Research Unit: Modelling risk to ensure safety when considering changes to blood testing Transfusion Blood Thursday, February 28, 2019 Dr. Geraldine Walsh Image At Canadian Blood Services, blood safety is paramount. Screening donors for infectious diseases is an important part of our multi-layered approach to blood safety. One such infectious agent that is known to be transmitted through blood transfusion is Human T-cell lymphotropic viruses (or HTLV). Since 1990, all blood donations in Canada have…

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D is also for Development! Plasma Transfusion Blood Friday, February 22, 2019 Dr. Geraldine Walsh Image Welcome to our new R.E.D. blog series where we focus on our Centre for Innovation development projects to give you a glimpse into the future of blood banking... our future! At Canadian Blood Services, we continuously strive to improve our products and the processes we use to manufacture them. Ensuring we provide quality products that meet the needs of…

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New way to check the quality of blood before opening the bag Transfusion Blood Thursday, February 14, 2019 Ross FitzGerald Image Dr. Dana Devine, Chief Scientist, Canadian Blood Services Researchers have developed a new technique to assess the quality of blood without breaching the sterility of blood bags, according to a new paper published by Dr. Martha Vardaki. The study is part of a larger ongoing effort to develop non-invasive technologies to monitor blood products…

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Highlights from our partners: Thrombomodulin: Old protein with new functions and hope Transfusion Blood Friday, February 08, 2019 Dr. Geraldine Walsh Image This week, we highlight work from one of our partners, the Centre for Blood Research. Wayne Zhao describes a review by Dr. Ed Conway, Centre for Blood Research director and adjunct scientist at the Centre for Innovation. This review describes the many roles of thrombomodulin, a protein involved in blood coagulation. Wayne is…

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Research Unit: What's in a bag of plasma? Plasma Transfusion Blood Thursday, January 24, 2019 Dr. Geraldine Walsh Our latest Centre for Innovation Research Unit examines what’s in a bag of plasma. Plasma can be separated from a whole blood donation (called recovered plasma), or obtained by apheresis donation (called source plasma). Usually, recovered plasma is used for transfusion, and source plasma is sent for fractionation into plasma-derived drugs. In this study, Dr. William Sheffield…

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Annual progress report highlights the Centre for Innovation’s impactful research, development, education and training Transfusion Blood Thursday, January 10, 2019 Dr. Geraldine Walsh #WeDoResearch! Through our Centre for Innovation, our engaged network of scientists, medical experts, partners, and collaborators conduct and disseminate high quality, impactful research for the benefit of Canadian patients and the Canadian healthcare system.    The Centre for Innovation’s goal is to drive innovation to improve the blood system by facilitating the creation, translation, and application of new knowledge to support a safe, effective, and responsive…

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National organ sharing leads to 500 kidney transplants for highly sensitized patients Transplantation Organs and Tissues Tuesday, January 15, 2019 Jenny Ryan “The gift of transplantation has meant so much to the patients within the highly sensitized patient registry in Saskatchewan and all of Canada.” – Dr. Rahul Mainra, St. Paul’s Hospital, Saskatoon The Highly Sensitized Patient (HSP) program is a national organ sharing program operated by Canadian Blood Services in collaboration with all provincial…

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Looking back on 2018: Top-five most-read stories from the RED blog Transplantation Organs and Tissues Plasma Stem Cells Transfusion Blood Tuesday, January 01, 2019 Jenny Ryan As the year comes to a close and 2019 is set to begin, we take a moment to reflect on the 2018 articles that were among the most popular. Image #5: Raising awareness for living organ donation In April each year, we honour organ donors and their families during National…

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Meet the Researcher: Dr. Mel Krajden Transfusion Blood Thursday, December 20, 2018 Dr. Geraldine Walsh Where do you work and what is your role? I am the Medical Director of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory (BCCDC PHL) and I have a special interest in hepatitis and viral detection methods as well as in health services policy. Tell us about your area of research. My laboratory research uses molecular techniques to: diagnose…

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