Lipid-Free Binary Platform Boosts Vaccine and Nanomedicine Delivery
In a ground breaking advancement poised to revolutionize the fields of vaccinology and nanomedicine, researchers have developed a novel binary self-amplifying expression platform capable of producing vaccines and nanomedicines without the need for lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). This innovative technology, published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications in 2025, could herald an era of safer, more efficient, and scalable vaccine production by circumventing several limitations associated with current lipid nanoparticle-based delivery systems.
The future of research & education at Canadian Blood Services: Welcoming our new chief science officer
In October 2025, Dr. James (Jim) Zimring joined Canadian Blood Services’ I&PM team as our chief science officer. In this role, Dr. Zimring will provide leadership for the teams of discovery, development, donation policy and studies, and medical microbiology researchers and staff whose efforts support our vision to help every patient, match every need and serve every Canadian. An established scientist himself, Dr. Zimring also continues to undertake discovery research in his lab located at the Centre for Blood Research, University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.
Scientists develop first gene-editing treatment for skin conditions
Dr. Sarah Hedtrich and her team examine a skin-on-a-chip model used to test the new CRISPR-based therapy on living human skin samples.
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.
A Look Back at CBR-LSI Research Day 2025
On August 14th, the CBR community celebrated the end of the Summer Studentship program with the annual CBR-LSI Research Day. The event started with opening remarks from our Director, followed by oral presentations from the summer students. Students were given just 3 minutes each to present their summer research projects—a challenging task even for […]
CBR Scientists Awarded Federal Funding in CIHR, NSERC and NFRF Competitions
On July 9, 2025, The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions and the Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health, announced $1.3 billion in federal research funding through a suite of research programs administered by the three federal research granting agencies—the Canadian Institutes of Health […]
Meet the Researcher: Dr. Tanya Bennet, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cheung Lab
Written by: Iryna Liubchak, Cheung Lab What can you tell us about your current research? I’m working on the interdisciplinary collaborative project Mend the Gap (MtG), where we’re aiming to develop a novel biomaterial-based treatment for spinal cord injury. My focus is on translation from the in vitro to in vivo setting. This includes designing […]