RESEARCH THEMES
LABORATORY SUPPORT
This group consists of five laboratories with overlapping and complementary skills in influenza diagnostic test development, evaluation, and execution. Investigators are drawn from academia (Boivin, Hatchette, Kollmann, Ward) and public health (Tang). PCIRN activities can be divided into support for the research themes and exploitation of the samples collected for assay development.
Support for PCIRN Theme Research
In its first years of operations, this group established the technology transfer and network processes necessary to qualify lab sites across Canada for provision of routine influenza testing (e.g., HAI, PCR), and then supported PCIRN Theme research via provision of these tests. Since HAI operating procedures and quality assurance have used Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) as the reference lab, the four qualified PCIRN labs (Boivin/Québec City, Hatchette/Halifax, Tang/Vancouver, Ward/Montreal), also provide an important and geographically-dispersed national 'surge capacity' to support our public health system during peak demand in future pandemics. In this third year, our laboratories now join forces with the NML, working together to support the PCIRN clinical trials that will inform Canada’s decisions regarding the best influenza vaccines for our citizens. This year PCIRN’s support laboratories are also supplementing its routine testing support with an evolving array of more specialized laboratory tests – such as cell-mediated immunity testing (Kollmann lab), microneutralization, and cross-protection testing (Hatchette lab).
This group has also established and continues to maintain an archive of PCIRN samples and reagents, generated across the country and/or acquired through agreements. Many of these samples were well-characterized (eg: clinical and laboratory) prior to deposit within the archive. This invaluable repository provides the means for PCIRN and other Canadian researchers to access valuable, supra-regional biological samples and reagents needed for future influenza-related research.
Assay Development
The research goals for the five Laboratory Support Theme lab sites involve development of a variety of novel approaches to improve upon the currently very limited diagnostic testing available for influenza: ie, the hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay. The HAI test is low throughput, yields variable results and is not always predictive of protection. The Laboratory Support Theme investigators are committed to development of high-throughput, quantitative assays for anti-HA and/or other specific antibody responses. These include a novel IgG avidity assay (Ward lab), Canada’s first anti-neuraminidase assay (Tang lab), peptide array-based high throughput HAI (Kollmann lab), adapted microneutralization assays, and development of a stable cell line for detecting influenza infection and/or neutralization (Hatchette lab). Other assays currently under development include a virus-like particle (VLP)-based assay (Ward lab) and high-throughput and information-rich nucleic acid-based testing (Boivin lab). These approaches will bring important advances, including both better information and effective throughput, to improve diagnostic and care options for patients in the near term and meet peak demands in future pandemics.
Brian Ward MSc, DTM&H, MDCM
Principal Investigator
Professor, Medicine & Microbiology, McGill University
Dr. Ward is currently professor of Medicine & Microbiology at McGill University and Associate Director of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (Fundamental Science). He is Co-Director of the McGill Vaccine Evaluation Center, Director of the National Reference Center for Parasitology, and Associate Director of the JD MacLean Tropical Diseases Center. He is also a founding member of the Canadian Association for Immunization Research and Evaluation (CAIRE). He currently serves on the Institutional Advisory Board of the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity and as one of the Chairs of the CIHR-Industry review panel.
Dr. Ward completed his medical studies at McGill University (MDCM 1980) and received research training as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University (Québec/Corpus Christi: MSc 1980) and as a resident and postdoctoral fellow at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases: 1985-91). Additional clinical training was obtained at the University of London in tropical diseases (DMT&H: 1984) and at McGill in microbiology (1992).
Dr. Ward's research program covers four areas: 1) molecular mechanisms that underlie retinoid-virus interactions 2) vaccine development and evaluation 3) novel approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of neglected tropical diseases and 4) factors that influence mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. His work has been funded by CIHR, NIH, CIDA, PHAC, a range of national and international foundations as well as industry.
