Patrick Bedford is the Senior Manager of Clinical Translation and Regulatory Affairs at CCRM. He holds a Master’s Degree in Bioethics and Health Law, and a Regulatory Affairs Certificate. Patrick has spent over 11 years applying federal regulations to emerging biotechnologies in Canada. Follow him on LinkedIN. Although I’m officially CCRM’s “regulatory guy,” I’ve been talking a lot about reimbursement lately. From this pricing and reimbursement article I authored, to this cost-effectiveness modeling course I attended, to…

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Malgosia Pakulska is the Communications and Development Officer at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. She is also a science writer for Research2Reality, a blog designed to engage the public in Canadian research. Malgosia completed her PhD in Professor Molly Shoichet’s lab at the University of Toronto studying drug delivery systems for spinal cord regeneration after injury. Though she has left the bench, she is still passionate about research and wants to share that excitement…

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Angry female naked mole rat. Credit: Buffenstein/Barshop Institute/UTHSCSA c/o Wiki Commons They could well be the ugliest animals on the planet, but naked mole rats don’t get cancer or suffer decrepitude from old age. No wonder scientists are working hard to unlock the secrets of these bizarre-looking creatures that could teach us how to stave off disease and repair brains. With large protruding teeth, squinting useless eyes and wrinkly pale skin with no hair, the…

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I’m delighted that, despite the title, you’ve decided to read this post! For some academics, knowledge translation is not the most exciting aspect of their job, but it is a requirement that must be fulfilled as part of their funding obligations. No offense to those who are professionals in the field and embrace the importance of this practice. Even you know that knowledge translation isn’t always popular (but I think that’s because it isn’t really…

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By Sun Ladder (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia CommonsOur lives our governed by our concept of time. Whether you are relatively spontaneous or a micromanager of your daily schedule, how we coordinate our work and interactions with other people comes down to the 24-hour clock we picture in our minds. Of course, this 24-hour clock is more than just a social construct. It is engrained into our very cells.…

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Understanding cell therapy regulation is an essential component of the bench to bedside pipeline. Without approval from a country’s regulator (Health Canada, FDA, EMA, PMDA, etc.), a product cannot be sold to consumers and the millions invested in research and development, manufacturing and clinical trials is media down the drain. Cell therapies present a range of challenges for regulators and, of course, for the companies developing them. In advance of an

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Copyright CCRM, 2017. Last month two papers created a pretty big wave in the blood stem cell field: Work from Harvard Medical School and Cornell University showed that functional human blood stem cells could be created from reprogrammed cells. While it is most certainly the closest that researchers have come to creating blood stem cells in large numbers outside the body from using reprogramming technologies, there is still significant “T crossing and I dotting” that needs…

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You may have heard of the adult colouring trend. In recent years, people have been reigniting their childhood passion of using markers, crayons and pencil crayons to “stay within the lines” while bringing colouring books and sheets to life. In response to this trend, a new industry of adult-oriented colouring books has emerged. These images are often more intricate, quirky or spiritual in nature than the typical designs made for children. But adult colouring is…

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Colourized scanning electron microscopy image of a T-cell. Image credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Did you know that a healthy person with a healthy lifestyle and diet might still end up being diabetic? That is certainly the case with those who have type 1 diabetes (T1D). In T1D, the patient’s body has lost the ability to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that acts like an agent and takes care of moderating…

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It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. Where, then, does the gun factor in? I was amazed, last year, when I learned of the “biopen,” a medical device that draws stem cells to repair damaged or worn cartilage and then the cartilage heals itself with its own cells. From what I can find, it has yet to gain regulatory approval. However, the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials…

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