Researchers at the University of British Columbia have found a better way to identify unwanted animal products in ground beef. Food science students led by professor Xiaonan Lu used a laser-equipped spectrometer and statistical analysis to determine with 99 per cent accuracy whether ground beef samples included other animal parts. They were able to say with 80 per cent accuracy…
The UBC Faculty of Medicine has ten members on the 2017 list of Highly Cited Researchers — the most of any Canadian medical school. The list is based on Clarivate Analytics’ compilation of highly cited papers, which are defined as those ranking in the top 1 per cent by citations in that field and year of publication in the Web of…
The recent Ebola and Zika epidemics demonstrate the need for the continuous surveillance, rapid diagnosis and real-time tracking of emerging infectious diseases. Fast, affordable sequencing of pathogen genomes – now a staple of the public health microbiology laboratory in well-resourced settings – can affect each of these areas. Coupling genomic diagnostics and epidemiology to innovative digital disease detection platforms raises…
Roger Wong, Executive Associate Dean, Education, has been selected by the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) as the 2017 Trevor Howell Guest Lecturer. Dr. Wong, a geriatrician and clinical professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, is the second Canadian — and first UBC professor — to receive this honour, which recognizes eminent physicians or scientists with an international reputation. As…
The NanoString nCounter assay is a high-throughput hybridization technique using target-specific probes that can be customized to test for numerous fusion transcripts in a single assay using RNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded material. We designed a NanoString assay targeting 174 unique fusion junctions in 25 sarcoma types. The study cohort comprised 212 cases, 96 of which showed fusion gene expression by…
HyperGrowth: Life is BC’s first cohort-based program designed to advance tech companies in the healthtech and life sciences industries. Building on the demonstrated success of the BC Tech’s HyperGrowth program, HyperGrowth:Life provides revenue and sales support to growth-stage tech companies in healthtech, digital health, life sciences, agritech and related industries. The companies were chosen after a live pitch event at…
Achieve Life Sciences, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company committed to the global development and commercialization of cytisine for smoking cessation, today announced results of a clinical study evaluating the effect of food on the bioavailability of 3mg cytisine. The study evaluated the bioavailability of 3 mg cytisine under fed and fasted conditions in 24 healthy volunteer subjects. Study results demonstrated…
On Thursday, October 26th, the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, along with the Centre for Blood Research (CBR), presented the fifth annual Michael John Page Postdoctoral Award to Dr. Jürgen Niesser, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Natalie Strynadka’s lab. The Michael John Page Postdoctoral Fellow Award, established in 2013, honours the memory of UBC alumnus, Dr. Michael John Page. This…
For as long as history has been recorded, humanity has tried to answer the ancient question of our origins. The ‘central dogma’ of molecular biology, first stated by Francis Crick in 1958, represented a major step forward in our efforts to answer this question. In this model, the genetic information stored in DNA is transcribed to produce RNA, which is…
On November 2, 2017, I had the pleasure and opportunity to represent LifeSciences BC board, together with Nancy Harrison, Chair, Board of Directors, Dr. Lesley Esford, President & CEO, along with other board members, Dr. Pieter Cullis and Scott Phillips. Our visit included breakfast with the NDP caucus and lunch with the Liberal caucus, where Dr. Esford presented an overview…
