Prof. Mike Dixon with the School of Environmental Sciences was featured in a Globe and Mail article detailing columnist Ian Brown’s struggles to grow cannabis.

Dixon is the director of U of G’s Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility. He is now transferring the plant-growing knowledge he and colleagues have gained at the facility to the new Guelph Centre for Cannabis Research.

Researchers at the GCCR will study the genetics of cannabis, optimal production methods and medicinal compound analysis, as well as human and animal health benefits of the plant.

Dixon explained that in order for cannabis to be used in phytopharmaceuticals — medical cannabis — plants need to be grown rigorously to standardize their medically useful compounds.

Dixon is a world expert in growing plants in controlled environments and has focused on high-fidelity hydroponic technologies, ozone technologies, and nutrient management and recycling.