Top 5 blog posts of 2020

As we welcome the new year, take a look back with us at the top five blog posts of 2020.

1. Why you won't get COVID-19 from a blood transfusion

Unsurprisingly, three of our top five blog posts were related to COVID-19. In this post, Dr. Steven Drews, associate director of microbiology at Canadian Blood Services, explained why there's no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 is transfusion-transmissible. 

2. "Only we can help": breaking down barriers for a child with a rare condition

"What do we do when there’s a child in Canada with a rare disorder, and only we can help? We had to work together and find a way,” said Craig Jenkins, senior manager of product and process development at Canadian Blood Services. It was up to him and his team to figure out how to do it.

3. Tracking the prevalence of COVID-19 at top speed

Back in April 2020, when the federal government established the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, Canadian Blood Services reached out to offer assistance. Since then, Canadian Blood Services’ seroprevalence lab has tested more than 60,000 blood samples for COVID-19 antibodies and is providing valuable information to Canadian health officials and policymakers. The samples come from blood donations across Canada. 

4. Machine learning opens new frontiers in red blood cell research

A publication from the Acker lab points towards machine learning as a solution to improve how experts assess the shape of red blood cells, or red blood cell morphology. With the potential to eliminate subjectivity and standardize testing, this approach could herald a new era in red blood cell morphology assessment, with potentially big implications for transfusion medicine research and beyond. 

5. COVID-19 resources for health care professionals

As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, being well-informed has perhaps never been more important. For health-care professionals in particular, keeping pace with information related to COVID-19, which can change rapidly, is critical in helping them best serve their patients. To support Canadian transfusion medicine health-care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve created a repository of information on the Canadian Blood Services’ professional education website. 

Canadian Blood Services – Driving world-class innovation

Through discovery, development and applied research, Canadian Blood Services drives world-class innovation in blood transfusion, cellular therapy and transplantation—bringing clarity and insight to an increasingly complex healthcare future. Our dedicated research team and extended network of partners engage in exploratory and applied research to create new knowledge, inform and enhance best practices, contribute to the development of new services and technologies, and build capacity through training and collaboration. Find out more about our research impact. 

The opinions reflected in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Canadian Blood Services nor do they reflect the views of Health Canada or any other funding agency.