Part 1: Decades of discovery, milestones and memories from Canadian Blood Services senior scientists

As Canadian Blood Services celebrates the remarkable milestones of four senior scientists, Dr. William (Bill) Sheffield, Dr. Alan Lazarus, Dr. Jason Acker and Dr. Heyu Ni, we invited them to reflect on their careers, contributions, and the evolving landscape of transfusion science and medicine. The insights shared below are personal reflections from each researcher, offering a candid look into their proudest contributions, observations on change through the years, and advice for the next generation.   
 
This feature marks the first in a two-part series commemorating significant career milestones in transfusion science. A second, equally noteworthy anniversary is forthcoming. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will celebrate this major achievement in greater detail. 

Dr. William (Bill) Sheffield

Canadian Blood Services senior scientist and associate director of research who celebrated 36 years of service on September 1st, 2025. 

What is the research contribution you’re most proud of in your career?  

My career has featured contributions to both research and development, so I’d like to highlight one in each area. For research, I’m very proud of my team’s achievement in genetic engineering of a human plasma protein, creating a novel variant inhibitor specifically targeting a coagulation factor of clinical interest.  

For development, I’m very proud of my role in leading and publishing Canadian Blood Services in vitro studies of freeze-dried plasma, done across two countries and multiple organizations, mainly masked and distanced, during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

What trends or changes have you observed in your field over the years?  

There have certainly been trends towards bigger things. Aggregation of individual laboratories into research groups or consortia has certainly occurred. One would not necessarily have been asked “What centre/institute is your lab part of?” when I started my independent research career, but now it is a feature of the landscape.  

Bigger data sets and papers with more data and more figures have also become more common over time. It is still possible for an individual laboratory to make meaningful contributions, but it is rarer. 

What advice would you give to new researchers?  

Embark on a research career because it fascinates you, not because you want your name on the door of the lab. That old model will probably go the way of the dinosaurs in the years to come, but there will always be an important place for those who generate, challenge, and critique scientific data and ideas. 

Dr. Alan Lazarus

Canadian Blood Services’ senior scientist who celebrated 30 years of service on July 4th, 2025. 

What is the research contribution you’re most proud of in your career?  

One area of my research that I am particularly proud of is our body of work dissecting the mechanisms of action of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg). Rather than adding additional speculative hypotheses to an already crowded field, my group took a systematic approach to evaluate the major mechanistic theories that had been proposed. In a series of 5–10 publications, we carefully tested these ideas and demonstrated that several of the prevailing hypotheses were likely invalid.  

By doing this, we helped to narrow the field, sharpen the focus of subsequent research, and bring greater clarity to what IVIg is—and is not—doing mechanistically. I am proud of this work because it contributed to reducing confusion in the field and established a stronger foundation for the next generation of therapeutic strategies. 

What trends or changes have you observed in your field over the years?  

When we began our research program to identify alternatives to IVIg, the standard therapy was donor-derived IVIg, which Canadian Blood Services supplies to hospitals and patients. Over the past decade, the field has moved steadily toward monoclonal antibodies and targeted therapeutics that offer the potential to replace IVIg. Our own work has contributed directly to this shift.  

In a recent study, we demonstrated that the therapeutic effects of IVIg could be replicated by a recombinant approach: specifically, blockade of human FcγRIIIA prevented platelet destruction in a humanized murine model of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). This provides proof-of-concept that recombinant therapies can reproduce the protective effects of IVIg, supporting the development of safer, more consistent, and scalable next-generation treatments. 

What advice would you give to new researchers? 

Forming collaborations with clinicians and other researchers can elevate basic science by adding translational relevance, while also giving partners access to methods and approaches that they might not otherwise have. Equally, collaborations allow you to share and extend the tools, models, and concepts that your own group has developed, helping the field advance more broadly. At the same time, it is important to be diligent and selective—choosing collaborations carefully ensures that your time and resources are invested in partnerships that genuinely add value. 

As a basic scientist, your success is deeply tied to the people you bring into your lab. Be diligent in selecting trainees and colleagues who are both capable and aligned with your research vision. Once they are part of your group, support them fully — place them on projects that excite them (if at all possible), recognize their contributions, and create an environment that fosters independence, growth, and collaboration. In many ways, the culture you build and the people you mentor are as important as the experiments you run.

Dr. Jason Acker 

Canadian Blood Services senior development scientist who celebrated 23 years of service on July 2nd, 2025.

What is the research contribution you’re most proud of in your career?  

