Dr. Sophie Chargé

Dr. Sophie Chargé is the associate director of knowledge mobilization with the Innovation and Portfolio Management team. Sophie trained as a medical lab technologist in France, went on to pursue a PhD in developmental biology from the University of London and post-doctoral training in cellular and molecular biology at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Her research training took her from studying type 2 diabetes to skeletal muscle development and regeneration. Sophie left the “bench” to pursue her interests in developing programs that facilitate knowledge mobilization and dissemination to further the impact of research and promote evidence-based decision-making.

Unveiling the 2018 BloodTechNet awardees


Wednesday, August 08, 2018
BloodTechNet is a competitive funding program that supports projects aimed at delivering innovative educational resources for healthcare professionals in the transfusion, cellular therapy, and transplantation communities. Again this year, we were impressed by the quality of the applications received for the BloodTechNet competition and we look forward to seeing the educational resources that the four new projects will produce in about a year. To share our excitement, here’s a taste of what’s to come! Enhancing knowledge about blood groups and antibodies to prevent transfusion reactions The

The things we do for safety – Battling bacteria (part II)


Thursday, June 08, 2017
Previous posts in our "The things we do for safety" series Battling bacteria - part I Leukoreduction In a previous post, we wrote about the donor screening criteria, the arm scrub and the diversion pouch. These are important steps in our blood collection process to limit the introduction of bacteria present on the skin or in the blood of donors into blood products. In this post, we explore other lines of defence in our battle against bacteria. The entire blood product manufacturing process is conducted in a “closed-system”. Through a clever set-up of tubings and bags, the collected blood is

The things we do for safety: Battling bacteria (part 1)


Wednesday, February 08, 2017
A previous post in our "The things we do for safety" series explores leukoreduction - or how white blood cells or leukocytes get filtered out of blood products to reduce the risk of transfusion-related reactions. Battling bacteria (part 1) Bacteria can be found pretty much everywhere and while some contribute to our wellness others can cause serious harm, especially if transfused to a patient whose health is already compromised. Over the years, blood operators have implemented a variety of measures to limit the bacterial contamination of blood components. In this series on “Battling bacteria”

The things we do for safety: Leukoreduction


Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Canadian Blood Services implemented leukoreduction for the production of its red blood cells and platelet components in the late 1990s.