In the first study of its kind, a global team of researchers are investigating the safety and effectiveness of the CorNeat KPro synthetic cornea in people with corneal blindness. The fully artificial cornea could be a game-changer for patients with corneal blindness, replacing the need for human donations and providing a much-needed alternative for patients who did not respond to current technology.
Researchers from the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) and University of British Columbia (UBC) have found a ‘silver bullet’ to kill bacteria and keep them from infecting patients who have medical devices implanted.
The team has developed a silver-based coating that can easily be applied to devices such as catheters and stents. Their novel formulation, discovered by screening dozens of chemical components, overcomes the complications of silver that have challenged scientists for years.
Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) facilitates clinician-scientists in their efforts to make new discoveries to improve the health and well-being of patients across their lifespan. Supported by the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, the peer-reviewed Investigator Awards provide salary support to leading health research investigators in order to allow them to reduce their clinical commitments and expand their capacity for innovation-driven research that creates new health care knowledge.
The 2022 VCHRI Investigator Awards recipients are:
Music can transport us to times gone by and distant locales, awakening feelings of joy and calm even in the face of challenging circumstances. For seniors with dementia who participated in a recent study led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr. Lillian Hung, the power of music positively impacted both the care experience and delivery.
Using cutting-edge genomic technologies, researchers have created the first functional map of sites within the genome that regulate androgen receptor (AR) activity — the primary driver of prostate cancer growth. Led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr. Nathan Lack and published in the journal Genome Biology, the study opens the door to future explorations into this uncharted territory.
Mental illness increases the risk of substance use, disability and premature death. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more Canadians reported experiencing mental health issues — such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder — jumping from one in five Canadians in 2020 to one in four in 2021.
April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month — a time to recognize and support the over 100,000 Canadians living with the incurable neurodegenerative disease. Parkinson’s decreases dopamine levels in the brain and can lead to a variety of symptoms, including tremors, slowness of movement and rigidity, along with depression, insomnia and cognitive impairment.
