Cellular immunotherapy has yielded numerous clinical benefits in treating cancer. While many successes involve CAR T cells, unfortunately this potent anticancer cell therapy can cause serious and even fatal complications. Another immune cell, the natural killer cell (NK), may lead to effective treatment without unwanted side-effects. Furthermore, the use of stem cell-derived NKs provides additional advantages, including the ease of gene editing and ready availability of an off-the-shelf therapeutic.

The research will reincorporate kayaking into NCC communities by having elders teach kayak-building skills. Afterward, we will train participants in safe kayaking skills and practices. We will give participants kayaking exercise programs to promote frequent kayaking. The objective is to create a more active population using traditional cultural practices. We hope this will aid in decolonization and improve wellness within the community. A docuseries will incorporate storytelling and the kayak process as a form of knowledge translation.

Asthma is an airway disease affecting over 330 million people worldwide. More than >5% of people with asthma experience uncontrolled severe disease despite being treated with high doses of steroids which give them a lot of bad side effects1,2. The availability of a new class of drugs recently called biologics have reduced the number of hospitalizations and the need for oral steroids in severe asthmatics with a particular type of inflammatory cell in the airways, called eosinophils.

Respiratory viruses exploit the biological activity of human proteins present at the surface of airway cells to allow viruses to penetrate that physical barrier and subsequently replicate in infected cells. It has been established that a family of human proteins, the type 2 transmembrane serine proteases, are directly responsible for this viral entry, but they have been challenging to develop drugs against because they have been unable to be studied in isolation.

Psychosocial rehabilitation follows the philosophy of “recovery-orientated practice”, centered around the idea of
maximizing wellbeing even while experiencing symptoms of mental illness. Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR)
Canada is the only organization with a competency document aimed to promote, standardize, and improve the
delivery of PSR in Canada. This document was last reviewed in 2017 and benefits from continuous validation to
reflect the changing sociocultural context of Canada.

The goal of this project is to examine the effect of one-time unconditional direct cash-transfer to recently homeless individuals in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Building on promising results from our research team’s ground-breaking pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 50 cash recipients, the current project seeks to confirm this preliminary evidence using a larger RCT with 200 cash recipients. To evaluate the impact of the cash transfers over time, participants will complete surveys before receiving the cash, and 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the cash transfer.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and deadly cancer arising from the adult brain. There is no effective treatment and a vital need for new, accurate biological models to understand the character and reveal new possible therapeutic strategies. The mouse has long been used to model human GBM, but the very small anatomy creates many limitations. Hera Biolabs has created the SRG rat with brain volume about 5 times those of mice. This proposed study will evaluate the growth of human GBM in SRG rats and the treatment response in this new model.

Lipid-made nanoparticles are small delivery vehicles that can encapsulate therapeutics like mRNA and drugs. These tiny containers help to protect therapies until they are delivered into cells where they have better effects. A huge portion of the worldwide population have them in their bodies, thanks to mRNA COVID19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is an important respiratory disease characterized by recurrent blockages of the throat (‘upper airway’) during sleep. These blockages result in short lapses in breathing. The low oxygen levels and disruption of sleep caused by OSA contribute to many problems including: sleepiness, poor quality of life, awakenings during sleep, hypertension, heart disease, strokes, and dementia.

The number of people identifying themselves as LGBTQ2+ has risen dramatically in the US and Canada, and while their percentage of the total population is still low, they are significantly more likely to suffer from mental health issues and anxiety disorders arising from struggles with their identity, external harassment, discrimination, and violence. To try and deal with their anxiety and find a sense of belonging, queer college students are looking for positive, affirming spaces to gain support and advice from lived experiences of LGBTQ2+ peers.