Topic
Life Sciences
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Scientists describe genetic resistance to rampant virus
May 24, 2005 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Researchers at McGill University Health Centre have defined genetic resistance to the widespread virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV) – a member of the viral group that causes some of the world’s most prevalent diseases, such as herpes, chicken pox…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
BC agency research probes the progress of cancer
May 16, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Understanding the genetics of lymphoma may bring cancer researchers new insights about the molecular changes that cause other cancers to become dangerously malignant. A team of researchers at the BC Cancer Agency are conducting a series of…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
National stroke study sets new practice standard for Canada
May 9, 2005 by Lab Canada Calgary, AB – A Canada-wide clinical research study of more than 1,000 stroke patients has put to rest a longstanding controversy about the use of thrombolysis for stroke. The two-year study, Canadian Alteplase for Stroke Effectiveness Study (CASES), recommends the…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Canadian and US research tracks genetics of hypertension
May 5, 2005 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Researchers today announced that they have created a genetic database that offers hope for improved diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, a condition that affects about five million adult Canadians. A team led by Dr Pavel Hamet of…
News
LaboratoryLife SciencesNew Technology & Applications
Optical technology to provide more accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment
April 25, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Researchers at the BC Cancer Agency have developed a new technology to provide more accurate visual diagnosis and treatment of certain cancers. Digital illumination provides precise, dynamic control of light intensity and wavelengths that allows better detection…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Early Earth atmosphere favourable to life: study
April 12, 2005 by Lab Canada Waterloo, ON – A new study by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Waterloo indicates that Earth in its infancy probably had substantial quantities of hydrogen in its atmosphere, a surprising finding that may…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Comprehensive health databank to be created in BC
April 11, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Provincial funding of $2.9 million will help to create a University of British Columbia research centre entitled Population Health & Learning Observatory. The observatory will build a comprehensive databank on health and human development and will form…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Prostate cancer research funding to help revamp labs
April 11, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – The Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital, part of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and an affiliated institute of the University of British Columbia, is receiving $7.6 million from the provincial government. The funding is intended to…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Research to combat antibiotic resistance
April 11, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – The federal government is providing $9.3-million to support a project to research and develop a new antibiotic that will meet the challenge of drug resistance. The funding is part of a $35.6-million project being undertaken by Vancouver-based…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Team sequences largest bacterial genome to date
April 5, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – An international team led by three UBC microbiologists has completed the sequencing and annotation of the genome of Rhodococcus sp RHA1, a soil bacterium, which is the largest bacterial genome sequenced to date. It is the first…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Childhood diabetes research gets $3.5M funding boost
April 4, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – British Columbia’s government is investing $3.5 million to help create new research space dedicated to understanding the causes of diabetes in children and developing new therapies for the disease. The funding will help buy equipment and build…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Researchers map role of Epstein-Barr virus in cancer
April 4, 2005 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Researchers at the University of Toronto have mapped the molecular details that show how a viral protein coded in the Epstein-Barr virus immortalizes cells and causes them to continuously grow, thereby predisposing people to certain types of…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
MUHC researchers make cancer target breakthrough
March 9, 2005 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Researchers at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), in Montreal, have identified a new gene to combat cancer. In a new study, published in the on-line edition of the journal Clinical Cancer Research this week, the researchers…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Award recognizes researchers of musculoskeletal, oral and skin diseases
March 7, 2005 by Lab Canada Quebec City, QC – The Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research announced the winners of its prestigious Quality of Life Research Award at an Open Researcher/Stakeholder Forum at Universit Laval on March…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Simple, non-invasive test reveals coronary artery disease in patients with no symptoms
March 7, 2005 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – A simple, non-invasive test that measures skin tissue cholesterol has demonstrated its ability to detect subclinical vascular disease, according to new data to be presented this week at the 54th Annual Scientific Session of the American College…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
New reproduction research group attracts international conference
February 25, 2005 by Lab Canada Kingston, ON – A new Queen’s University research group in reproduction, development and sexual function will host the world’s largest conference on issues dealing with the placenta. The five-day meeting, expected to attract more than 300 delegates and their families,…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Genetic cause of psychosis probed in new research
