On August 18, 2011, over 120 students, staff and faculty from the CBR gathered at the Life Sciences Centre at UBC for a stimulating afternoon of science and socializing. All the reserach themes and core facilities of the CBR were well represented from the most fundamental labs to the clinic. Summer students and their ever-supportive more senior colleagues and supervisors had the opportunity to present numerous posters that highlighted recent research breakthrough, frustrations, and challengs, while encouraging discussion, collaboration and innovation to solve relevant medical problems.

The second Annual CBR Research Day, supported this year by Pfizer Canada, was held on a sunny afternoon in August, 2011 at the Life Sciences Centre. This event marks the culmination of several months of hard work by summer students who were fortunate enough to be funded by their Principal Investigators, and by generous contributions from Bayer Canada, Baxter Canada, CSL-Behring, Talecris Canada, the Canadian Blood Services and the CBR. These highly motivated and capable undergraduate students had the unique opportunity to experience hands-on what it’s like to do research, in the lab or in the clinic. Their enthusiasm was clearly evident, as their poster-presentations were exciting, informative and revealed their true potential of making meaningful contributions in the field of biomedical science.

And the afternoon was not restricted to summer students. Research Day also provides the chance for all of our members – technicians, students and staff at all levels of training – to present evidence of their spectacular progress in a low-key, casual manner, i.e. with lots of food and drink! And there was certainly plenty of that, along with loads of new knowledge. We learned, for example, about measuring residual red blood cells, platelets and microvessels in blood product concentrates, heme ruffling, clots and the role of venous filters, mitochondrial damage in HIV therapy, gelsolin crystals, iron chelators and iron storage proteins, cathepsin inhibitors, complement proteins, mechanisms by which eosinophils and mast cells localize, the reactivities of indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenases, the role of polymer immobilized antimicrobial peptides, proteomic profiles involved in cancer, effects of iron overload, modulators of intestinal fibrosis, novel coagulation abnormalities, polymer based antidotes for heparin, effects of herpes viruses in clot lysis, the crystal structures of cathepsin complexes, the role of microRNAs in leukemia, novel markers for Alzheimer’s Disease….. the list goes on….

The CBR wishes to thank the poster presenters and attendees who aided in making the 2011 CBR Research Day & BBQ a fantastic success! We look forward to many more!!