Canadian researchers working to improve military and Veteran health met at St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s (St. Joseph’s) Parkwood Institute on December 4, 2017 for their fifth Research Consortium meeting.

The Research Consortium group, established in 2015, is led by Lawson researcher Dr. Don Richardson, Physician Clinical Lead at St. Joseph’s Operational Stress Injury Clinic (OSI Clinic). The group meets two to three times a year to provide updates on their projects and foster collaborative research partnerships, rotating between London, Hamilton and Toronto as host sites.

“Members of the military and Veterans have unique symptoms and treatment needs so it’s important that we engage in knowledge transfer with other researchers working with the same group of patients,” says Dr. Richardson. “The Research Consortium meetings are a great way to learn about recent projects from our peers and identify new avenues for collaboration with the goal of providing the best possible treatment outcomes for our patients.”

In addition to researchers from St. Joseph’s OSI Clinic, the Research Consortium group includes representatives from Defence Research and Development Canada, the Canadian Institute for Military & Veteran Health Research, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Homewood Research Institute, Western University, University of Manitoba, McMaster University, University of Toronto, Ryerson University and Queens University.

St. Joseph’s OSI Clinic provides specialized mental health services to Veterans, members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and their families who are experiencing mental health challenges as a result of service. The OSI Clinic is one of ten outpatient clinics in a national network across the country funded by Veterans Affairs Canada.

At the meeting, Dr. Richardson provided an update on recent projects at St. Joseph’s OSI Clinic, including research to enhance the understanding of moral injury.

Moral injury refers to lasting emotional distress that can occur when military men and women are exposed to events that disturb or undermine moral beliefs about how people can be expected to behave. OSI clinicians reported that exposure to these events drastically changes their patients’ views of the world; causes them to question their religion, spirituality or human nature; and often leaves them feeling disconnected from their loved ones. The researchers will now collect additional data from clinicians across the OSI national network and from the Research Consortium group. Part of their investigation will explore the relationship between different kinds of traumatic events and moral injuries, and mental well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be one of the most pressing health challenges of our time. With a rising number of cases and deaths worldwide, there’s a global urgency to finding a solution.

As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Lawson Health Research Institute excels in rapid response research and is uniquely positioned to tackle this problem from within hospital walls.

Our researchers belong to a health system at the forefront of the pandemic. With close proximity to patients and access to samples, they are mobilizing to address COVID-19.

“Lawson researchers include clinicians directly involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, as well as laboratory-based scientists and those with other expertise related to the pandemic response,” says Dr. David Hill, Scientific Director at Lawson and Integrated Vice President at LHSC and St. Joseph’s. “They are eager to contribute a solution and are combining their knowledge to address this issue from all angles.”

Already, Lawson research teams are initiating projects ranging from pre-clinical studies to clinical trials. They are planning to explore diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the disease, as well as long-term and mental health impacts. An immediate goal is to partner with other research hospitals to improve outcomes for COVID-19 patients around the world.

There are numerous COVID-19 studies underway at Lawson and many more going through the necessary approval processes. Recognizing the importance of a rapid response to this pandemic, Lawson’s Administration team is working to fast-track approval of the studies.

Lawson also offered a special internal COVID-19 funding competition to assist our researchers in their efforts. Lawson’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response Internal Research Fund supports projects that are identified as having the potential to impact the management of this pandemic and those that enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19. See the results of this competition and the 14 funded projects, for a total of more than $202,000 invested. 

While there is much to learn about COVID-19 and its impact on human health and our health care system, Lawson researchers are tackling the disease head-on.

How can you support COVID-19 research and clinical care?

Research at Lawson can be supported through three hospital foundations. With an outpouring of support from our community, the foundations are collecting donations to support our hospitals through this challenging time. Learn more about donating:

• St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation – St. Joseph’s Health Crisis Fund
• London Health Sciences Foundation - COVID-19 Response Fund 
• Children’s Health Foundation - COVID-19 Response Fund

Learn more about COVID-19 research at Lawson:

• London researchers join global initiative to study loss of smell in COVID-19 patients
• Study to examine inflammatory response in patients with COVID-19
• Local COVID-19 research supported by St. Joseph's Health Crisis Fund

A Canadian consortium, which includes Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson), TRIUMF, BC Cancer and Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization, is the first in the world to receive regulatory approval to produce the world’s most commonly used medical isotope, technetium-99m (Tc-99m), using small particle accelerators known as cyclotrons. 

Tc-99m is used in tens of millions of nuclear medicine procedures globally each year. These include cancer scans, cardiac tests, as well as several other diagnostic procedures. As the world moves away from uranium-based nuclear reactors, there has been growing concern in the medical community of a global shortage of these life-saving compounds. This development helps secure a domestic supply of Tc-99m for Canadian patients.

For over a decade, Dr. Michael Kovacs, Director, Lawson Cyclotron & PET Radiochemistry Facility, and Steven Foster, Business Manager, Lawson Imaging, have been working on research that has contributed significantly to this major development. They have demonstrated the successful production of Tc-99m on a standard hospital-based cyclotron at Lawson, confirming that this technology can be used by almost half of the world’s already installed cyclotrons. Clinical trials were conducted across Canada and locally at St. Joseph’s Health Care London.

“In 2011, we received federal funding to see if we could develop a technology to produce Tc-99m in hospital cyclotrons,” explains Dr. Kovacs. “Canada’s Chalk River nuclear reactor was one of the world’s largest suppliers, and it was set to close in 2016. Cyclotron facilities offer a greener, safer, more sustainable approach for producing critical medical isotopes. Our goal was to find an alternative to the traditional means of producing this isotope, and we have been successful.”

Nuclear medicine is a functional imaging technique, meaning that it images biological function. Medical isotopes are converted to radiopharmaceuticals which get injected into the patient during a procedure. According to the specific biological properties of the isotope, they move throughout the body, rendering a 3D map of where the isotope has gone. This gives researchers and medical professionals valuable information of how various physiological processes are performing.

“Canada is a global leader in nuclear imaging technology. With the help of our collaborators across the country, we have home-grown technology to produce commercial quantities of Tc-99m on common cyclotrons,” adds Mr. Foster.  “This technology has been patented and licensed to ARTMS Inc., a spin-off from the consortium, and is now being commercialized and sold throughout the world.”

The process was approved by Health Canada in November, 2020, and is expected to be deployed in British Columbia by 2022.