Congratulations to the 2024-2025 Travel Award Recipients!
This past year, the CBR was pleased to support 6 award recipients, who attended and presented at conferences and workshops held around the globe. Following their conference attendance, recipients shared their experiences through short reflection blogs on the CBR website, which reflect their educational experiences and key takeaways.
CBR External Travel Awards: Earl W. Davie Symposium 2025 – Mahsa Yazdanbakhsh
Mahsa Yazdanbakhsh shares her experience in the Earl W. Davie Symposium 2025.
Facilitated Access to Drug Safety Information via the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are the main cause of poor health outcomes and death. Gisladottir et al. (2025) led a research project examining the use of large language models (LLMs) in drug safety research. LLMs are artificial intelligence systems trained on vast amounts of text to generate human-like language. ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), Llama (Large Language Model Meta AL), and Mixtral are examples of LLMs that were tested in this study. Gisladottir et al. compared the capacity of the mentioned LLMs to pre-existing technologies in retrieving drug safety information from Structured Product Labelling (SPL).
Exploring the Role of Talin Autoinhibition in Platelet Aggregation and Hemostasis
A collaborative project between the Tanentzapf and Kim labs investigated how the disruption of talin regulation affects platelets and hemostasis 1.
UBC enzyme technology clears first human test toward universal donor organs for transplantation
This article was originally posted on the UBC News website and reposted here. UBC-developed enzymes successfully converted a kidney to universal type O for transplant, marking a major step toward faster, more compatible organ donations. The first successful human transplant of a kidney converted from blood type A to universal type O used special enzymes […]
Michael John Page Postdoctoral Fellow Award Ceremony 2025: Dr. MD Mohosin Rana
The Michael John Page Postdoctoral Fellow Award recognizes a postdoctoral fellow who reflects Dr. Page’s academic excellence and his passion for life. This year’s Michael John Page Award recipient is Dr. MD Mohosin Rana, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu’s Lab. Mohosin is a bioengineer whose work bridges biomaterials science and biomedical engineering. He earned his […]
National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Dr. Anthony Wong
In honour of National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW), we spoke with different Postdoctoral Fellows at the CBR to highlight their research, share their stories and celebrate their journeys. Dr. Anthony Wong – Rossi lab Tell me about your research I’m currently studying mechanisms of action underlying the immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and generating […]
National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Dr. Lihua Hao
In honour of National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW), we spoke with different Postdoctoral Fellows at the CBR to highlight their research, share their stories and celebrate their journeys. Dr. Lihua Hua – Pryzdial lab Tell me about your research. My project is about Factor X, which is a really important coagulation protein. Normally, it gets […]
National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Dr. Sahand Ghaffari
In honour of National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW), we spoke with different Postdoctoral Fellows at the CBR to highlight their research, share their stories and celebrate their journeys. Dr. Sahand Ghaffari – Kizhakkedathu Lab Tell me about your research As a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Blood Research and Department of Pathology and Laboratory […]
National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Dr. Maomao Tan
In honour of National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW), we spoke with different Postdoctoral Fellows at the CBR to highlight their research, share their stories and celebrate their journeys. Dr. Maomao Tan – Hedtrich Lab Tell me about your research. I am working in Dr. Sarah Hedtrich’s laboratory at the Centre for Blood Research, focusing […]