February 21, 2005 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – The supersensitivity to dopamine that is characteristic of schizophrenia can be caused by mutations to a wide variety of genes, rather than alterations to just two or three specific genes, according to a University of Toronto researcher.…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Bone loss research team discovers how acid interacts with osteoclasts
February 18, 2005 by Lab Canada London, ON – Researchers at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) group in skeletal development and remodeling at Western say they have discovered how the acid in the body interacts with the cells responsible for bone loss and what…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Pharma company plans new class of antibiotics for superbugs
February 16, 2005 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Affinium Pharmaceuticals says it has selected a drug candidate for development of a novel MRSA antibiotic to be used in hospital and community settings. The candidate is one of multiple compounds from the company’s Galapagos program. “It…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
New stem cell source could boost bone marrow success
February 14, 2005 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – University of Toronto researchers have discovered an ample source of stem cells in an uncharted part of the umbilical cord, providing new hope for bone marrow transplants and tissue repair. The study, published in the February issue…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
New research initiative takes aim at cystic fibrosis
January 31, 2005 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – The Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CCFF) has launched a new $6-million research program called Breathe (Basic Research and Therapy). This ambitious research initiative will fund two teams of scientific and clinical investigators, chosen through a Canada-wide competition,…
News
Clinical TrialsGeneral Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Biotech firm begins development of pandemic influenza vaccine
January 19, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – ID Biomedical says it has begun development of an experimental (“mock”) vaccine against a strain of the influenza virus, H5N1, that experts believe could cause a deadly worldwide epidemic (pandemic) of influenza. The H5N1 strain is a…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
More deadly infections found in large and teaching hospitals
January 17, 2005 by Lab Canada Kingston, ON – Potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant infections such as C difficile have a higher rate of occurrence in Canada’s large and teaching hospitals, a new national study by Queen’s University shows. Other super bugs identified in the study are methicillin-resistant…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
BC scientists lead mapping of killer fungus genome
January 17, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Scientists say they are a step closer to developing drug targets to treat fungal meningitis – the infection linked to at least three deaths on Vancouver Island – thanks to the sequencing of two Cryptococcus genomes by…
News
Clinical TrialsLaboratoryLife Sciences
McGill researchers to test new leukemia drug
January 13, 2005 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a malignant cancer of the blood that affects people of all ages. While treatment is available for most of these patients, approximately 20% of them do not respond to it. Researchers at…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife SciencesNew Facilities
First of its kind biomed lab gets $3 million funding
January 10, 2005 by Lab Canada Winnipeg, MN – Research that looks at finding better ways to help transplant and cancer patients will be part of a new systems biology program that will receive over $3 million in medical research funding from the Manitoba government. The…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
New national network focusses on gender differences in cardiovascular disease
January 3, 2005 by Lab Canada Hamilton, ON – A team of clinician-investigators jointly affiliated with McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences has formed the GRACE or Gender Research and Cardiovascular Evaluation Network. The goal of the network is to perform high-quality gender-based research in cardiovascular…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
New test for transplant rejection on the horizon
January 3, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Researchers at St Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital are developing a revolutionary new test to diagnose and facilitate treatment of organ rejection in transplant patients. The $9.1-million Vancouver-based study, called Better Biomarkers of Acute and Chronic…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife SciencesNew Facilities
Brain researchers to develop new class of drugs to repair psychiatric disorders
January 3, 2005 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – So-called ‘smart’ drugs, capable of targeting specific brain cells to control psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, may be ready for early clinical trials within three years, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia.…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
ChondroGene and Pfizer extend osteoarthritis collaboration
December 21, 2004 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Functional genomics research company ChondroGene says it has entered into a new two-year research collaboration with Pfizer for identifying novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for the treatment and diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA). The collaboration will continue the…
News
LaboratoryLife Sciences
Reproductive methods of archaea organisms studied
December 21, 2004 by Lab Canada Halifax, NS – A trio of Dalhousie researchers has discovered that Halorubrum, a group of bacteria-like organisms that thrive in extremely salty environments, are highly promiscuous. Senior researcher Dr Thane Papke, graduate student Jeremy Koenig and Dr W Ford Doolittle,…
News
General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences