Heparin is a natural anticoagulant that derives its name from the tissue it was first isolated from: hepar in Greek means liver. Listed in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, heparin has stood the test of time as one of the oldest drugs still employed in clinical treatment to reduce clotting. However, heparin use is not without consequence as…
The federal science minister says universities aren’t doing the heavy lifting to appoint more female research chairs, so she wants to force their hands. On her way to give a speech Wednesday to university presidents in Montreal, Kirsty Duncan was handed the latest statistics on the number of men and women among applicants for new Canada Research Chair positions. “They’re…
Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators at the University of British Columbia have created an innovative technique for studying how chlamydia interacts with the human immune system. Researchers used a combination of gene editing and stem cell technologies to make the model. The team identified two genes from our immune system, IRF5 and IL-10RA as key…
Working with a shared voice can be very effective for improving outcomes in the Movement Disorders clinic, finds Dr. Martin McKeown and Parkinson’s research coordinator Kristen Sundvick. For some people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), even optimal drug treatments simply aren’t as effective as they need to be. On conventional medication, people may fluctuate unpredictably between being unable to move, to…
People with multiple sclerosis can show signs of something wrong five years before the onset of disease, much earlier than previously thought, according to a new analysis of health records from people with the condition. The new research, published today in Lancet Neurology, is a first step to identifying red flags to help doctors screen for the disease and start…
A drug created from a malaria protein stopped tumour growth of chemotherapy-resistant bladder cancer, offering hope for cancer patients not responding to standard treatments. “This is the first study where we put the concept of using malaria proteins for cancer therapy into a direct clinical context,” said Mads Daugaard, an assistant professor of urologic science at the University of British…
DelMar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMPI) (“DelMar” or the “Company”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of new cancer therapies, today announced a proposed registered public offering of its common stock and warrants to purchase common stock. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering…
Researchers have obtained an unprecedented view of the ‘ballistic’ weaponry of planktonic microbes, including one that can fire projectiles as if wielding a Gatling gun. “We think of plankton as the tiny alphabet soup of the ocean, floating around passively while larger organisms eat it,” says biologist Gregory Gavelis, who lead the study while a researcher at the University of…
Hundreds of people are expected to march in Vancouver this Saturday to celebrate the role of science in our lives and support evidence-based government policy. Communications officer Kristina Charania says the idea for the march started in January in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration deleting nearly all mentions of climate change off the White House website. Climate change received fairly high…
Zymeworks Inc. (“Zymeworks”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation multifunctional biotherapeutics, initially focused on the treatment of cancer, today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 (the “Registration Statement”) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and a preliminary prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each…