Award Recipient: Nicole Rhoads, Research Technologist II, Bloodworks Research Institute  

Supervisor: Dr. Reheman Adili

Conference: Earl W. Davie Symposium on November 22, 2022

Location: Vancouver, BC 

Poster Presentation Title: Novel snake venom-based hemocoagulase bypasses coagulation to enhance hemostasis and limit bleeding in murine model of hemophilia A

I am very grateful to have received the Centre for Blood Research External Travel Award to attend the 2022 Earl W. Davie Symposium in Vancouver. The Earl Davie Symposium is a one-day event filled with talks about cutting-edge research in platelets, thrombosis, and hemostasis and a poster session for trainees to present their work. I was accepted to present a poster on my project with Dr. Reheman Adili studying a novel hemocoagulase to bypass coagulation and prevent bleeding in hemophilia A. This was my first time attending a conference and presenting my research. It was an exciting opportunity to learn from experts in blood research, share my research findings, and receive feedback about the progress of this project. Listening to talks from clinicians and researchers leading the field of thrombosis in Canada and the US was very exciting and I learned about some of the recent breakthroughs in coagulation research. I met and networked with many trainees from the University of British Columbia and the northwest. I enjoyed learning about their ongoing studies and discussing my research project. I recently moved to the northwest, and this was a great opportunity to meet many scientists with similar research interests in this region. This was my first time in Vancouver, and I enjoyed exploring the city and trying new restaurants during my two nights in the city.

Additionally, this was my first opportunity to present my research and I enjoyed sharing the work I have done for the past year and a half with everyone at the symposium. I presented a poster about our ongoing research project investigating slounase, a novel snake venom-based hemocoagulase, to enhance hemostasis and limit bleeding in a murine model of hemophilia A. We used intravital models of thrombosis and hemostasis, bleeding models, and thromboelastography to study the effect of slounase in a preclinical animal model of hemophilia A. We found that despite inhibition of clot formation, slounase enhanced hemostatic clot formation at the site of vascular injury in mice indicating it is a potential bypassing agent to prevent and treat bleeding in hemophilia A patients.

Thank you to the Centre for Blood Research for the generous travel award to attend this event and share my work with others. Being able to share this work and talk about the results with other scientists was a valuable experience that will greatly help my research career. I was inspired and motivated to continue progressing in my career after attending the symposium.

*With funding from the Sheldon Naiman and Linda Vickars Endowment Fund, the CBR supports travel and accommodation expenses for trainees to attend and present at the EWD symposium.

Nicole presenting her poster

Nicole giving her 30 second poster pitch to the symposium attendees