Canadian Blood Services, in collaboration with the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) collaborative, conducted a study to understand plateletpheresis-associated lymphopenia, a rare condition associated with platelet donation. The study found that implementing a procedure called plasma rinseback significantly mitigated the development of lymphopenia in frequent, long-term platelet donors. Canadian Blood Services routinely uses plasma rinseback, ensuring the well-being of generous platelet donors and reducing the occurrence of lymphopenia.

Colton Strong’s research aims to use cutting-edge technology to genetically engineer donor platelets so that they can stop bleeding faster and create stronger clots than standard platelets.

In May 2023, 51 physicians and laboratory technicians from across all five provinces in Rwanda participated in-person in a 2-day Transfusion Camp Train-the-Trainer workshop to provide training on transfusion management

In this blog, we showcase the Canadian Blood Services Graduate Fellowship Program as a platform for outstanding research and innovation in the field of blood transfusion and transplantation science. We highlight the remarkable accomplishments of current recipients, demonstrating the program's impact on healthcare. We hope to inspire potential applicants to pursue this opportunity.

Recent research involving Canadian Blood Services researchers highlights the relationship between donor age and the quality of blood products like red blood cells, while considering the complex interplay between storage conditions, oxidative stress, and genetic factors. Though the clinical implications remain uncertain, these findings underscore the importance of ongoing research in optimizing blood storage practices and continuing to improve the efficacy of blood transfusions for patients in need.

Awa Diagne, a research assistant at Canadian Blood Services, describes her experience working on the Piloting and evaluating a community-led strategy for diversifying the stem cell registry project over summer 2023.

Dr. Sheila O’Brien, Canadian Blood Services’ associate director of epidemiology and surveillance, recently joined Public Health Ontario’s (PHO) webinar series to share ongoing efforts to collect and analyze data on the rates of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) infection in the blood donor population. This blog summarizes presentation highlights and provides an update on Canadian Blood Services’ contributions to the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) seroprevalence research.

In this blog, Canadian Blood Services scientists Dr. Jennie Haw and Dr. Kelly Holloway reflect on their experiences presenting at the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) annual conference in Gothenburg, Sweden. Read on to learn more about their social science research at this international event!

The Centre for Blood Research (CBR) at the University of British Columbia celebrated its 20-year anniversary on July 7th by inviting CBR alumni to join current members in learning about the beginnings of the centre. Read about the celebration and the history of the centre in this blog reposted from CBR.

In this repost of a “Meet the Researcher” interview from the Centre for Blood Research, Dr. Michael Sutherland shares about his research studying the activation of coagulation proteins on the surface of enveloped viruses and how it affects infection, and his interests outside the lab.