Innovotech has launched InnovoTEST hazardous drug wipe testing kits, which are designed to help compounding pharmacies, hospitals, and cancer centres monitor hazardous drug contamination on workplace surfaces. The kits offer domestic Canadian laboratory analysis aligned with national pharmacy regulatory standards.
"By keeping sample analysis in Canada, Innovotech offers healthcare facilities a convenient domestic solution with local technical support and laboratory expertise aligned with Canadian regulatory requirements," a release reads, noting the high quality of the publicly traded company's Edmonton-based labs and the extensive expertise found there.
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The University of Alberta has partnered with Toronto-based Xanadu to build a quantum computing framework to develop non-invasive cancer treatments. Xanadu and U of A researcher Alex Brown will explore photodynamic cancer therapy using light-activated compounds called photosensitizers for minimally invasive, targeted treatment of tumours. "By combining Xanadu's quantum expertise with our experience in modelling photodynamic therapy, we're excited to explore how quantum computing could provide new tools for designing more effective treatments," Brown said.
RNARevive is working to develop a platform for self-amplifying RNA therapeutics that enable the body to produce its own personalized medicine. Co-founder Nina Karpoff told Taproot the company's primary strategy is to license or co-develop therapeutics with partners. She noted Edmonton's innovators are "highly respected" internationally but remain underrecognized locally: "We're making waves, making sure people know who we are."
The Royal Alexandra Hospital's CHARGE program is performing complex hernia surgeries that many patients were told could never be done. CHARGE, which stands for Complex Hernia and Abdominal Reconstruction Group of Edmonton, has become recognized nationally as a leader in the field under the leadership of Ram Anantha from the University of Alberta. "It impacted my life in more ways than you can imagine," hernia patient Corry Coyne told Postmedia. "It actually brings tears to my eyes because I went from somebody who had a very full life to somebody who did nothing."
Nanostics co-founder Catalina Vasquez shared that she completed the NEXT Founders program from NEXT Canada. She said the program pushed her to think about scaling, product-market fit, and building a company with global impact, as Nanostics works to expand its ClarityDX Prostate AI tool internationally.
Registration is open for Scientific Entrepreneurship Day, a half-day event for University of Alberta researchers, postdocs, students, professors, and those exploring research commercialization, startups, and spinouts. Participants will hear from U.S.-based Celesta Capital about spinout readiness, building science-driven companies, and navigating market opportunity, IP, customer discovery, non-dilutive funding, and venture capital.
A University of Alberta interdisciplinary team is developing self-sterilizing polymer dental fillings that disinfect their surface during regular chewing or ultrasound treatment, as a mercury-free alternative to amalgam fillings that will be phased out globally by 2034. The team recently received a $250,000 New Frontiers in Research Fund grant for the two-year project.
The Neighbourly Pharmacy Placement Award at the University of Alberta offsets housing and travel costs for pharmacy students completing rural placements across Alberta. "A lot of times when students are given the opportunity to be exposed to the incredible level of care that can be provided in these underserved communities, it impacts them quite a bit," said Pete Dean of Neighbourly Pharmacy, which funds the program. "We feel it's very important to give students that chance to be exposed to how meaningful care can be in those areas."
A University of Alberta study has found that pregnant women can continue climbing into their third trimester without a significantly higher risk of complications, providing the first direct evidence that exercise guidelines restricting expectant women from the sport may not be warranted. Researchers surveyed 692 participants globally across nearly 64,000 hours of climbing and found no significant difference in pregnancy or fetal health outcomes between those who stopped at 27 weeks and those who continued.
Rat Creek Press took a look at the Sacred Spaces to Community Places program, which offers faith groups pre-development funding of up to $100,000 through the Edmonton Community Foundation and the federal government to explore building affordable housing on their land. "This is a really beautiful way to send a legacy forward, recognize that their role was shifting, but that they could still be contributing to their mission and to the community," said Coun. Anne Stevenson.
A study published in The Lancet Psychiatry found that an Edmonton site for a national youth mental health program called Access Open Minds saved the public health system an average of $4,355 per patient per year by shifting care from hospital admissions toward intensive outpatient settings, says a piece from Health Exec. Researchers drew on data from about 1,500 Edmonton-area youth enrolled in the program from April 2016 to September 2019, finding a return on investment of 9.7%.
Connect, share ideas, and spark new collaborations
From Sept. 21 to 25, Life Sciences Week brings together industry leaders, policymakers, researchers, innovators, and students for free, community-led events across Alberta. Explore cutting-edge breakthroughs, meet the people transforming bold ideas into real-world solutions, and help shape the future of Alberta's life sciences sector.
Support sessions for people seeking compensation under the federal Indian hospitals class-action settlement are in Edmonton until Aug. 22, with free help with claims plus wellness and cultural supports for survivors of abuse at segregated hospitals, including the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital. The settlement can pay eligible claimants between $10,000 and $200,000. Community researcher Miranda Jimmy told Postmedia that the segregated hospital system, like residential schools, was a colonial institution intended to mistreat Indigenous people, and many survivors were infants or children at the time of admission with limited memories of what occurred.
Hope Mission is seeking a rezoning that would allow it to run a permanent 120-bed shelter at its logistics centre in the Girard Industrial area near Argyll Road and 75 Street. City administration supports the application, but 32 of the 33 responses the city received opposed it, with 17 citing concerns about public safety, security, and crime. The public hearing on the item was postponed to Aug. 25.
Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel voiced concern about Alberta's dual-practice healthcare model, set to take effect in September, writing to the province in July to ask it to protect the public health system. Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said the model does not violate the Canada Health Act and that Albertans who choose to pay privately for elective surgery should be able to do so in-province.
Alberta has recorded no new measles cases since June, but a Stollery Children's Hospital pediatric infectious diseases physician warns the province will likely see another outbreak within one to two years, citing low vaccination rates in some areas. Alberta has recorded 2,325 measles cases since the outbreak began — the second-highest total in Canada after Ontario.
Journalist Jeremy Appel recounted spending 20 hours in the emergency room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital after a cycling accident, describing compassionate but overworked staff and an estimated four-hour wait that stretched to 20. Appel argued Alberta's dual-practice model under Bill 11 will extend public wait times further as physicians shift toward private practice.
This roundup was sponsored by Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation.
API is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit life sciences commercialization organizations. We catalyze growth in the life sciences sector by addressing key challenges that hold companies and innovators back.
