Canadian Blood Services - Société canadienne du sang

Development and evaluation of new methods of detection for platelet function in the context of transfusion medicine or clinical pathology of bleeding disorders; Dynamic light scattering and its application in platelet quality control, microparticle and bacterial detection, characterization of formulations for liposomal drug delivery and protein biochemistry; Determination of platelet serotonin, specifically in genetic disorders and the effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants; Application of biophysical techniques for analysis and understanding of platelet quality and platelet-related diseases.

The main focus of research in Dr. Maurer's laboratory is the use of light scattering, in particular dynamic light scattering, to determine the shape of platelets, the number of microparticles and the response to temperature change as an indicator of platelet quality. The technology has been implemented in a method and device called the ThromboLUX, which is intended for pre-transfusion platelet quality testing. One issued and three filed patents protect the intellectual property of the ThromboLUX technology.

Successful demonstration of its usefulness also in a clinical pilot study published in Transfusion prompted Dr. Maurer to work towards making the technology widely available. With the support of CBS Dr. Maurer has founded LightIntegra Technology Inc., a Canadian company with the goal to be the world leader in platelet quality testing technology (www.lightintegra.com). LightIntegra aims to help patients worldwide by improving platelet quality for transfusion and by increasing platelet availability.

Selected Publications:

Maurer-Spurej E, Labrie A, Pittendreigh C, Chipperfield K, Smith C, Heddle N, Liu Y, Yi Q-L, Barnett M. Platelet quality measured with dynamic light scattering correlates with transfusion outcome in hematologic malignancies. Transfusion 2009; 49: in print.

Maurer-Spurej E, Pittendreigh C, Yakimec J, Hudoba De Badyn M, Chipperfield K. Erroneous automated optical platelet counts in 1-hour post-transfusion blood samples. Int J Lab Hematol 2008; DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-553X.2008.01097.x.

Maurer-Spurej E, Labrie A, Brown K. Routine Quality Testing of Blood Platelet Transfusions with Dynamic Light Scattering. Particles & Particle Systems Characterization, 2008; 25:99-104.

Maurer-Spurej E, Chipperfield K. Past and future approaches to assess the quality of platelet concentrates for transfusion. Transfusion Med Rev. 2007; 21(4): 295-305.

Maurer-Spurej E, Brown K, Labrie A, Marziali A, Glatter O. Portable dynamic light scattering instrument and method for the measurement of blood platelet suspensions. Phys Med Biol 2006; 51: 3747-3758.


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