Behcet’s Canada DNA Study & VFC Fall Lectures 2016
Reserve the date and plan to attend.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Charlton Campus
50 Charlton Ave. East
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada
Behcet’s Canada Members and Friends,
We will be hosting another Behcet's DNA blood draw and patient conference again this year together with Vasculitis Foundation Canada.
We still need another 80 people to donate their blood to make this a successful study. This is such an important study because with these results it can lead to a test to diagnosis BD, test family members to see if they carry the gene and come up with treatments to help turn this gene off.
Our Ongoing Genetic Studies:
Vasculitis Foundation Canada and Behcet’s Canada joined forces with Dr. Katherine Siminovitch, M.D., FRCP(C), from Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital to help co-ordinate, what is believed to be one of the first genetic research studies on Behcet’s Disease and Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) (Wegener’s), in the world. Dr. Siminovitch is a Rheumatologist, Geneticist and Senior Investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital.
As in the past Dr. Siminovitch will be collecting DNA samples from all Behcet’s patients, who have not participated in the past. Vasculitis Study Controls are also an important part of any research study and these are needed in vasculitis research too! Spouses of patients are ideal candidates as they are not blood related, and can participate in the research with patients. Some restrictions apply, for example study controls should be healthy, and with no auto-immune diseases themselves. Collections of study controls are ongoing and can be arranged to be done at the same time as patients.
Study lab collections in person at Behcet’s Canada and VFC events are the best method of gathering patient samples. For those patients who cannot participate in person, remote collections are possible throughout Canada at Life Labs mail-in-kits, other collection options are being considered. American patients may be able to participate from most States, via mail-in kits, or better yet, by attending Behcet’s Canada/VFC lectures typically held in Toronto, or short distances from Toronto. Note: Americans travelling to Toronto require passports to enter Canada.
For more information on how to participate via kits, doctors and patients are encouraged to contact Dr. Siminovitch’s research assistant Robyn Chen Sang at (416) 586-4800 x-5492 or by email at:
Get involved and help make a difference!
We have another information packed series of Fall Lectures planned that you won’t want to miss, and for the first time it will be held in Hamilton, Ontario.
Now with Updated Info on Current Vasculitis Genetic Studies!
This falls lectures will feature some fantastic doctors such as Dr’s Nader Khalidi (Rheumatology), Gerald Cox (Respirology), and of course Michael Walsh (Nephrology & Pexivas). In addition, we’ll hear updates from: Dr’s Christian Pagnoux (CanVasc), and Katherine Siminovitch (Vasculitis Genetics). We are particularly happy to advise you that our special guest speaker this year will be Dr. Peter Grayson from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in Bethesda, Maryland. As some of you know the NIH was central in developing the successful, and life-saving, use of immune suppression in the treatment of Vasculitis with “chemo” drugs such as cyclophosphamide and methotrexate. These developments changed the face of Vasculitis Diseases into survivable, and treatable, diseases but also had wide ranging implications for rheumatology, as a whole. Today, Dr. Grayson heads up a new translational research program which in a short time has already generated some impressive data using cutting edge imaging techniques which can revel the challenges of assessing large vessel vasculitis. He has conducted some interesting work on what clues the nose may hold in understanding the forms of vasculitis. Central to this work is the role of neutrophils in many forms of small vessel vasculitis and drug induced vasculitis.
This will be a great time to gather information, find out what progress has been made from the last blood draw, meet new doctors and other Behcet's patients. It will be an all day event that you won't want to miss. If you didn't get a chance to participate in the last event then try to make it to this one.
This is a one time only blood draw but new information about the study will be discussed. So come and join us!
More details will be forthcoming soon, including registration information, but in the meantime mark your calendars and plan to attend the Fall Lectures in Hamilton.
On behalf of the Behcet’s Canada and Vasculitis Foundation Canada Board, we look forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 22, 2016, in Hamilton, don’t miss it!
Cindy & Tracey
Behcet's Canada
Important Information Below: Behcet's DNA Study
Information on the DNA Testing please check back soon
Registration for the DNA Testing please check back soon
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Behcet's DNA Study
Hamilton, ON Canada
OCTOBER 22, 2016
