Research. Education. Discovery.

Thanks to CIHR-funding, national collaboration and a lot of perseverance, a team of researchers is embarking on a journey to provide evidence on an unanswered question about blood transfusion. Learn more about the work behind the new, SexMatters clinical trial on sex-matched versus mismatched red blood cell transfusions in this blog.

Canadian Blood Services Research Engineer Dr. John Blake and his trainees apply network modelling, a computer-based optimization technique to keep Canada’s Lifeline safe and reliable for years to come.

Canadian Blood Services 2024 Lay Science Writing Competition offered in partnership with the Centre for Blood Research (CBR) provides research trainees an opportunity to exercise and enhance their science communication skills by sharing their research with lay audiences. Read Mahsa Yazdanbakhsh’s description of her research as a PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. Jason Acker; the write-up claimed third prize in this year’s competition.

This new award, in honour of Dr. Dana Devine, supports early career scientists in a field related to transfusion science and medicine, blood banking and blood biotherapies, and is awarded at the Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine’s annual conference.

Canadian Blood Services’ partnership with the Centre for Blood Research (CBR) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is helping to train the next generation of researchers in transfusion science. Each year, CBR’s Research Day provides an opportunity for CBR Summer Studentship Program participants to share their research projects with their peers and other labs while practicing presentation skills through short talks and poster presentations. Read about event highlights in this blog written by students from this year’s cohort.

Canadian Blood Services’ senior scientist, Dr. Donald R. Branch and his lab have recently contributed to the discovery of new information about the regulation of neutrophils – a type of immune cell in blood that fights infections. These results have been published in the high-impact scientific journal, Nature, and add to our understanding of inflammation.