Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) researchers are at the forefront of a ground breaking Canadian initiative in precision medicine to enable kidney transplant matching on a new genetic level.
Advanced genetic matching technology could result in significantly lower rates of organ transplant rejection, according to ongoing award-winning research led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr. Paul Keown.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) have received $1 million from Canada’s Stem Cell Network to conduct research and a clinical trial for one of the world’s first genetically engineered cell replacement therapies for type 1 diabetes.
The researchers say the study is an important step toward developing a potential functional cure for type 1 diabetes.
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.
Sometimes you have to push boundaries to advance medical science.
That is exactly what Dr. Eric Yoshida, a principal investigator with Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the former medical director of the BC Liver Transplant Program, and his team did in 2021 when they successfully completed an orthotopic liver transplant into a young patient with active COVID-19.
It was the first successful instance of such a transplant in Canada and only the second one recorded worldwide.
As a kidney transplant pharmacist, Cindy Luo ensures that kidney transplant patients take the correct medication and dose after surgery. Yet, despite pharmacists’ and clinicians’ best efforts, many transplant patients do not take their medications as prescribed, and go on to develop health problems that can put their new organ and overall health in jeopardy.
“Globally, medication non-adherence has been identified as a major contributor to the loss of kidney function after a successful transplant surgery.”
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.
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.