Research can be an unforgiving endeavor and one must be pathologically optimistic to be successful. Remaining optimistic through all of the technical, financial or scientific barriers that my team and I have faces over the years as we pursue our discovery and development work is something that I am most proud of. To mis-quote Thomas Edison... “[Research success] is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”.  

I have been extremely proud of the enormous effort that the team applies to everything that we do. From a research contribution perspective, I have been fortunate to have made observations about how cells and tissues respond to stressful environments (i.e., blood storage, component manufacturing) that have challenged long-standing ideas in transfusion medicine.  

I’ve experienced the thrill of seeing our work change what is written in textbooks and what is now being presented at meetings as “common knowledge”. However, what has been the most rewarding has been the opportunity I have had to witness the growth in confidence, skill and knowledge of the 350+ trainees that I’ve had the privilege of mentoring over the past 25+ years. I take great joy in seeing all of them succeed and go on to do great things! 

What trends or changes have you observed in your field over the years?  

Advances in blood collection, component manufacturing and storage continue to evolve as changes in clinical practice put new demands on the blood products we have available to treat the anemic or bleeding patient. While one could argue that the recent introduction of cold stored whole blood is really a reversion to times past, it has been interesting to see how the science has supported the renewed demand for this blood product’s use in trauma resuscitation and how it has been re-introduced into blood banks.  

I suspect we will continue to see more custom blood products being developed to support very specific clinical cases where we have historically relied on a red cell concentrate or a pooled platelet product. This “precision transfusion” evolution will leverage evolving artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that use detailed genetic and biological information to help guide us in selecting specific recipient populations. New platforms for managing this component production will leverage emerging robotics systems and real-time assessment of product characteristics to ensure the safety and quality of each component.  

These unique products that will be better designed for the unique clinical needs of the patients, will require that the blood systems move away from assembly line production to unit specific manufacturing. We are not here yet, but the clinical evidence is definitely pointing us in this direction.  

What advice would you give to new researchers? 

There are many lessons learned, but here are the most important: 

1. Be pathologically optimistic! Whether it is an unfunded grant, rejected manuscript or an unanticipated research outcome, these are all opportunities that help us learn, grow and lead us to success. 
2. Find yourself mentors that can help guide you through all of the challenges that you will face. 
3. Research is a team sport so find yourself a great team to play on.  

Dr. Heyu Ni 

Canadian Blood Services senior scientist who celebrated 24 years of service on July 27th, 2025. 

What is the research contribution you’re most proud of in your career?  

I am proud of my contributions in the following 3 areas: 

1. Establishing animal models of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and developing new therapeutic approaches:  
    
   We developed unique mouse models that led to discoveries about the behaviour of platelets, including how a mechanism of platelet clearance that occurs in the liver can lead to IVIg resistance and how platelets can switch to be immune regulatory cells. This research has led to two patents, and new sialidase inhibitor therapies have been initiated in clinical trials in Canada and worldwide.  

2. Establishing animal models of Fetal/Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) and developing new therapeutic approaches: 
   
   We created the first animal model of FNAIT and demonstrated that the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) can be targeted for therapy with IVIg. Our work also identified causes of miscarriage involving maternal immune responses. Our work was published in large journals like Blood, Transfusion, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Nature Communications and led to a European clinical trial and advanced understanding of placental immune responses. 

3. Establishing intravital microscopy thrombosis models and developing novel anti-thrombotic drugs:  
   
   Using a mouse model where two key molecules, fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor, were lacking, we helped redefine the theory of thrombosis by identifying factors that support or inhibit thrombosis. This led to the development of a first-in-class anti-GPIbα drug which is now in clinical trials.  

What trends or changes have you observed in your field over the years?  

I have observed that it has become more difficult to obtain research funding over the last 24 years, but I remain as committed to the pursuit of research excellence as I did when I first joined Canadian Blood Services in 2001. 

What advice would you give to new researchers starting out in 2025? 

I would encourage our new researchers to work hard and face to the reality of new challenges and opportunities. This is new era, IT, AI, bioinformatics/different omics and other new sciences and technologies come out every day, which may have great applications in transfusion medicine. I would also encourage new researchers to enhance their international collaborations and develop their leaderships worldwide. 

Together, these reflections offer a meaningful glimpse into the dedication, curiosity, and resilience that have shaped decades of scientific progress at Canadian Blood Services. From pioneering therapeutic strategies to mentoring hundreds of trainees, Drs. Sheffield, Lazarus, Acker and Ni exemplify the spirit of innovation and collaboration that drives our research community forward. As they mark significant anniversaries in their careers, we celebrate not only their individual accomplishments but also the enduring impact of their work on the future of transfusion medicine. 

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.