A new and improved site to learn, share and advance in the fields of transfusion and transplantation medicine After much hard work, collaboration and consultation, we're pleased to announce the launch of a new and improved online educational platform for health-care professionals. Canadian Blood Services has a mandate to strengthen and support professional development in the fields of transfusion and transplantation science and medicine to ultimately benefit patients while ensuring donor safety. We are also committed to promoting awareness and education about organ and tissue donation and

Two hundred and fifty donations facilitated through the Highly Sensitized Patient program We are pleased to share the news of an exciting milestone for the Highly Sensitized Patient program. As of Monday, Aug. 22, 2016, there have been 250 transplants since going live in October 2013! The Highly Sensitized Patient (HSP) program is a national organ sharing program operated by Canadian Blood Services in collaboration with all provincial donation and transplant programs The program gives provincial transplant programs access to a larger national pool of kidney donors for highly sensitized

Dr. Peter Nickerson awarded the AST Clinical Science Established Investigator Award.

On June 9, The Ottawa Hospital announced an exciting breakthrough treatment for some MS patients. The clinical trial, supported by our autologous stem cell program, was just published in The Lancet and has received world-wide media attention.

Congratulations to Mike Halpenny and team for their award-winning presentation at CBMTG 2016.

On that front, Canada is doing a very good job. Dr. David Allan, medical director for Canadian Blood Services’ Cord Blood Bank and OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network, reports that more than 1,000 units of cord blood are now available in the public Cord Blood Bank.

Led by The Ottawa Hospital, a groundbreaking trial called Cellular Immunotherapy for Septic Shock is testing the idea that mesenchymal stem cells may be able to help control the body’s immune system to reduce injury and promote healing, while improving its ability to fight infection.

A new innovation by a team of Canadian Blood Services researchers and the National HLA Advisory Committee has improved the situation for Canadian transplant patients. Launched in April 2012, the Canadian cPRA Calculator was developed to support Canadian Blood Services’ transplant programs. It’s a web-based application used by the entire Canadian transplant community to estimate the percentage of Canadian organ donors with whom a transplant candidate may be incompatible. How likely is a match? How long will it take? Patients in need of a transplant deserve the most accurate answers to their

A research, education. and discovery blog Did you know that we do research? Quite a lot of it, in fact. Last year, our research teams, working in our labs across Canada, published 250+ scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented 200+ posters or talks at major national and international conferences. Their discoveries have contributed to major advances in transfusion and transplantation medicine. It’s time we told these stories and introduced you to the fascinating people and places behind our research in blood science and transfusion medicine, cellular therapies (in particular