We provide patient support, education, and research for a cure for Primary Immunodeficiency (PI).
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Alberta (Including the Northwest Territories) Starts Newborn Screening for SCID
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In June 2019, Alberta will become the latest province to screen newborns for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) in thanks to the hard-working efforts of Drs. Nicola Wright, Rebecca Sparkes, Clinical Associate Professor of Medical Genetics, The Alberta Newborn Metabolic Screening Program and Newborn Metabolic Screening Laboratory, and all the families and healthcare providers who helped advocate for screening with the Alberta Ministry of Health.
The Alberta screening program also includes the Northwest Territories and joins the east coast movement spearheaded by Dr. Thomas Issekutz at IWK Health Network who started newborn screening for SCID in March 2019, building on the successful initial application made in Ontario in 2013 by Dr. Chaim Roifman, Chair and Scientific Director of Immunodeficiency Canada.
Newborn screening will detect this problem early before complications develop and allow for prompt life-saving interventions such as bone marrow transplantation and newly announced gene therapy. Diagnosis is key to the success and survival of these infants.
Current incidence of SCID in Alberta is ~1:43 000 live births without newborn screening. Compared to 1:58 000 live births in the U.S. with newborn screening. The Alberta incidence of SCID is significantly higher than what has been published with screening in the U.S. and the expected numbers may increase with screening. Currently, there are at least 1-2 cases of SCID in AB babies/year.
Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary offers hematopoietic stem cell transplant for patients with Primary Immunodeficiencies including SCID, and they have the ability to do various types of haploidentical stem cell transplants if indicated. They are the transplant referral centre for all of AB and NWT, and they also accept patients from SK and eastern BC. Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton also has a Pediatric Immunology service that manages PI patients, including SCID, and works closely with the Alberta program for patients requiring transplants.
Immunodeficiency Canada and our PI Physician Network is determined to advocate and secure expanded newborn screening to the rest of the country for newborns born with SCID. Immunodeficiency Canada, working to saving one life at a time!
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CSASI 2018 Conference, 6th sCID Satellite Symposium
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Immunodeficiency Canada's 6th sCID Satellite Symposium took place on September 13th, 2018. It was held at the annual scientific meeting of CSACI in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Special acknowledgement goes to Dr. Amarilla Mandola, the winner of best abstract amongst her esteemed colleagues with “Novel heterozygous PIK3CD mutation with only laboratory markers of combined Immunodeficiency.”
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The Israeli Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Annual Meeting
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In conjunction with Allergists for Israel and Immunodeficiency Canada, the annual meeting took place from November 29th to December 1st, 2018, at the Oriental Hotel in Jerusalem. Whereby, our very own Dr. Chaim Roifman received an award for his contribution toward Immunodeficiency in Israel.
Thank you to the Speakers:
Dr. Chaim Roifman; Dr. Bruce Mazer; Dr. Fabio Candotti; Dr. Maite de la Morena; Dr. Joel Pomerantz; Dr. Amarilla Mandola; Dr. Carsten Speckmann; Dr. Adi Ovadia; Dr. Yael Dinur-Schejter; Dr. Raz Somech; Dr. Amit Nahum; Dr. Nufar Marcus; and Dr. Michael Farkash.
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Immunodeficiency Canada 7th Annual sCID Symposium:
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
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Immunodeficiency Canada is pleased to announce a call for abstracts for the 7th Annual Immunodeficiency Canada SCID Symposium. The symposium will take place on Thursday October 24th, 2019, at the CSACI Annual Scientific Meeting in Montreal. Fellows are invited to submit a 2-3 page structured abstract (approx. 1,500 words) to
network@immunodeficiency.ca
. Figures and references should be included.
The deadline for abstract submission is July 30th, 2019
.
Please note that submission to this symposium is separate and should not overlap with abstract submissions to the general CSACI Annual Scientific Meeting. As in previous years, plaques and cash awards will be awarded to the top three abstract submissions. Selected abstracts will be presented during 10-15 minute lightning speaker sessions, and all abstracts will be published in LymphoSign Journal, the official journal of Immunodeficiency Canada.
Thank you for your contribution and we look forward to another successful symposium!
Chaim M. Roifman. MD, FRCPC.
Scientific Director Immunodeficiency Canada
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2018 Chaim Roifman Scholar Award Recipient
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Immunodeficiency Canada is pleased to award Dr. Thomas Issekutz of the IWK Health Centre located in Halifax, Nova Scotia and serving the Maritimes, the 2018 Chaim Roifman Scholar Award for his research proposal entitled: "Determination of the role of B cell heterozygous mutations in B cell development and antibody production."
The next call for Letters of Intent for research funding is
Friday, September 17, 2019.
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In December we concluded our 2018 Webcast series with Kateryna Vostrestsova and Hasan Kular, with the presentation titles “A case of EBV infection in possible PID” and “A Case of Renal Disease in PID,” respectively.
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PI Webcast Series Dates 2019
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The next scheduled dates for the PI Webcast:
- June 17th, 2019: Presenting Site McMaster; Hamilton Health Sciences
- September 23rd, 2019: TBA
- December 2nd, 2019: TBA
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IgNS 2019 8th National Conference
Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
First-time attendees can now apply for a scholarship package which includes: full conference registration; pre-conference review courses; IG therapy Standard of Practice; and much more.
Conference dates: October 24th to October 27th, 2019
AAI Annual Meeting 2019
San Diego Convention Centre, San Diego, California, USA
Conference dates: May 9th to May 13th, 2019
CSACI Annual Scientific Meeting
Bonaventure Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Featuring an Immunodeficiency Canada Satellite Symposium.
Conference dates: October 23rd to 27th, 2019
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LymphoSign Journal is available for immunologists in Canada by subscription and open access (after six months from date of publication). For more information contact
editorialoffice@lymphosign.com.
The latest published issue of LymphoSign Journal (1st March, 2019) features:
Reinhard A. Seger
Yael Dinur Schejter, Amarilla Mandola, Brenda Reid
Mohammad Alsalamah, Linda Vong, Lorand Cimpean, Harjit Dadi
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Newborn Screening for SCID
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Alberta becomes the latest province to screen newborns for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) in thanks to the hard-working efforts of Nicola Wright and her team at Alberta Children's Hospital. Alberta joins the east coast's movement spearheaded by Dr. Thomas Issekutz at IWK Health Network who started newborn screening for SCID in March 2019 and builds upon the successful initial application made in Ontario in 2013 by Dr. Chaim Roifman, Chair and Scientific Director of Immunodeficiency Canada with the extraordinary support of the Newborn Screening Ontario team at CHEO.
Newborn screening will detect this problem early before complications develop and allow for prompt life-saving interventions such as bone marrow transplantation and newly announced gene therapy. Diagnosis is key to the success and survival of these infants.
Immunodeficiency Canada is determined to keep working to expand screening to the rest of the country.
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Exciting Changes for Immunodeficiency Canada
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As of June, Immunodeficiency Canada will be moving to a new office. Our new home will be located at
439 University Ave, Suite 848, Toronto, M5G 1Y8.
The reason we are located downtown is so that we can be close to the hospital circuit.
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Newsletter Editor:
Dana Ewachow
Contributors:
Richard Thompson, Shirley Lau, Cindy Chen, Linda Vong
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Immunodeficiency Canada is supported by our Cornerstone Sponsors:
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Immunodeficiency Canada is supported by our Builder Sponsors:
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Connect with us on social media:
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