Centre for Innovation: Funding award updates and open competitions

Thursday, May 13, 2021 Dr. Geraldine Walsh

Through the Centre for Innovation’s competitive funding programs, Canadian Blood Services conducts and supports researchers and research projects in key areas. Recipients for one of our most dynamic programs, the BloodTechNet Award, were recently announced, and several other funding opportunities are now open for applications.

BloodTechNet Award Program recipients

BloodTechNet funding supports the development of innovative educational projects. These projects deliver educational tools and resources to help development of skills, knowledge and expertise for health professionals in transfusion, cellular therapy and transplantation communities in Canada.

We recently announced the latest recipients of BloodTechNet Award Program funding. Their projects promise innovative solutions to the educational needs of health professionals.

Lani Lieberman, from the University Health Network in Toronto, was awarded funding for a project called “Pediatric Transfusion Camp”. This project idea arose Transfusion Camp, a novel transfusion education program for post-graduate medical trainees from different specialties. Transfusion Camp has been running for almost 10 years and has a proven track record of effectively improving trainees’ transfusion knowledge. Feedback from Camp participants identified a need for specific training for doctors who order transfusion products for pediatric patients. This study will shed light on the current knowledge gaps for non-transfusion medicine pediatric trainees, assess baseline knowledge, and develop learning objectives for pediatric transfusion medicine training that can be integrated into the current Transfusion Camp curriculum.

Melissa Laureano, from Canadian Blood Services, was awarded funding for a project called “Transfusion CONsent by a Standardized Evidence-based Novel Tool (Transfusion- CONSENT): Creating and validating novel tools to assess competence in obtaining transfusion consent”. In Canada, transfusions can only be performed after obtaining informed consent from patients. This project aims to ensure health professionals receive proper training in obtaining informed consent from patients, which includes helping patients understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives to transfusion. The project team will create two important tools to meet the project’s education objective: an accessible online curriculum and a rubric to assess the performance of learners.

Melanie Bodner, from Canadian Blood Services, was awarded funding for a project called “An interactive virtual tour of blood product manufacturing at Canadian Blood Services”. This project recognizes that understanding how blood products are made is important for health professionals. Learning about this process is highly visual, and the best way to do so is to visit a Canadian Blood Services production facility and see the processes first-hand. But for many learners this is not an option. This project aims to develop an interactive, virtual, online learning tool that allows health professionals from a variety of backgrounds to take a virtual tour of the blood component manufacturing process at Canadian Blood Services and follow the lifeline from donor to patient.

Congratulations to all the recipients. We look forward to following the progress of these projects and seeing the tools and resources that emerge!

Learn about other impactful BloodTechNet-funded projects:

Funding opportunities now open!

Blood Efficiency Accelerator Program

The Blood Efficiency Accelerator Program aims to improve the efficient and appropriate utilization of blood products, while maintaining the safety of the blood system. This Program supports innovative research projects that seek new knowledge or accelerate the application of existing knowledge. All investigators applying to the BEAP must be affiliated with a Canadian academic program as a faculty member or with Canadian Blood Services. All BEAP project teams must include at least one Canadian Blood Services employee. The 2021 BEAP competition is open now and accepting applications until July 15, 2021.

Canadian Blood Services Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Through its Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, Canadian Blood Services offers salary support for young investigators. All postdoctoral fellows applying to the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program must be undertaking research training in a laboratory affiliated with Canadian Blood Services. The fellowship provides salary support plus benefits, and a one-time research allowance of $20,000. This competition is now open and accepting applications until July 15, 2021.

Check out our Funded Research Projects page to learn about the projects already funded under these Programs.

Interested in applying to either of these Programs? Click here for more information on our current funding opportunities. If you have any questions or need help identifying a team member or postdoctoral supervisor from Canadian Blood Services, contact the Centre for Innovation by email at centreforinnovation@blood.ca.

Canadian Blood Services – Driving world-class innovation

Through discovery, development and applied research, Canadian Blood Services drives world-class innovation in blood transfusion, cellular therapy and transplantation—bringing clarity and insight to an increasingly complex healthcare future. Our dedicated research team and extended network of partners engage in exploratory and applied research to create new knowledge, inform and enhance best practices, contribute to the development of new services and technologies, and build capacity through training and collaboration. Find out more about our research impact.

The opinions reflected in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Canadian Blood Services nor do they reflect the views of Health Canada or any other funding agency.