Health and biomanufacturing: 2025–2026 Annual Report

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of today's most urgent health threats. When bacteria adapt to survive the antibiotics meant to destroy them, once-treatable infections can become life-threatening conditions. This is driving up the costs of health care, extending hospital stays and limiting treatment options for people across Canada—and increasing the risks of routine medical procedures such as joint replacements and caesarean sections. Now, we are looking to fight AMR by using phages, viruses that target and eliminate drug-resistant bacteria while leaving the body's helpful microbes untouched.

Our researchers are working to discover phages that can target a broader range of harmful bacteria and design better ways of growing phages in the lab so they can be produced safely and at scale. The project team is also developing software to help clinicians match the right phage to each infection, which will make treatments faster and more precise.

"We are laying the groundwork for next-generation therapeutics that can complement or even replace antibiotics," says Danielle Peters, NRC research officer and co-lead on this project. "This project matters because it will position the NRC and Canada to respond proactively to the growing AMR crisis, protect public health and strengthen national resilience through innovative, science-driven solutions."

A growing biomanufacturing ecosystem sets the stage for long-term impact

While the project is still in its early stages, significant progress has already been made. Peters and her team, which includes experts from many disciplines, have finalized a collaborative research agreement with Winnipeg-based Cytophage Technologies. The company has provided phages that will be used in our immune-response studies. Another agreement is being established with the Public Health Agency of Canada to give the team access to an exclusive dataset that will help train our predictive phage-matching software. Together, these efforts are advancing novel alternatives to antibiotics and strengthening Canada's biomanufacturing ecosystem.

"These initial steps are critical for aligning our collaborators in industry and academia, securing key resources and ensuring a strong start to what will become a nationally significant research effort to combat AMR," says Peters. "By contributing both foundational knowledge and practical solutions, we are strengthening this national effort by addressing some of the scientific and technical challenges that currently limit the broader adoption of phage therapy. It has been incredibly rewarding to realize that this research could eventually contribute to making phage therapy a viable option here in Canada."

The influence of this work is already being seen within Canada's expanding phage therapy research community. Clinical trials for phage therapy are just beginning, marking an important shift toward exploring the real-world applications of this technology. Partnering with biotech companies across the country, the NRC is supporting Canadian innovators in designing and testing phage-based treatments to confirm their therapies are safe and ready for clinical testing and commercialization.

Peters says the long-term impact of this research will be felt across the health-care system, where phage-based therapies could improve patient outcomes and extend the effectiveness of existing antibiotics. By finding new ways to protect people even as the resistance to antibiotics grows, we are keeping Canada ahead of this global challenge and helping modern medicine continue working when people need it most.

"Phages are natural predators of bacteria. Our research is helping harness them as safe, effective treatments for infections that no longer respond to antibiotics. For Canadians who are struggling with chronic or drug-resistant bacterial infections, this work will bring phage therapy one step closer to being a treatment option they can access in our country."

There is a kind of light that is emitted by all plants and animals but is invisible to the naked eye. Last year, we developed an instrument to see that light, bringing us one step closer to being able to detect and monitor diseases without the need for invasive procedures.

Called ultraweak biophoton emission, this light is linked to various biological processes, with changes in its intensity serving as a possible early indicator of disease. Working with Montréal-based imaging company Photon etc., we custom built a first-of-its-kind imaging technology, then used it to confirm that not only do live mice emit the light but also, in certain organs, the biophoton activity does not stop immediately after death. This research could give us a new window into how life fades at the cellular level. Researchers from across the NRC are designing a second, more precise imaging system that can detect biophoton signals directly from brain cell assemblies, which could help establish non-invasive ways to detect and monitor diseases. Building on these findings, our researchers are investigating the role of ultraweak biophoton emission in cancer and exploring whether light could represent a third form of neuronal communication, alongside electrical and chemical signals.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‑cell therapies have revolutionized the treatment of certain blood cancers. Over the past several years, our researchers have helped design, develop and launch a novel made-in-Canada CAR‑T therapy for B‑cell leukemia and lymphoma. In 2025, we began working with BC Cancer and Princess Margaret Hospital to develop 2 new CAR‑T therapies to find and attack solid tumours such as ovarian, endometrial and pancreatic cancers.

With CAR‑T therapy, scientists collect a patient's T‑cells (a type of immune cell that can kill abnormal cells), genetically reprogram them in a lab to destroy cancerous cells and then reinfuse them into the patient. Designing a new CAR‑T therapy demands many long hours in the lab. It can then take months or years to identify a promising therapeutic candidate and compile the data needed to get regulatory approval for clinical trials. In the early days of this work, patient partners play a vital role, bringing their unique perspectives and priorities to help guide research questions, design choices and outcome measures. Involving patients keeps our research aligned with real-world needs.

By editing a living cell's genetic instructions, cell and gene therapies are opening new possibilities for treating diseases at their source. With tools and expertise from the NRC, the Genome Foundry at Concordia University developed an automated platform for simpler, faster and more precise modifications of mammalian cells. It enables researchers to easily explore how potential therapies will interact with those cells before testing them on real people, which will help bold ideas move from concept to treatment more quickly.

The Genome Foundry previously focused its work on microbes such as yeast and bacteria. By extending its platform to include mammalian cells, Canada's clinical, academic and biotechnology ecosystem can now work with cells that better reflect how the human body works. This will also power advanced research capabilities, including engineering human-induced pluripotent stem cells. These can be reprogrammed to become many types of cells found in the body, potentially reshaping the way we treat heart disease, diabetes and neurological disorders.

Sepsis is responsible for an estimated 11 million deaths every year, including 18,000 in Canada. Last year, a team of scientists from across the country, including researchers from the NRC, developed a new blood test and point-of-care device to help physicians predict the risk of sepsis.

Sepsis is the body's extreme reaction to an infection, leading to organ failure or even death if not treated quickly. Yet while many people get infections, it is difficult to predict who will develop sepsis. Using AI, the project team identified 6 genes in a person's blood that show changes when the immune system is starting to dysregulate. This test was 92% accurate in detecting patients whose condition was about to worsen.

To bring the test closer to bedside—and out of the centralized labs that can cause harmful delays—we developed a portable diagnostic platform called PowerBlade. Using less than 50 microlitres (roughly a tiny drop) of blood, it can deliver results in under 3 hours without any complex lab infrastructure or specialized personnel. PowerBlade will put a powerful new tool into the hands of frontline health-care providers, helping them treat patients whether they are in an urban emergency room or a remote Northern community.