This article’s title sounds elementary but despite decades of research, there are still many questions surrounding HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention that lack their more satisfying partners: the answers. If we are to discover solutions to public health crises, we need to start with a solid foundation of evidence-based scientific research. Here at UBC’s Centre for Blood Research and the School…
We utilized the fruitfly model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, to discover novel relationships between two proteins that connect pathways important for protein homeostasis (proteostasis): autophagy, the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), and apoptosis. We found that the heat-shock protein Hsp83 normally suppresses autophagy by maintaining low levels of the effector caspase Dcp-1 with the support of...
Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on developing, advancing and promoting differentiated products, announced today that it has received positive feedback from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pursue the abbreviated 505(b)(2) clinical pathway for the company’s once-weekly transdermal aripiprazole patch, AQS1301, in development for the treatment of certain psychotic disorders. Upon review of…
Dr. David Granville at the Institute for Heart and Lung Health at St. Paul's Hospital is one of eleven Vancouver researchers to be the recipient of MSFHR Innovation to Commercialization Awards. Find out who else in Vancouver won grants, awards, fellowships, and scholarships in the month of August...
UVM arises from melanocytes (melanin pigment producing cells) that reside in the uveal tract of the eye. While primary UVM is treated with either surgery or radiation, and has a low recurrence rate in the eye, up to half of UVM patients develop distant metastatic disease within three years, often to the liver, after treatment of the primary tumor, and such patients have poor survival. The other half of patients...
It’s easy to argue that our brains are our most important resource. One in three Canadians will have to deal with a brain, nervous-system or spinal-cord disorder in their lifetime, according to the Canadian Association for Neuroscience. Our region, and Canada in general, is among the global leaders studying neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease,…
The pancreas is a complex organ with exocrine and endocrine components. Many pathologies impair exocrine function, including chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Conversely, when the endocrine pancreas fails to secrete sufficient insulin, patients develop diabetes mellitus. Pathology in either the endocrine or exocrine pancreas results in devastating economic and personal consequences. The current standard therapy for treating…
Genome BC is investing in a cancer research project that aims to speed up genetic tests of tumours through the development of a robotics system. Genomic testing of cancerous tumours enables better, more informed treatment for many of BC’s cancer patients. Analysis of a patient’s tumour, specifically the study of its molecular composition, offers more insight into how it will…
CHÉOS’ new Scientist Dr. Shirin Kalyan, a translational immunologist, used to sit in her undergraduate immunology courses in suspended disbelief. “When I went to physics and math, there was a pretty clear formula and you sort of get it after a while,” she said. “But when I was listening to this idea of how T cells and B cells with unique receptors are…
The general focus of our UBC Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) research group is to improve diagnosis and advance treatment of FTD via better understanding of the genetics, pathophysiology and natural history. My personal area of interest is the molecular basis of FTD and ALS.Our recent discovery of TIA1 mutations as a cause of ALS and FTD advance our understanding of the molecular basis of these two related...
