Research. Education. Discovery.

For the second year, the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) offered their annual congress online. In June 2021, the virtual “ISBT In Focus” explored the latest in transfusion medicine and science, immunohematology and cellular therapies. In today’s blog, two Canadian Blood Services’ delegates describe their experiences at the congress.

Despite the critical and increasing demand for platelets within the health-care system, they remain the most commonly discarded blood component in Canada. Improper storage outside of the hospital blood bank is the main reason that platelets get discarded before they’ve reached the end of their 7-day shelf life. A team from University of Toronto QUEST research program tested a storage bag specially designed to address the problem of platelet discards.

Dr. Andrew Shih recently received funding from the Centre for Innovation to process map the implementation of the CONCOR-1 convalescent plasma trials in British Columbia – work that may inform and improve future clinical trials. Dr. Shih talks to Massimo Cau, a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Blood Research, about his research plans.

Postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Basit Yousuf, describes his experience attending and presenting at the 10th annual Norman Bethune Symposium.

Dr. Catherine Jenkins, scientist and LGBTQ+ advocate, is part of our effort to evolve donor screening questions.

The AABB Annual Meeting is considered a must-attend event for those wishing to learn about cutting edge research and technology advances in blood banking and transfusion medicine and science. Two Centre for Blood Research trainees describe their experiences at AABB 2020 – an international, high profile conference attended from the comfort of their own homes due to COVID-19 restrictions.