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HIV and AIDS, hepatitis C, and cancer are devastating diseases
that affect millions of people throughout the world every year.
Starting in 2005, a new state-of-the-art laboratory in Montreal
will help advance the efforts of researchers who are working on
new vaccines and immunotherapies that may bring hope to those people's
lives.
The Canadian Network for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics (CANVAC)
is pioneering the concept of a centralized, national, core facility
to monitor and analyze the immune status of patients at various
stages of a disease and monitor their immune response to current
vaccines and immunotherapies. It will be unique in the world.
| A key piece of the puzzle
Why are some people protected against disease, while
others are not?
CANVAC's new laboratory will be well-equipped
to find the answer, thanks to state-of-the-art technology.
This technology will enable researchers to analyze all
samples in identical conditions – regardless of
where they originate.
For example, researchers will be able to compare the
immune status and response of HIV/AIDS patients who
have reached different stages of their disease: those
with HIV infection without AIDS, those who progress
rapidly to AIDS, those who don't progress to AIDS,
and those who remain seronegative. By examining where
the immune response differs, researchers will learn
more about the factors that correlate with progression
or non-progression of the disease.
Their findings will be key factors in developing vaccines
and immunotherapies and in determining their effectiveness.
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CANVAC recognized the need for the new laboratory and the Université
de Montréal, which hosts CANVAC along with other universities
of the Network, applied for funding to the Canada Foundation for
Innovation, which supports the creation of infrastructure for scientific
research. Funding for the facility was announced early in 2004.
Dr. Michel Klein, Chief Executive Officer of CANVAC and a leading
proponent of the facility, explains why it's so important. "We
currently lack the understanding of why certain people are protected
against certain diseases, why others are not, and why a vaccine
works or doesn't work. We just don't know. So unless we investigate
these aspects with sophisticated tools and leading-edge technologies,
we will not learn how to progress."
A centralized laboratory will also harmonize data in standardized,
validated, and consistent ways. In the past, there have been variations
from one laboratory to another.
"We realized that, depending on the laboratory, the results
of the assays can be different," says Dr. Klein. "That's
because the people, technologies, and methods of analysis are different.
Centralization and automation eliminate that source of error."
This means that researchers can compare vaccines and therapies
in an apples-to-apples way. All other things being equal, the results
can confidently be considered accurate. "It's a very potent
research tool," adds Dr. Klein.
Fully automated using robotic technology, the capacity of the new
laboratory – the number of tests and volume of data it can
handle – is tremendous. It's designed for high throughput
to meet an equally high demand. And it will do this while adhering
to good laboratory practices (GLP). "This is a very important
consideration," says Dr. Klein. "Automation is much better
than humans at complying with regulatory guidelines. It eliminates
human error and ensures that we can reproduce results."
Specially created technologies, both software and hardware, including
the robotic automation, will be developed in Canada by the University
Health Network of Toronto and companies such as Becton Dickinson
and the Canadian company Thermo CRS. However, while created in Canada
by Canadians, the benefits of the facility are really to the world.
"CANVAC has a mandate to transfer this technology to developing
countries," says Dr. Klein. "The goal is to make
sure that we use the same technologies all over the world."
Training highly qualified personnel is a vital component of the
NCE program. The new laboratory will provide an incredible learning
opportunity for students, who will be involved in actual research
projects and clinical trials rather than the more theoretical work
of academia.
"This real-world experience is extremely valuable," says
Dr. Klein. "Very few students in the university are exposed
to this kind of opportunity." The immune monitoring centre
will train highly qualified scientists interested in working in
a regulated scientific environment to "good laboratory practices"
and to the rigour of quality control that is standard in industry
settings.
The new laboratory will conduct tests from Phase I to Phase III
clinical trials, in other words from safety to efficacy trials.
The current areas of investigation are HIV, hepatitis C, and cancer,
but that's just the start.
"If we show that as a proof-of-concept, the immune monitoring
approach yields very important results, then this will be apply
to many other diseases. That would mean an expansion, obviously,"
says Dr. Klein.
That expansion and broadening of the areas of investigation is
one of their key goals. "These fields are never static,"
says Dr. Klein. "We always need to look further ahead. So while
this platform is state-of-the-art today, there will be a component
of the research to bring on new tests or more specific assays to
look at different aspects of the immune response, in a dynamic situation.
It's a continuum of progress."
Work on installing the laboratory will begin in early January 2005
and take approximately six months. So by mid-2005, the laboratory
will start performing tests, and it should reach full capacity by
the end of next year.
www.canvac.ca
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