hypothermia, and the influence of herbs (e.g. ginseng) on learning and memory, aging, exercise, and obesity. His publications include five patents, five edited books, and over 150 original scientific research papers and reviews. He is the inventor of the Canadian Cold Buster bar and the Access bar, a patented, technology-transferred product based on his 18 years of research on energy and fat metabolism. This “fat-conversion activity bar” is currently being marketed in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and the United Kingdom.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wang has received numerous awards including the Innovative Technology of the Year, Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Award (1992), the Gordon Royal Maybee Award from the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (1992), Elected Fellow, Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Canada (FRSC, 1993), the highest honor achievable by any academics in Canada and the Friendship Award, Government of China, for service to eco-rehabilitation and poverty alleviation in rural China (2006) to name a few.

In 2000, Dr. Wang Co-Founded the University of Alberta’s ECO (Ecological Conservancy Outreach) Fund. The main objective of the ECO Fund is to help with eco-rehabilitation and eco-management of the Upper Yangtze River. In addition to funding, Dr. Wang and the scientists at the University of Alberta have also provided technical and socio-economic expertise to help with fourteen on-going ECO projects in China.

Throughout the years, Dr. Wang has held Visiting and Honorary Professorships in several prestigious academic institutions in China: Peking Union Medical College, Peking University, Qingdao Medical College, Mudangjiang Medical College, Xinjiang Medical College, and Jinan Medical College. He is also actively involved in local community services. He has served as a Board member of the “Odyssium” (The Telus World of Science) a non-profit Foundation in Edmonton, Alberta experience and knowledge in the field on human metabolism will be an asset to Burcon as we continue to study the potential benefits of adding Burcon's Puratein®, Supertein™ and CLARISOY™ to the human diet. We are excited to have Dr. Wang join our board of directors".