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ATM Regulatory Affairs micro-credential successfully completed

ATM Regulatory Affairs micro-credential successfully completed

October 25, 2022

We are pleased to announce the successful completion of the first part of the UBC Academy of Translational Medicine (ATM) micro-certificate in Regulatory Affairs in the Life Sciences.

The micro-certificate development and delivery is led by Dr. Dean Regier, who is also the Chair of the ATM Regulatory Advisory Council. Dr. Regier is an associate professor at the School of Population and Public Health, a Senior Scientist within Cancer Control Research and the Director of the Health Economics Support and Research Unit (HESRU) at BC Cancer.

British Columbia has the fastest growing life sciences sector in Canada, and regulatory expertise is vital to the continued growth of the sector. This new micro-certificate is tailored to the unique bio-innovation landscape of BC and will equip learners with highly sought-after skills critical for the life sciences, biotechnology, biomanufacturing, medical device and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr. Regier says: “I am extremely pleased with the line-up of instructors that we were able to engage for this course. They provided a strong foundation of knowledge and equipped the learners for regulatory tasks in their jobs, and primed them for further understanding of regulatory science.” Dr. Regier adds “We were really excited about the level of engagement from the learners and their ability and eagerness to directly apply the course material to their own work. This really underscores the immediate need for regulatory proficiency in our community”.   

With financial support from the BC Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, the ATM has partnered with UBC Extended Learning to offer the UBC Micro-certificate in Regulatory Affairs for the Life Sciences. The program consists of two five-week part-time courses, which run back-to-back September to November 2022, that can be taken separately or stacked into a UBC micro-certificate. The second part of the micro-certificate, Regulatory Science and Health Economics, runs from October 24 – Nov 26, 2022. The micro-certificate will be offered annually as part of a larger regulatory science program being built at UBC.

Dr. Vila-Rodriguez Maps Brain Activation During rTMS Treatment for Depression

October 21, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Findings from the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH) in collaboration with the UBC MRI Research Centre provide novel insight into the brain’s response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a depression treatment. Using an fMRI machine while one round of rTMS was delivered allowed researchers to map the brain’s activation during treatment.

Leading this research at the DMCBH is Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, who is also an Assistant Professor in UBC’s Department of Psychiatry. He is interested in the various applications of this research beyond treating depression, and has received grants to study how whether rTMS can be used with those exhibiting early signs consistent with Alzheimer’s disease to improve memory, as well as to study if heart rate changes can be used to detect the pattern of activation.

To hear more about how Dr. Vila-Rodriguez and his team approached the study as well as its potential impacts, Click Here.

UBC faculty of medicine researchers receive federal support to advance mRNA vaccine technologies

October 20, 2022

UBC faculty of medicine researchers received $11.1 million for two new projects to advance mRNA vaccine technologies and boost the impact of B.C. biotechnology on the global stage. By working alongside one another, the projects will demonstrate how collaboration can enhance benefits. Dr. Foster was quoted in the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s announcement (linked below) as stating “This funding builds off many years of collaboration between UBC and local biotech companies and will enable us to continue developing and refining vaccines, drugs, and biologics.”

Projects:

  • Dr. Natalie Strynadka is Principal Investigator for the project “Grow B.C. biotech by advancing in-vitro and in-situ antiviral therapy for SARS-CoV2 variants” which received $7,680,000 in funding.

 

  • Dr. Leonard Foster is the Principal Investigator for the project “Improve the delivery technology behind mRNA vaccines and other nanomedicines” which received $3,500,000 in funding.

 

Read more about the joint effort and impact of these projects here

The MAPcore Translational Research Core Platform receives strategic investment funding from Faculty of Medicine

October 18, 2022

We are very excited to announce that the proposal to grow and expand the MAPcore Translational Research Core Platform received funding from the Faculty of Medicine Strategic Investment Fund (SIF).

MAPcore is a key technology platform for the Academy of Translational Medicine (ATM) and the UBC translational research community. The SIF funding will be utilized to expand and accelerate the transition of MAPcore from an investigator-driven lab to a fully-functional core facility available to the research community in BC. This will involve hiring research personnel to offer core services to support the most advanced molecular pathology research and develop MAPcore as a functional business unit. W

MAPcore is led by Drs. David Huntsman, David Schaeffer and Torsten Nielsen with organizational support from ATM leadership.

“We look forward to working with the ATM to empower UBC researcher through access to state-of-the-art pathology and molecular pathology technology and expertise” said Huntsman. “Through the support from the SIF program and CFI we have retooled MAPcore to enable it to work with diagnostic discoveries made from today’s lead research platforms including single cell genomics and proteomics.”

