The largest research project ever conducted in the Vancouver Island Health Authority has received $10 million in funding from Genome BC, Genome Canada, the Vancouver Island Health Authority, and other partners. Re­searchers led by Dr Andrew Penn, a Victoria-based neurologist, aim to develop a quick and inexpensive test to accurately diagnose minor stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).

Conditions like migraines can present like a minor stroke, leading to expensive neuroimaging testing and inconclusive results. The re­search team is using state-of-the-art genom­ics and proteomics technologies to develop a blood test that can diagnose TIA for a much lower cost than CT or MRI scans. For more in­formation visit www.viha.ca/about_viha/news/news_releases/tia_research_genome_bc_28March... [8].