McNagny et al. provide key insights into longterm effects of antibiotics
In research led by CBR member, Kelly McNagny, and published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, UBC investigators revealed that different antibiotics affect bacteria that play a positive role in promoting a healthy immune system. They found that receiving antibiotic treatments early in life can increase susceptibility to specific diseases later on. Most […]
A Brooks Discovery: Super Glue for Cells
Don Brooks, from the Centre for Blood Research (CBR) at the University of British Columbia, led a group of scientists in Canada to make a super-strong cell membrane adhesive and used it to stick red blood cells together. The polymer, based on the phospholipid head group phosphatidyl choline, could be used to secure cells in […]
Hancock lab tackles malaria by modulating innate immunity
Severe malaria is a blood borne parasitic disease that afflicts more than 200 million individuals annually. Even in the best clinical settings, case fatality rates remain high since anti-malarial drugs are directed against the parasite but do not reduce life-threatening (brain) inflammation. CBR member Dr. Bob Hancock, Director of the Centre for Microbial Diseases and […]
McNagny and colleagues uncover antibiotic link to asthma
Asthma is a common, increasingly frequent, chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that affects over 100 million people worldwide. It is associated with shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing, and necessitates the use of puffers by millions of children. This treatment is required to prevent considerable short- and long-term morbidity and mortality. Although the cause […]
Hi-Definition HIV Sequencing in the Harrigan Lab
Low levels of drug resistant HIV can emerge when exposed to drugs. Researchers at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS have developed a “deep” sequencing approach that gives an in-depth cross-section of the HIV envelope profile in patients. HIV is extracted from patient blood samples and a portion of the envelope gene (which mediates […]
Multiple PI’s “Platelet Investigators” in the Devine Lab
Canadian Blood Services (CBS) investigators Elena Levin, Craig Jenkins, Brankica Culibrk and Katherine Serrano in the lab of Dr. Dana Devine, and Maria Gyongyossy-Issa from the Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have been studying the quality of platelets, a key blood transfusion component that is essential to prevent bleeding. These CBR scientists designed a […]
Aging in HIV/AIDS: Hélène Côté makes breakthroughs in understanding the risks of HIV therapies
Approximately 3 million HIV-infected women become pregnant every year and approximately 90% of HIV-infected children acquire HIV through mother-to-child transmission. To prevent transmission and/or for their own health, HIV-infected women can receive highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) during pregnancy. This greatly decreases the risk of mother-to-child transmission, from 20-25% to <2%. Although the benefits of […]
Kizhakkedathu’s polymer lab is on the road to generating universal donor red blood cells
Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are vital for the treatment of a number of acute and chronic medical problems. Identification of donor RBCs that match the prospective recipient who requires transfusion is occasionally difficult, placing the patient at risk if a match is not available. At present no method is available for the generation of […]
Challenging dogma: Jefferies and colleagues uncover new insights into the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease
Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). A UBC team led by CBR investigator Dr. Wilf Jefferies has performed studies in mice and humans that challenge current dogma and reveal new ideas as to the underlying cause of the brain dysfunction. They show […]
Protein-protein interaction maps: The Kast lab devises novel approaches to analyze the vast amounts of data
Mapping protein-protein interactions is critical for deciphering complex cellular functions. For this reason, high performance mass spectrometers have been developed, allowing investigators to analyze hundreds of thousands of peptides from thousands of proteins. There is, however, a stumbling block: The ability to generate data in proteomic experiments far outstrips the ability to analyze it. As […]