A recent research paper points towards machine learning as a solution to improve how experts assess the shape of red blood cells, or red blood cell morphology. With the potential to eliminate subjectivity and standardize testing, this approach could herald a new era in red blood cell morphology assessment, with potentially big implications for transfusion medicine research and beyond. “This work took over three years and involved 19 experts across five countries and 12 institutes,” explains Dr. Jason Acker, a senior scientist at Canadian Blood Services’ Centre for Innovation. The research

The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) was established in 2004 and brings together Canada’s top-ranked health and biomedical scientists and scholars to make a positive impact on the urgent health concerns of Canadians. Its Fellows are individuals of great achievement within the academic health sciences in Canada, who serve the Academy as unpaid volunteers to provide assessments of, and advice on, key issues relevant to the health of Canadians. Last week, the Academy announced its new Fellows, among them Dr. Heyu Ni. Dr. Ni is a Canadian Blood Services senior scientist. He is also a

By Dr. Yulia Lin and Casey Kapitany Blood transfusion is one of the most commonly ordered procedures in hospitals. In Canada, more than 1 million red blood cell units are transfused every year, thanks to the generosity of blood donors. Optimizing the use of each precious, potentially life-saving unit of blood, in ways that maximize their effectiveness and safety while avoiding waste, is a critical goal for physicians who prescribe blood for their patients. That’s where Transfusion Camp — a program established in 2012 by the University of Toronto QUEST Program, a research collaborative

Earl W. Davie, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle, died in June 2020. Over the course of Dr. Davie’s long and distinguished career, he made many discoveries that advanced understanding of how blood clots and led to the development of treatments for many bleeding disorders. His seminal discovery, with Dr. Oscar Ratnoff, was the waterfall sequence for blood clotting. Published in the journal Science in 1964, Drs. Davie and Ratnoff discovered the elegant pattern of activation and propagation of clotting factor signals that leads to clot formation

There is a comical clock in the office of Dr. Isra Levy, vice-president of medical affairs and innovation at Canadian Blood Services headquarters in Ottawa, with the numbers on the clockface jumbled. It taunts his visitors to question why one even bothers keeping time at all, as there never seems to be enough. I was fortunate to spend some time observing Isra at work in March 2020. On that day, Isra was recording a podcast for Canadian Blood Services’ staff about the organization’s initial plans for dealing with the impending COVID-19 health crisis. Looking back, I realize that given the task

In a new study, a research team that includes experts from Canadian Blood Services and the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research showed that genotyping red blood cell (RBC) proteins could help make transfusions safer for patients with sickle cell disease. Blood transfusions can be a life-saving treatment for patients with sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that causes RBCs to become sickle- or crescent-shaped. But transfusion comes with risks: if donor RBCs have proteins that are not found on the patient’s RBCs, the patient’s immune system attacks the donor’s foreign RBC

COVID-19 has had major implications for patients who need blood transfusions, blood donors, and the transfusion services and hospitals that manage transfusions. For example, in the event of a shortage, what additional steps can be taken to minimize waste of blood components, and how is blood use prioritized for patients if there is a predicted shortage? What donor and donation factors need to be considered to maintain an adequate supply of blood during the pandemic? According to Dr. Mindy Goldman, medical director at Canadian Blood Services, one of the biggest challenges for clinicians during

With funding from Health Canada, Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec are supporting research to contribute to the establishment of adequate evidence-based research for alternative screening approaches for blood or plasma donors, which could evolve the current deferral policy for men who have sex with men (MSM) while maintaining the safety of the blood supply. The MSM Research Program funds 15 innovative research projects to generate evidence that is currently lacking. The Canadian research efforts will contribute to a growing national and international body of knowledge on the topic, as

Third module of Canadian Clinical Guide to Organ Donation just launched The Canadian Clinical Guide to Organ Donation is an essential curriculum for health professionals that enhances competencies in the identification and care of potential deceased donors and their families. It is a free self-directed, interactive, online e-learning course. Developed by Canadian Blood Services in collaboration with the organ donation organizations in Canada and many generous volunteers from the Canadian Critical Care community, this curriculum is accredited Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada and

Dr. Jennie Haw is a scientist at Canadian Blood Services’ Centre for Innovation. She was a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Health System Impact postdoctoral fellow from 2017—2019. Her research project during this fellowship focused on optimizing cord blood donor recruitment for the national public cord blood bank. As a sociologist, she’s interested in understanding how health and health systems relate to the individual and society. As we celebrate Cord Blood Awareness Month this July, we sat down with Dr. Haw to talk about her research and its impact on cord blood banking. What’s