BCCHR Researchers Find a Researcher

Suzanne Vercauteren

PhD, MD, FRCPC

Investigator, BC Children's Hospital

The CCBR BioBank Initiative

Patient's samples are for translational research what gas is for a car: the driving force! During my research career I have always been aware of the value of patient samples for research and the difficulty of obtaining these samples in a systematic and ethical manner. This was largely due to an ineffective and inconsistent process of BioBanking and not the lack of enthusiasm from patients to donate. Therefore, I started the CCBR BioBanking initiative which started storing the first patient samples in September 2011. This initiative has quickly taken root and other departments at C&W and BCCHR have joined. It is our hope to establish institutional BioBanking mechanisms to develop a standardized and ethical method of consenting, processing samples, and storing health information.

For more information about the BioBank initiative you can go to the following website: bcchr.ca/biobank

Minimal Residual Disease testing

Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) is the name given to small numbers of malignant cells that remain in the patient during or after treatment when the patient has no signs or symptoms of the disease. It is very important to see whether patients still have MRD as it may mean they need more or different treatments. Flow cytometry methods look at markers on the cell surface of cells or inside the cell. Malignant cells often have a different expression pattern of markers compared to normal cells and therefore using this method we can distinguish between normal and malignant cells in a large number of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

In our laboratory we routinely test all patients with ALL for MRD at day 8 in their blood and Day 29 in bone marrow by a method called flow cytometry. We are currently investigating new markers to detect MRD more specifically and in more patients with ALL. We are also working on a method to detect MRD in patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). In addition, we are doing research in collaboration with Dr. Strahlendorf and Dr. Tanya Brown to see whether we can detect minimal disease as well as MRD in the bone marrow of patients with a solid tumor called neuroblastoma.

Suzanne Vercauteren

PhD, MD, FRCPC

Investigator, BC Children's Hospital

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The effect of oral iron with or without multiple micronutrients on hemoglobin concentration and hemoglobin response among nonpregnant Cambodian women of reproductive age: a 2 x 2 factorial, double-blind, randomized controlled supplementation trial.

Business Planning for a Campus-Wide Biobank.

How Biobanks Are Assessing and Measuring Their Financial Sustainability.

Comparison of four immunoassays to measure serum ferritin concentrations and iron deficiency prevalence among non-pregnant Cambodian women and Congolese children.

von Willebrand disease type 2B.

The significance of peripheral blood minimal residual disease to predict early disease response in patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Opinions of Adolescents and Parents About Pediatric Biobanking.

The Homozygous Hemoglobin EE Genotype and Chronic Inflammation Are Associated with High Serum Ferritin and Soluble Transferrin Receptor Concentrations among Women in Rural Cambodia.

Elevated levels of iron in groundwater in Prey Veng province in Cambodia: a possible factor contributing to high iron stores in women.

Evaluation of two methods to measure hemoglobin concentration among women with genetic hemoglobin disorders in Cambodia: a method-comparison study.

Genetic hemoglobin disorders rather than iron deficiency are a major predictor of hemoglobin concentration in women of reproductive age in rural prey Veng, Cambodia.

Funding sources for Canadian biorepositories: the role of user fees and strategies to help fill the gap.

Nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma with classic Reed-Sternberg cells.

Policy recommendations for addressing privacy challenges associated with cell-based research and interventions.

Permission to contact (PTC)--a strategy to enhance patient engagement in translational research.

Auer rods in mature granulocytes of a patient with mixed lineage leukemia.

T cells of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome are frequently derived from the malignant clone.

Leukemic transformation of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.

Copy number alterations at polymorphic loci may be acquired somatically in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

Array comparative genomic hybridization of peripheral blood granulocytes of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome detects karyotypic abnormalities.

Reduction in multi-lineage and erythroid progenitors distinguishes myelodysplastic syndromes from non-malignant cytopenias.

High-resolution whole genome tiling path array CGH analysis of CD34+ cells from patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes reveals cryptic copy number alterations and predicts overall and leukemia-free survival.

Improved survival in HIV-associated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with the addition of rituximab to chemotherapy in patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Primitive AML progenitors from most CD34(+) patients lack CD33 expression but progenitors from many CD34(-) AML patients express CD33.

Constitutively active Notch4 promotes early human hematopoietic progenitor cell maintenance while inhibiting differentiation and causes lymphoid abnormalities in vivo.

Telomerase is limiting the growth of acute myeloid leukemia cells.

Detection and clinical significance of human acute myeloid leukaemia progenitors capable of long-term proliferation in vitro.

CD133 (AC133) expression on AML cells and progenitors.

Human B7-1 is more efficient than B7-2 in providing co-stimulation for alloantigen-specific T cells.

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