Learning Outcomes

• Identify your career goals
• Become more knowledgeable about the career path
• Become aware and engage opportunities that are available

Session Description

Who knew being a lab tech was going to be like this!? From the highs and the lows, to the great successes and epic failures, each experience has led me to where I am today. I want to share with all you my experiences, mistakes, accomplishments, successes, challenges, struggles and yes even my inner most secrets. I’m now halfway through my career and as I reflect back to when I first started to where I am now…..boy what a ride! Definitely excited to continue and see what the next half will look like.

Learning Outcomes

• Provide a historical account of the discovery of von Willebrand Disease (vWD)
• Describe the function of von Willebrand Factor (vWF), an important procoagulant enzyme
• Provide a current update of the role of vWF in the thrombotic symptoms of COVID-19 patients

Session Description

In 1926, Dr. Erik Adolf von Willebrand first described an inherited bleeding disorder that afflicted an entire family in his native Finland. Since then, there have been several different types of von Willebrand Disease (vWD) identified which are all caused by abnormalities in the quantity or function of von Willebrand Factor (vWF), both named in honour of Dr. von Willebrand's pioneering work. This lecture will provide a comprehensive history of the discovery and classification of vWD subtypes, as well as a current review of the role vWF plays in the thrombotic symptoms of a subset of COVID-19 patients.

Learning Outcomes

• Clinical relevance of next-generation sequencing at the time of diagnosis of leukemia
• Clinical relevance of next-generation sequencing based minimal residual disease monitoring in leukemia and after allogeneic stem cell transplantation
• Single cell sequencing technology as a future diagnostic tool in leukemia

Learning Outcomes

• Evaluate CBC results through case study review of common and uncommon hematological pathologies
• Identify abnormal lab results that may accompany disease states
• Discuss how abnormal cell morphology influences scattergram patterns and flagging on the XN Series™ analyzers

Session Description

Please join us for a Hematology Cell Morphology case study webinar. Martine Blais and Jeremy Marks from Sysmex Canada will review some case studies and discuss how abnormal cell morphology influences scattergram patterns and flagging.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe existing evidence and rationale for convalescent plasma treatment
• Understand how research is informing our knowledge about the efficacy of convalescent plasma in treating COVID-19 patients
• Understand donor centre activities regarding recruitment and collection of COVID-19 convalescent plasma

Session Description

In this session we will discuss what convalescent plasma treatment is, the existing evidence and rationale for its use, as well as the history of the use of this blood product as a treatment for various viral pathogens. We will discuss how research through international clinical trials is informing our understanding of the efficacy of using convalescent plasma to treat patients sick with COVID-19. Finally, we will discuss donor centre activities regarding donor recruitment and collection of COVID-19 convalescent plasma, a precious resource given altruistically by donors recovered from COVID-19.

Learning Outcomes

• To learn how allogeneic stem cell transplantation was developed
• To learn how the concept of T cell therapy evolved
• To learn how this translates into recent T cell therapy approaches

Session Description

This session will give an historic overview about the development of allogeneic stem cell transplantation in context with the developments in the field of immunology, as both areas are closely linked. It will then highlight how the concept of T cell therapy was discovered and how more recent developments have emerged based on the observations from allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Armin Gerbitz received his medical training at the University of Munich in Germany and became part of the Munich stem cell transplantation team in 1995. After his post doc at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston in1999, he continued his training at various places and eventually became attending physician at the Charite in Berlin. He continued as program director at the Charite Berlin until he moved to Canada in 2019. He currently is staff physician at the Hans Messner allogeneic stem cell transplantation Program and Medical Director of the Orsino Cell Processing Lab at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. He is married and has two daughters who keep him honest.