The Faculty of Medicine received 22 proposals for the Summer 2022 Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) call. Following detailed review, the Dean selected eight proposals for funding based on the advisory group’s recommendations, for a total allocation of $1.01M.

We congratulate all the successful applicants!

Read the full list of funded proposals and more about SIF here.

Dr. Pieter Cullis Awarded the 2022 Bloom Burton Award

October 7, 2022

Dr. Pieter Cullis, Co-Founder of Acuitas Therapeutics and a professor in the department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UBC, has been announced as the recipient of the 2022 Bloom Burton Award.

Dr. Cullis led the development of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery systems for molecular therapeutics at Acuitas Therapeutics. The result of a lifetime of dedicated research driven by scientific curiosity, LNP delivery systems are a critical technology that help to accelerate, among other life-saving therapies, mRNA vaccine development. From the day the global Covid-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization to the creation of a 95% effective Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine less than a year later, LNP delivery systems changed the course of the pandemic for billions of people. Pieter Cullis’ discovery played a major role in combatting Covid-19 and continues to protect vaccine recipients around the world.

“We are honoured to recognize Pieter Cullis with the 2022 Bloom Burton Award,” said Jolyon Burton, President of Bloom Burton & Co. “Pieter’s determination to understand, formulate and commercialize lipid nanoparticles helped everyone beat back a global pandemic in record time, saving millions of lives, and also having a multitude of other, dramatic therapeutic impacts and advancements.”

Mr. Burton continued, “It is a privilege to celebrate world-changing Canadian innovation and the Bloom Burton Award does exactly that – recognizing excellence among industry colleagues to continue inspiring future achievements and greatness.”

Bestowed annually, the Bloom Burton Award honours an individual scientist, inventor, executive, entrepreneur, industry leader, or policy maker who made the greatest contribution to Canada’s innovative healthcare industry in the previous year. Nominees were accepted from any of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic/imaging, research instrumentation, consumer health, services or healthcare IT sectors, and equal consideration was given to contributions across any stage of development – from discovery to commercial-end markets.

The Bloom Burton Award finalists and winner were chosen by an esteemed panel of judges, all of whom are respected international leaders in healthcare investment, entrepreneurship and journalism.

Dr. Cullis was celebrated at the 2022 Bloom Burton Award Gala at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto on September 29, 2022 alongside the other finalists, each of whom also received a $25,000 cash prize.

In addition to the 2022 Bloom Burton Award, Dr. Cullis as been honoured with a number of prestigious awards and prizes for his contributions to the development of COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Click Here for a highlight of his 2021-2022 Awards thus far.

Click Here for Bloom Burton’s full announcement.

adMare BioInnovations Announces a Strong Cohort for Its Academy’s Executive Institute 2022-2023 Program

October 7, 2022

adMare BioInnovations (adMare) is pleased to announce that 22 participants representing a wide range of life sciences enterprises from across the country were selected to join Cohort V of the adMare Academy Executive Institute.

adMare builds life sciences companies, ecosystems, and talent to drive the growth of the Canadian life sciences industry into a sustainable and world-leader sector. The adMare Academy offers unique and substantive programs for highly qualified personnel, from undergraduates through to senior executives. The Executive Institute, a custom-designed program, has been widely recognized for its contribution to developing leadership capacity in the Canadian life sciences sector. Over 4 previous cohorts, the program has helped develop 67 leaders, with numerous alumni successfully leading their organizations through tremendous growth periods and achieving commercial successes.

adMare recognizes that diversity is Canada’s strength and ensures that adMare Academy programs help address the gender gap within leadership positions and build opportunities for underrepresented groups.  The Executive Institute program received a record number of applications of outstanding quality this year, with 22 remarkable persons selected for the 2022-2023 program.

Four of the participants Cohort V are located in British Columbia:

  • Catalina Lopez-Correa, Chief Scientific Officer, Genome Canada, Vancouver, BC
  • Gregory Block, Senior Vice President Corporate Development, Notch Therapeutics, Vancouver, BC
  • Jennifer Cox, Senior Director, Chinook Therapeutics, Vancouver, BC
  • Michael Riedel, Vice President, Quality , STEMCELL Technologies, Vancouver, BC

The other participants are from Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Together, the participants have a variety of functional responsibilities, and are engaged in various types and sizes of life sciences organizations.

Click Here for more information about the program and to view the full list of Cohort V participants.

