The Centre for Innovation’s funding programs support research to help ensure a safe and effective supply of blood and blood products for Canadians. But, research and medicine are not static. To be effective, these programs must be dynamic and respond to new developments and changing needs. The Intramural Research Grant Program (IRGP) is one of the Centre for Innovation’s most responsive and impactful research funding programs. Every year, the Centre for Innovation welcomes applications to the IRGP competition to ensure that the program is always responding to emerging challenges facing the

Although it doesn’t happen often, sometimes patients will have a bad reaction during or after a blood transfusion. These incidents can range from a minor complication like a fever or allergic reaction, to a life-threatening situation, such as when a patient’s immune system destroys the red blood cells they received through transfusion. When an adverse transfusion reaction happens, it gets reported to the hospital’s transfusion service, also known as the blood bank, and may be reported to the manufacturer and to provincial and national surveillance systems as well. It’s one more reason why

Welcome to 2020! Take a look back with us by checking out the five most visited R.E.D. blog posts in 2019. 1. The ABCs of ABO blood types In the early days of transfusion medicine, doctors gave patients all sorts of different fluids, including blood or milk from animals. Success varied, and the results were often disastrous—even when they used human blood. It wasn’t until the start of the 20th century that physicians learned the ABCs of the ABO blood types and finally understood how to give a successful transfusion. 2. Ferritin findings: investigating iron and impacts on donors The health and

When doctors select red blood cell units for transfusion into a patient, they consider the patient’s blood type to determine what types of donor blood would be compatible. What they don’t consider is the sex of the patient and whether the donor is the same (sex-matched) or different sex (sex-mismatched). But this may be a factor worth considering, according to a study led by Dr. Michelle Zeller, Canadian Blood Services medical officer and assistant professor in the department of medicine at McMaster University. The study, “Sex-mismatched red blood cell transfusions and mortality: A systematic

Since its inauguration in 2007, I have had the pleasure of attending almost all Earl W. Davie Symposia. Both this event and the annual Norman Bethune Symposium are cornerstones of the academic calendar at the Centre for Blood Research, a multidisciplinary biomedical research institute in Vancouver, BC, which conducts innovative research in blood and blood-related processes. Dr. Davie, in whose honour this symposium is held, is truly a giant in the world of biochemistry and blood coagulation. His research to understand the proteins involved in blood coagulation led him to be one of the first

When a patient who needs a red blood cell transfusion has unexpected red blood cell antibodies (non-ABO) in their blood, health-care providers have to make decisions about what kind of red blood cell units can be safely transfused. Finding the right match for the patient is crucial because in some cases, transfusing incompatible donor units — those with antigens that could react with the patient’s antibodies — can result in serious complications, including acute or delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions. When pregnant mothers have these unexpected antibodies, they may require specialized

Image What’s old is new again. Recent research has shown that whole blood may be the best fluid to replace what’s being lost in actively bleeding patients. However, for the past 50 or so years, whole blood for transfusion has not been readily available in Canada or many other countries. To support the (re)-introduction of this product to the Canadian Blood Services formulary, the Centre for Innovation’s product and process development group, under the leadership of Ken McTaggart, has been working to understand this product and the optimal processes to produce and store it. How did we get here

The Canadian Blood Services Centre for Innovation recently awarded successful applicants to the following funding competitions: The Postdoctoral Fellowship Program offers salary support for young investigators. Congratulations to the successful candidates: Dr. Ruqayyah Almizraq (University of Toronto, training in Dr. Donald Branch’s laboratory): “Development of a drug to replace IVIg, and ADCC as cause for unexplained hemolysis post-transfusion” Dr. Yfke Pasman (St. Michael’s Hospital; training in Dr. Heyu Ni’s laboratory): “Reducing IVIG usage by developing novel prophylaxis and therapies

The AABB Annual Meeting is a must-attend event for those in the fields of transfusion medicine and cellular therapies. AABB 2019 took place last month in San Antonio, Texas. Canadian Blood Services’ trainees, Dr. Narges Hadjesfandiari (University of British Columbia) and Dr. Olga Mykhailova (University of Alberta), were there and report back on their meeting highlights. Narges: I really enjoyed the combination of specialized sessions that directly related to my research plus multiple more general sessions. The oral session: “Red Blood Cell Storage: The Oxygen Paradox” and the posters in this