Vancouver, British Columbia - November 27, 2018 – A new clinical trial, opening across Canada, is considered a major advancement in precision medicine for prostate cancer and the first of its kind in the world. The IND.234 clinical trial, conducted by the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG), uses liquid biopsy technology to screen for genomic markers in prostate cancer patients.

A prostate cancer diagnosis is often not a death sentence, but one that can mean significant changes for men’s personal and professional lives. Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Wellam Yu Ko set out to learn more about this by studying how men navigate the decision to undergo a radical prostatectomy—when the prostate gland and surrounding tissues are removed.

Scientists with Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute have discovered an immune cell and immune growth factor in tumours that appear to play a pivotal role in preventing the spread and growth of cancer. Dr. Wilfred Jefferies and co-authors published their findings in Scientific Reports (Nature) in February 2018. They found that Type-2 innate lymphoid cell (ILC2)—only discovered within the past 10 years—could help the body’s immune system find and destroy cancer cells.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. While incidences of the disease are declining, roughly 21,000 Canadian men are still diagnosed each year, with 1 in 29 cases taking an aggressive and deadly form. At the Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC), Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientists, Dr. Artem Cherkasov and Dr. Paul Rennie are combining teamwork and state-of-the art technology to try to bring those numbers down.

It is a $14 billion (and growing) worldwide market: wearable devices that record how many steps we take, how many calories we burn, and how fast our heart is beating. And these devices, which range from smart watches to smart glasses to in-ear monitors, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Handheld devices and newly released smartwatches can even conduct electrocardiograms in the comfort of your home. But at what cost? Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist Dr. Jason Andrade and his colleague Dr.

Vancouver, BC – Can a documentary shape attitudes about mental illness? A Vancouver researcher is trying to find out. 

The Living in HOpe Research Study is based on the documentary Living in HOpe.

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) granted Stranger Productions access to the Greta & Robert H.N. Ho Psychiatry and Education Centre (HOpe Centre) in North Vancouver where camera crews followed patients and health care providers for more than a year. 

Meet Team MotivatED (L-R): Susanne Moaedebi, Sebastien Payan, David Damian, Mark Ventura

A Lions Gate Hospital (LGH) emergency department (ED) team is learning how to better connect with patients with a history of illicit opioid use.  A group of ED nurses is being trained in motivational interviewing, an evidence-based, person-centred approach to encourage behavior change and help EDs respond to the opioid crisis. 

The pain from knee osteoarthritis can be crippling for patients—so too could be its impact on the Canadian health care system if left unchecked. Shoe-worn insoles, commonly known as orthotics, could be an effective treatment for some patients, but pinpointing which ones will benefit can be challenging. Fortunately, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) researchers may have a solution. Dr. Michael Hunt and Dr. David Wilson are using state-of-the-art technology to examine how different types of orthotics could improve patients’ biomechanics and reduce knee pain. 

A groundbreaking study published in the New England Journal of Medicine could lead to a reduction in the amount of steroid medication patients need to take to manage their mild asthma. Lead investigator Dr. Mark FitzGerald, a researcher with Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI), examined whether patients with mild asthma could benefit from a combination medication versus twice-daily inhaled steroids or non-steroid reliever inhalers on an as-needed basis. 

British Columbia is in the midst of a public health emergency due to the rise in drug overdoses and deaths. Last year 1,400 deaths in BC were attributed to opioid overdose¹. This year the same trend is apparent². There has never been a more important time for innovative substance use research to increase our understanding and to provide guidance on effective treatments.

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) is proud to welcome a new affiliate centre to lead the way in this urgently important research area.