Registration Open: 2023/24 Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters Competition (GCRC)

October 6, 2022

The Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters (GCRC) competition was jointly created by the Offices of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation and the Provost & Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver to enable the formation and growth of interdisciplinary research excellence clusters. Fostering collaboration is a central priority in UBC’s strategic plan. These grants are specifically targeted to catalyzing research initiatives, thereby enabling clusters to produce a greater impact than would otherwise be possible. Researchers from all disciplines are invited to apply for funding.

For the purposes of this funding competition, a research excellence cluster is defined as…

“…a network of researchers spanning multiple disciplines at UBC who form and nurture interdisciplinary teams that foster partnerships and collaborations, develop new research questions/directions/themes in research creation, address key societal and cultural problems, and work together to solve challenges that transcend traditional boundaries.”

2023/2024 Competition Deadlines

  • Notice of Intent Deadline: November 1, 2022
  • Full application deadline: January 11, 2023
  • Note: There will only be one competition in the winter for 2023/24 GCRC. New clusters and eligible clusters funded by previous GCRC competitions are invited to apply.

Information sessions (Zoom):

  • Thursday October 13 2022  10-11:30 am
  • Monday    October 17 2022     10-11:30 am
  • Please register for one or both here

Optional Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Session 

  • Monday November 14 2022 9:30-11 am
  • Registration for this session will open closer to the date
  • Note that this session is only for those who submitted a Notice of Intent

GCRC competitions are open to clusters led by researchers at our Vancouver campus and affiliated hospital sites. Clusters being led by researchers at our Okanagan campus can apply for funding through the Eminence Program.

Click Here for more information about this competition.

2022 Faculty of Medicine Award Recipients Announced

October 3, 2022

Please join us in congratulating the 2022 Faculty of Medicine Award Recipients!

Each year, the Faculty of Medicine recognizes faculty and staff members for excellence in teaching, research, administration, innovation and public service.

2022 Award Categories:

  • Bill and Marilyn Webber Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Awards for Excellence in Mentoring Early Career Faculty
  • Applegarth Staff Service Awards
  • Dean’s Staff Awards
  • Clinical Faculty Awards
  • CME-CPD Awards
  • UBC Killam Teaching Prizes
  • UBC Killam Research Prizes
  • Distinguished Achievement Awards

“These awards recognize and celebrate the extraordinary contributions of faculty and staff who embody our values of respect, integrity, compassion, collaboration and equity — helping us to transform health for everyone.”

 

Dr. Dermot Kelleher   

Dean, Faculty of Medicine   

Vice-President, Health, UBC

Click Here to see the full list of  2022 Award Recipients.

 

AI cell analytics app aims to supercharge biotechnology research

September 27, 2022

Dr. Mads Daugaard

Transformative technology developed by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) researcher Dr. Mads Daugaard at the Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC) is putting cell analytics into the hands of scientists around the globe. Dr. Daugard is an associate professor with the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia and a senior research scientist and head of the Molecular Pathology and Cell Imaging Unit with the VPC.

The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven smartphone app SnapCyte produces data used in cell growth medical research at a fraction of the cost and in a more timely manner than current technology.

“We developed SnapCyte based on a need for affordable, basic cell analytics that can be accessed by any scientist working in a cell culture or biotechnology laboratory,” says Daugaard.

Cell cultures can be photographed through any lab microscope with the use of the SnapCyte adaptor. The app that can be then used to process the images for analysis works on iPhone and Androids alike.

Used in the analysis of cancer cells and other diseases at a microscopic scale, the first-of-its-kind SnapCyte app could supercharge the development of novel, personalized medical treatments, says Daugaard.

The app returns precision data results within five minutes,” says Daugaard. “With the former technology, this process would normally take 45 minutes to an hour with the most high-end live-cell imaging and analysis platforms, or 24 hours with colorimetric assays.”

At a few hundred dollars per year, the app’s affordability makes the platform an accessible option for laboratories that are unable to buy costly cell analytics equipment.

“Many laboratories do not have the funding to purchase new $25,000 to $30,000 machines, or the budget to support the ongoing investment of thousands of dollars per month required to use the equipment,” says Daugaard.

The SnapCyte App is currently undergoing final beta testing and is expected to launch worldwide beginning of 2023.

Click here for more information on the VCHRI website’s original post.

 

Congratulations to the Winners of the 24th Annual Life Sciences BC Awards!

September 27, 2022

Congratulations of the 24th Annual Life Sciences BC Awards, which were presented on September 22nd 2022.

The awards were presented on recognize the achievements of individuals, companies and organizations that have had success in endeavouring to advance discoveries from bench to bedside. At the center of the life sciences sector is improving the lives of patients. Recipients are nominated by their peers in the industry and then decided by a prestigious judging panel of industry leaders.

See the feature video for each of the winners here:

Click Here for more information.