By Dr. Ed Conway, Director, Centre for Blood Research

“Canadian accomplishments in science and scholarly inquiry have long been a source of national pride. However, by various measures, Canada’s research competitiveness has eroded in recent years when compared with international peers. The change coincided with a period of flat-lining of federal spending … reducing available support for independent, investigator-led research by frontline scientists and scholars.” And so the 2017 Executive Summary of the Naylor report, “Investing in Canada’s Future,” began. It’s a sobering and necessarily highly public recognition that research support in Canada has gradually and steadily been withering, despite the “high levels of talent, expertise, and dedication.” Although there are positive signs that the government is responding to this crisis, it will take major efforts to get Canada back to its rightful trajectory.

In spite of the fiscal challenges, CBR research teams have been weathering the storm and, indeed, flourishing in the lab and the clinic. This is measured not only by the number and value of prestigious grants and awards received by our senior investigators and their trainees, but by the number and quality of the clinically relevant scientific advances that they have made. To name but a few, these include:

• Developing novel treatments for osteoporosis using derivatives of traditional Chinese medicines;
• Generation of innate defense regulator peptides to treat inflammatory and infectious diseases;
• Applying high-resolution cryo-EM imaging of Salmonella injection components that may yield novel antibiotics;
• The creation of a wound dressing material to locally enhance clotting, the discovery of safer and more effective clot dissolving agents;
• Optimization of the storage temperature for prolonging platelet survival prior to transfusion;
• Early introduction of iron chelation therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome to prolong survival;
• The development of polymer-based heparin reversal agents to prevent bleeding;
• Characterization of mechanisms underlying heparin induced thrombocytopenia;
• Discovery of a new protein that promotes clot formation and atherosclerosis;
• Implementation of personalized approaches to care for patients with hemophilia;
• Development of new techniques for pathogen inactivation of platelets;
• Methods to isolate and culture muscle cell progenitors that are important in growth and repair;
• Identification of innate lymphocytes that limit cancer spread;
• Elucidation of the effects of anti-retroviral drugs on HIV-exposed infants in African countries.

The list goes on and on (check the CBR website for a glimpse). Just imagine what could be accomplished if we had more resources and sustained funding for our creative and talented CBR teams?! Hopefully, we will find out in the coming years.

The CBR remains dedicated to our students and trainees, continuously adding and improving programs that will nourish the aspirations and career-developing needs of this next generation of scientists and clinicians.

The CBR remains dedicated to our students and trainees, continuously adding and improving programs that will nourish the aspirations and career-developing needs of this next generation of scientists and clinicians. The CBR Education Program is currently and ably led by Julie Kora who took up the reins mid-year when Anna Sinova went on maternity leave. Together, they have propelled CBR’s enrichment program to help undergraduate, graduate, medical, and postdoctoral students develop skills that will hopefully be of benefit wherever they may land career-wise. Recognizing the importance of developing skills in communication for success in all fields, the Knowledge Translation (KT) Committee comprises clinical and research trainees from throughout the CBR. They write on a wide range of topics, releasing a weekly news article, a monthly newsletter, and a biannual magazine that is distributed at the two major annual CBR symposia – Norman Bethune and Earl Davie. Indeed, this issue is a product of their efforts. And you will be impressed! With minimal guidance, CBR trainees also coordinate a Career Development program, the Blood Labs Outreach program, and the Graduate Award program, to name but a few initiatives that build multiple proficiencies that will be of value beyond academia. People often ask what inspires me to do this job … it’s the students!

Our educational programs are almost entirely supported by the philanthropic gestures of our partners in industry.

Our educational programs are almost entirely supported by the philanthropic gestures of our partners in industry. It is they who sponsor the Earl Davie Symposium, the Norman Bethune Symposium, the Annual CBR Research Day, our Summer Studentship Program (the largest and most comprehensive of its kind at UBC) and the weekly seminar series. We are deeply appreciative of their investments and their trust. These programs are not only of direct benefit to the trainees, but they yield excellent and highly productive research opportunities. We are entering our 6th year of the Bayer-sponsored UBC Bleeding Disorders Collaboratory, a CBR initiative that is having a major positive impact on hemophilia research and patient care throughout the province. In March 2017, Shire sponsored a CBR-hosted national symposium on the management of patients with hemophilia and factor VIII inhibitors.   There are, in fact, many other examples of industry-sponsored events at the CBR. Most notable of all our partners is the Canadian Blood Services (CBS). Our colleagues at the CBS continue to provide critical support for the CBR’s infrastructure, education and training; and here in Vancouver, we have the fortune of having their scientists on site – an incredibly enthusiastic and bright group of investigators and good friends!

In December 2017, the CBR witnessed the retirement of Dr. Ross MacGillivray, a founding member of the CBR and its first Director.

It is natural that senior scientists/professors should eventually hand over the baton to the next generation of younger scientists. In December 2017, the CBR witnessed the retirement of Dr. Ross MacGillivray, a founding member of the CBR and its first Director. We will miss him … indeed, we already do! He set the bar high, in all that he did, in his research and for the CBR. The CBR (and UBC) owes him a debt of gratitude. We wish him well.

To the future? We continue to seek new partnerships and stronger links between the lab and the clinic. Searching for new sources of funding remains a priority. The establishment of the Sheldon Naiman and Linda Vickars Endowment will provide new means of supporting initiatives in benign hematology. In the past year, the School of Biomedical Engineering was created at UBC, through a strategic partnership between the Faculties of Medicine and Applied Science. In 2018, the CBR is seizing a unique opportunity that will help to further propel the integration of life scientists and physicians with bio-engineers. We are welcoming two accomplished UBC Professors of Applied Science, Professors Karen Cheung and Hongshen Ma, providing them with memberships and CBR research space in the Life Sciences Centre. Profs Cheung and Ma are founding members of the School of Biomedical Engineering, and both have already cemented collaborative research projects with CBR and Life Sciences Institute members. They bring with them fresh ideas, new technologies, opportunities for growth, and a whole bunch of enthusiastic and skilled students! We welcome them and look forward to having them join us in ensuring that the CBR continues to flourish as a world-class translation research centre.

For the year gone by and the year coming, special thanks to our CBR Office Managers, Hana Kim and Mira Milutinovic, who work so hard for all of us.

Overall, although Canada’s research competitiveness may have “eroded,” I believe that we at the CBR have much to be proud of. Naturally, we could always do better … And we will!

Ed Conway