LONDON, ON, Aug. 20, 2026 /CNW/ -- Children's Health Research Institute (CHRI), part of London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute (LHSCRI) is now home to Canada's first paediatric laboratory certified to use Olink technology, giving researchers a powerful new tool to better understand childhood disease and accelerate the development of earlier, more personalized treatments at Children's Hospital, LHSC.

Made possible through generous donor support to Children's Health Foundation, the state-of-the-art laboratory enables researchers to measure thousands of proteins from just a single drop of blood. By identifying subtle changes in proteins before symptoms appear, scientists and clinicians can better understand how diseases develop, monitor how they progress, and uncover new opportunities for earlier diagnosis and treatment.

"This technology changes the way we study childhood diseases," said Dr. Victor Han, Scientific Director of CHRI. "Instead of waiting until children become sick, we can identify and detect changes in proteins much earlier, helping us to diagnose the disease before it becomes clinically apparent. More importantly, by analyzing the changes in proteins in the blood using bioinformatics and artificial intelligence, we will be able to delineate the disease process and develop more personalized and targeted treatments."

The technology is especially significant for infants and young children, where blood collection is often limited. While conventional testing methods may require up to a few milliliters of blood, Olink technology can generate detailed protein profiles from only a fraction of that amount.

"For premature babies weighing only one or two pounds, every drop of blood matters," says Dr. Han. "Being able to perform this level of analysis from such a small sample opens new possibilities for infant and paediatric research."

The laboratory is already supporting research into preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication that can affect both mothers and babies. Researchers are studying protein biomarkers that could one day lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention before the disease and its complications arise.

Beyond advancing research at CHRI, the laboratory will also provide researchers across Canada with greater access to advanced protein analysis. Until now, many samples had to be shipped internationally for testing.

"The goal is to predict diseases before children become seriously ill," says Dr. Han. "The earlier we understand what's happening inside the body, the sooner we can intervene and give children the best possible chance at healthier lives."

SOURCE Children's Health Foundation