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.

Canadian Blood Services’ partnership with the Centre for Blood Research (CBR) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has been renewed to 2027 to continue training the next generation of researchers in transfusion science.

Canadian Blood Services research trainee Poojan Joshi reflects on her experience attending the Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine annual conference and Canadian Blood Services’ Research Day in Saskatoon last month.

Canadian Blood Services research trainees reflect on the 2024 Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine (CSTM) conference and their experience as planning committee members for Canadian Blood Services’ Research Day.

The Centre for Blood Research (CBR) Norman Bethune Symposium gathers scientists, clinicians, healthcare professionals, and trainees to discuss advancements in the field of blood research. The 12th Annual event, held in April 2024, consisted of expert talks on thalassemia, thrombocytopenia, sickle cell disease, and other bleeding disorders, demonstrating the breadth of ongoing research.

Since 2007, the Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network (ORBCoN) and Canadian Blood Services have partnered in hosting an annual Transfusion Medicine Education Symposium and Workshop for transfusion health-care professionals with the primary objective of providing best practice information on blood transfusion to healthcare staff in community and rural hospitals across Ontario. In this blog, Valérie Rhéaume of ORBCoN provides a summary of the most recent event, held in April 2024.

A new kind of proposed treatment for sickle cell disease—one that removes the need for a compatible donor—is being studied by Dr. Harinad Maganti, a scientist at Canadian Blood Services.

Community-based research highlights the priorities and barriers to blood donation of African, Caribbean and Black communities to helps to show a path towards a greater ability to meet the needs of patients, including those with sickle cell disease

Since 2018, Canadian Blood Services has supported the development of evidence-based guidelines on red blood cell transfusion in patients with hemoglobinopathies through its work with the International Collaboration for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines (ICTMG). Hemoglobinopathies include sickle cell disease, thalassemia and other conditions that affect the structure, chemistry, or production of red blood cells. This blog describes recent efforts to update the ICTMG’s hemoglobinopathies guideline.