The health benefits of running are well known—but for runners who develop knee joint health osteoarthritis (OA), the picture is less clear. Should you give up running if you get OA? Research scientist Dr. Michael Hunt and his colleagues at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute want to answer that question. 

November is diabetes awareness month. But as diabetes rates climb, researchers say any awareness must be backed up with better prevention. In Vancouver, seven percent of the population has diabetes. If current trends continue, that will increase to 10 percent in the next three years and keep climbing. This increase is a global trend and many cities are teaming up to share the best prevention strategies. 

A breakthrough technology, now in the hands of Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientists, is paving the way for rapid and effective drug discovery. Dr. Artem Cherkasov, a senior research scientist with the Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC), and his colleagues are spearheading the integration of cryo-EM technology. After years of trying to harness the potential of the human genome, Cherkasov says cryo-EM will revolutionize drug discovery and development.

Many veterans who serve in wars return home with not only physical scars, but with mental and emotional trauma. Around 10 per cent of war zone veterans in Canada will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to Veterans Affairs Canada, and new research shows that PTSD may well be the root cause of cognitive impairments experienced by some veterans.

Head and neck surgeon Dr. Eitan Prisman has been reinventing the wheel. With funding from the Innovation and Translational Research Award at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, Dr. Prisman and his team have developed their own made-in-Vancouver 3D simulation software that’s already improving surgery outcomes and decreasing time spent in the OR.

Our technology-driven lives mean youth are constantly barraged by an endless stream of images—many of which are unrealistic and potentially harmful. These images often expose youth to idealized portraits of thin girls and women, which can fuel negative self-perception and, in some, eating disorders.

In her study, PhD candidate Karolina Rozworska examines the use of emotion coaching as a way to regulate negative emotions associated with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa. 

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) has won a national Silver Leaf Award of Excellence for Internal Communication. The International Association of Business Communicators Canada (IABC) award is in recognition of our health research awareness campaign and forms part of Canada’s premiere professional awards program celebrating excellence in business communication. 

As research tools improve, scientists are uncovering new genetic links to disease. Vancouver Coastal Health research scientist Dr. Kurt Haas and his team are trying to find the genetic origins of autism. Together with a larger group of scientists at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, they are designing new technologies to tackle this problem. But they have a long road ahead of them—Haas says it is hard to imagine a more difficult research challenge.

It’s being called the future of health care. Precision, or personalized, medicine based on a patient’s individual genetic profile, is revolutionizing treatment and diagnosis of disease. VCHRI Research Scientist Dr. Paul Keown and his colleagues have big plans to play a pivotal role in this genetic revolution. Their focus is on immune disease and transplantation.

Canada’s Food Guide is being updated for the first time in over a decade, and evidence-based research is taking centre stage. Kathy Romses, a public health dietitian with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), is one of the experts who provided input into the revised guidelines. In honour of World Food Day on October 16 and the new guide, which will be released in 2018/2019, we asked Romses about how technology, new research on healthy eating and awareness about environmental sustainability are playing a bigger role in our modern eating habits.