Housed within Canadian Blood Services’ Medical Affairs and Innovation division, the Centre for Innovation conducts and supports research, development, and knowledge mobilization to ensure a safe, effective, and responsive blood system. This last year was another outstanding one for the Centre for Innovation – the heart of Canadian Blood Services’ research and development activities – as highlighted in the 2018-2019 annual progress report, which was recently published. 2018-2019 highlights include: The Centre for innovation supported 124 investigators across Canada through funding and products

“It was as if someone had taken a teaspoon of sand, dumped it in my eye, taken their thumb and ground it in, and every once in a while, gave it a little poke with a twig.” That’s how Loreen Hardy-Ramey describes living with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy, a hereditary eye condition. Without the cornea transplant the Arnprior, Ont. woman received in the summer of 2016, Hardy-Ramey’s pain would have continued as her sight faded. “I say it was my eightieth birthday present because I received this gift just days after my birthday,” she says. Now she’s looking forward to the birth of her great

Calgary, Alberta, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, played host to this year’s Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine (CSTM)/Canadian Blood Services/Héma-Québec annual conference. Canadian Blood Services is proud to be a key partner in this conference, which represents the major gathering of Canada’s transfusion medicine and science community each year. Many Centre for Innovation members attend the CSTM conference to network and exchange knowledge with colleagues across Canada. The Centre for Innovation also holds its annual Research Day in the same place and around the same time as

Highlighting a recent blog post from Science Borealis, this “stories worth sharing” post gives background on the welcome support the Centre for Innovation’s 2018 Lay Science Writing Competition received from two key partners. The Centre for Blood Research (CBR) and the Centre for Innovation have a long-standing relationship. We partner regularly to deliver training and education events. The CBR helped to develop the competition and promoted it to their large network of trainees, support that helped guarantee that this inaugural competition ran smoothly and successfully. The Centre for

A new publication in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) aims to help health care teams navigate clinical issues surrounding organ and tissue donation by patients who choose to donate after medical assistance in dying (MAID) or withdrawal of life-sustaining measures. In collaboration with the Canadian Critical Care Society, the Canadian Society of Transplantation, and the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses, Canadian Blood Services brought together medical, legal and ethics experts to inform this work, as well as patient partners who brought unique perspectives and thoughtful

The International Collaboration for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines (ICTMG) creates and promotes evidence-based clinical guidelines to optimize transfusion care in Canada and worldwide. The Centre for Innovation is proud to support the ICTMG by supporting ICTMG chair, Nadine Shehata, and hosting the ICTMG secretariat. What is Fetal and Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia? FNAIT is a rare disease that occurs when a baby inherits platelet proteins from its father that are foreign to its mother. In response, the expectant mother’s immune system makes antibodies that destroy the developing baby’s

This annual symposium honours Canadian physician, Dr. Norman Bethune. A controversial figure, Dr. Bethune is remembered as a fearless doctor, an innovative biomedical engineer, an early proponent of socialized medicine, and a trailblazer who operated the earliest practical mobile blood banks. Reflecting his legacy, the Norman Bethune Symposium offers a platform for researchers and clinicians to present strategies and challenges experienced within transfusion medicine. The program for this year’s symposium was developed by Dr. Dana Devine, Canadian Blood Services’ chief scientist, and Dr

The ability to genetically modify a cell is a powerful tool. Genetically modified cells have advanced our understanding of how the body works and how diseases develop. They are currently used as treatments for a range of diseases, from cancers to bleeding disorders. Yet not all cells are easily modified. This is true of small cells that are indispensable for stopping blood flow during injury. Image Dr. Stefanie Novakowski Why modify platelets? Platelets are currently used in the clinic to stop ongoing bleeding, caused by trauma or surgery. However, during severe bleeding platelets become

Red blood cells are like delivery trucks. They deliver oxygen to the vital organs in our body. Iron is the flatbed of the truck which holds the oxygen in place. Iron is a key ingredient to build red blood cells and when you don’t have enough iron, your body doesn’t make enough red blood cells. This is called anemia. We get iron from the foods we eat such as meat, leafy green vegetables and legumes – all rich in iron. Our body loses iron when we lose blood, so women are at the highest risk for low iron since blood is lost monthly during childbearing years. Image Imagine a woman’s iron stores as