Funded research providing evidence needed to evolve eligibility criteria for men who have sex with men Plasma Transfusion Blood Monday, December 03, 2018 Ross FitzGerald Today, Canadian men are eligible to give blood if it has been more than one year since their last sexual contact with another man, which is known as the MSM eligibility criteria. Canadian Blood Services has recently made progress on several fronts that may further evolve the eligibility criteria for…

Continue reading

Raising awareness for living organ donation Transplantation Organs and Tissues Tuesday, November 27, 2018 Jenny Ryan This #givingtuesday — November 27, 2018 — organizations across the country are raising awareness about living donation.  Did you know that more than 3,000 Canadians are on a waiting list for kidney transplantation? When the kidneys are no longer able to remove waste products from the blood, either dialysis (artificial filtering of blood) or a transplant is required for survival. Dialysis…

Continue reading

Centre for Blood Research summer students visit Canadian Blood Services Transfusion Blood Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Guest Author By Sarah Bowers, Undergraduate Student, Brown Lab, Centre for Blood Research This post was originally published on the Centre for Blood Research blog. It has been republished here with permission with minor edits.   What is involved in getting blood that has been donated at a mobile clinic in Campbell River to a patient on the operating…

Continue reading

Unleash your inner writer – Enter our first-ever lay science writing competition Transplantation Organs and Tissues Plasma Stem Cells Transfusion Blood Thursday, November 15, 2018 Jenny Ryan Use plain language to tell the story of your research in blood, plasma, stem cells or organs & tissues. Call for submissions – Deadline: January 18, 2019 Theme: Research that matters! We’re excited to announce the launch of Canadian Blood Services’ first-ever Lay Science Writing Competition. We’ve connected…

Continue reading

Critical Care Canada Forum 2018 Transplantation Organs and Tissues Tuesday, November 06, 2018 Jenny Ryan The Critical Care Canada Forum (CCCF) takes place this week in Toronto. The annual event is attended by hundreds of health professionals working in critical care, primarily physicians.  A key event within the Forum is an unopposed plenary on brain death determination, to be held on Wednesday, November 7th. I had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Sam Shemie, Canadian…

Continue reading

Research day celebrates the end of summer and close of the Centre for Blood Research Summer Studentship Program. This year's keynote speaker, Dr. Farah Alibay, an aerospace engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles spoke of her work on the Mars InSight mission.

Continue reading

This week, we connected with Dr. Jelena Holovati about her work as a Canadian Blood Services adjunct scientist and her role as laboratory director of the Edmonton Stem Cell Manufacturing Program.

Continue reading

Exciting research from the University of British Columbia could make it easier to match blood to patients, by turning all blood into type O, the universal donor. This work was just presented at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston, and has created quite a buzz. I chatted to our Chief Scientist, Dr. Dana Devine, and  Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu to learn more.

Continue reading

On August 16, 2018, we lost much valued colleague, mentor and friend who had great influence on transfusion medicine around the world. Dr. Celso Bianco served as the Chairman of Canadian Blood Services’ Scientific Research Advisory Council from 2002–2012 and was the recipient of a Canadian Blood Services’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Continue reading

Platelets contribute to the steady-state production of thrombopoietin by the liver. This has important implications in bleeding diseases and immune-mediated thrombocytopenias.

Continue reading