Research & Innovation

2009 Research Projects

Philippe Lagacé-Wiens

“A Real-Time PCR assay for the direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from acid-fast stain positive sputa”

The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the use of molecular technology known as real-time PCR to rapidly detect the presence of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB) in patients where TB is clinically suspected. Current rapid diagnostic methods depend on micobacterial stains that do not allow speciation of mycobacteria, thereby potentially leading to isolation and treatment of patients infected or colonised with mycobateria other than TB. On the contrary, PCR is both more sensitive than microscopy and allows for the definitive identification of the TB bacteria. Using this technology will reduce the amount of time required to make the definitive diagnosis of TB from 2 - 4 weeks to just a day. By reducing the time needed to confirm the presence of TB, we hope to improve patient care and management of TB isolation rooms in hospitals.

Curtis Oleschuk

“Analysis of Leukotrienes, Lipoxins, Resolvins and Protectins by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry – Small Molecule Biomarkers of Inflammatory Disease”  

A new understanding of inflammatory disease has come with the discovery of lipoxins, resolvins and protectins.These so-called lipid mediators of inflammation are metabolites of the essential fatty acids. They play a role in the resolution of inflammation and thus provide a link in our understanding of the benefit of low dose aspirin and dietary supplementation with omega 3 oils. In the proposed study, a method will be developed for analysis of lipoxins, resolvins and protectins in blood. Using the aforementioned assay, our group will study the role of these lipid mediators of inflammation in graft versus host disease, a relatively common complication of bone marrow transplantation. By studying these biomarkers of inflammation it is our end goal to develop a treatment approach, using perhaps low dose aspirin and/or essential fatty acid oil supplementation to minimize graft versus host disease.

David Parry

“QualityTime: A Practical Tool for Assessing Quality of Laboratory Tests - Concept Design and Software Development” (Co-investigators: Lorne Seargeant, William Dent)

Improving the quality of laboratory testing depends upon being able to assess and recognize existing deficiencies. Most labs focus almost exclusively on regulatory compliance and consider improving testing quality only when there is a compliance failure. The objective of this research is to develop software that can be used for ongoing quality assessment, allowing labs to focus on quality improvement in a systematic way, not just when testing quality has failed. This data management software tool, called QualityTime, will allow laboratories to assess and benchmark performance quality, pinpoint where and why deficiencies exist, determine uncertainty of reportable results and make use of performance goals to set control procedures.

Sadeesh Srinathan

“Preoperative Troponin Sub-study of VISION-PreVISION” 

The VISION study is a large study in which one of the main questions is if an elevation in the level of Troponin T (a marker of heart damage) after surgery predicts heart attacks within one year of surgery.  In this sub-study of 2000 - 3000 patients in Winnipeg, we will also answer the

following questions: First, does the level of Troponin T before surgery help predict future heart attacks? Second, does the change in Troponin T from before to after surgery predict heart attacks? We will answer these questions by obtaining a Troponin T measurement on patients before their surgery and at four time points after surgery. We will then determine the number of heart attacks which occur within the first year of surgery.

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