Ryan Tomm never expected to end up in the lab. He just knew he wanted to help his community, the Cree Nation in Northern Alberta. Maybe by working as a counsellor, or a psychologist. But neuroscience research turned out to be his path. Now, Tomm is a behavioural neuroscience and psychology PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia. Tomm spoke with BrainFacts.org about…
Fibrinogen plays multi-faceted roles in many processes that are essential for the maintenance of human health and the prevention of disease1. The formation of a stable blood clot, for example, relies on thrombin-mediated cleavage of fibrinogen to fibrin1. On the flip side, elevated fibrinogen during inflammation (hyperfibrinogenemia) increases the risk of thrombosis2. Whereas extravascular fibrin(ogen) deposits at sites of tissue…
Among studies of single cells to bioengineered models of development, Cell Stem Cell has named a phase 1/2 clinical paper by Drs. Adam Ramzy (first author) and Timothy Kieffer (senior author) amongst its reader’s and editors’ top picks from the journal in 2021. In a series of tweets, Cell Stem Cell presented Ramzy and Kieffer’s analysis of year one data from a phase…
The Personalized OncoGenomics Program (POG), co-led by Drs. Janessa Laskin and Marco Marra, is a patient-centric research initiative that uses genomic data to study cancer growth, metastasis and response to treatment. A publication in Annals of Oncology presents clinical data from 570 adult patients with advanced or metastatic cancer enrolled in the program from 2012-2017, the largest report on POG clinical findings to date.
Since 2017, the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering offers undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 500 students annually. However, the school currently operates classes and labs in 24 buildings scattered across UBC’s Vancouver campus. UBC is building a new purpose-built facility for the school, aided by this $25 million grant from the Government of British Columbia. The province’s investment…
At the same time a prized delicacy and a virulent pest, the fungus Ustilago maydis delights epicureans while frazzling farmers and scientists. Known as huitlacoche to Mexican chefs, the soot-like masses that form tumours within maize cobs are prized for their rich, smokey flavour and have been served in a variety of traditional dishes since the time of the Aztecs. Commonly known as corn smut to…
UBC’s School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) and Amgen are pleased to announce the inaugural 2022 Amgen Golden Ticket at SBME Innovates, providing a launchpad for two promising UBC spin-off ventures, Arrowsmith Genetics (AGx) and SeraGene. SBME is the first Canadian organization to host the Amgen Golden Ticket program. As the sponsor, Amgen provides mentorship to two teams selected by UBC for the period…
STEMCELL Technologies Inc. and PBS Biotech Inc. have announced their supply partnership to make the PBS-MINI Bioreactor available through STEMCELL Technologies for researchers looking to scale up their human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) cultures. By enabling the reliable and scalable suspension culture of hPSCs, this partnership will help scientists obtain the quantity and quality of cells needed to advance their research.
UBC’s Life Sciences Institute (LSI) has become a designated UBC Global Research Excellence Institute (GREx) and is launching a new Biological Resilience Initiative (BRI) aimed at transforming human and environmental health. The BRI is the first initiative in Canada to study life science questions through the lens of innate resilience. Across 4 billion years of evolution, all living organisms, from…
Genome Canada has launched a new $30 million Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems genomics initiative to reduce the carbon footprint and support the economic growth of Canadian agriculture and food systems. Climate change poses a significant risk to our agriculture, aquaculture and food production systems and will increasingly impact the availability of food and other vital resources. Innovative new technologies,…