Research

Using Human Kidney Organoids to Model Disease

Using Human Kidney Organoids to Model Disease

There is an urgent need for curative therapies to treat kidney failure. The laboratories of Dr. Kelly M. McNagny and Dr. Benjamin S. Freedman have demonstrated that human kidney organoids grown in a culture dish can accurately model kidney development and disease. This technology is promising for expediting future kidney research.

To Transfuse or not to Transfuse?

To Transfuse or not to Transfuse?

Thanks to their dramatic lifesaving effects, blood transfusions have become commonplace in modern medicine. However, do transfusions actually improve patient outcomes under the existing standards and procedures?

platelets

Can Temperature Modulation be the Answer to Extending Platelet Shelf Life?

The most common cause of having to discard units of platelets is the short storage life of platelet concentrates. Researchers have proposed an alternative storage condition for platelets in the hopes of extending platelet shelf life.

Bromme Lab Has Found a Potential Osteoporosis Treatment in Compound Derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine

Bromme Lab Has Found a Potential Osteoporosis Treatment in Compound Derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine

Researchers in the Bromme lab demonstrated the anti bone-resorptive activity of a compound found in traditional Chinese medicine. This may be promising for the treatment of bone deteriorating conditions.

Iron Chelation Therapy – A Clinical Front in the Treatment of MDS Patients?

Iron Chelation Therapy – A Clinical Front in the Treatment of MDS Patients?

CBR investigator and staff hematologist, Dr. Heather Leitch (St. Paul’s Hospital), and co-workers analyzed the Canadian Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Registry to evaluate whether there is superior survival in MDS patients receiving iron chelation therapy. Find out about their conclusions.

Questioning the Wisdom of the Full Course of Antibiotics

Questioning the Wisdom of the Full Course of Antibiotics

Doctors and healthcare professionals have long urged patients to always finish a course of antibiotics to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance, but is this protocol still warranted? Researchers have discovered that over-use of antibiotics can have negative effects.

CBR Researchers Develop a Novel Blood Binding Bandage to Help Control Traumatic Hemorrhage

CBR Researchers Develop a Novel Blood Binding Bandage to Help Control Traumatic Hemorrhage

A team of chemists from the Centre for Blood Research at the University of British Columbia have developed a new wound-dressing material engineered to locally enhance the clotting process at hemorrhage sites.

What is the Best Method of Preventing HIV Transmission?

What is the Best Method of Preventing HIV Transmission?

Researchers collaborated to study the most salient methods of preventing HIV transmission via contaminated needles, comparing two harm reduction strategies and antiretroviral therapy (ART).

More than an Antibiotic: Unveiling Alternative Therapeutic Potential of Gentamicin

More than an Antibiotic: Unveiling Alternative Therapeutic Potential of Gentamicin

A minor component of gentamicin, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, has the ability to suppress nonsense mutations. This may greatly benefit patients living with rare genetic diseases.

Kastrup Lab Uses Simulations to Uncover a Potential New Player in Thrombosis

Kastrup Lab Uses Simulations to Uncover a Potential New Player in Thrombosis

Researchers from the Kastrup Lab at the CBR have provided insight into the mechanism of action for one activator involved in blood clot formation: short‑chain polyphosphate (PolyP).