Breathing Easier
This article was originally written and submitted as part of a Canada 150 Project, the Innovation Storybook, to crowdsource stories of Canadian innovation with partners across Canada. The content has since been migrated to Ingenium’s Channel, a digital hub featuring curated content related to science, technology and innovation.
Breathing Easier
Premature babies often suffer from respiratory distress. Fred Possmayer of Western University, and Goran Enhorning of the University of Toronto, developed techniques to isolate, purify and sterilize lung surfactant — a substance that allows lungs to expand and breathe — so that it could be used clinically. This preparation, using surfactant extracted from cows’ lungs, is known as bovine lipid extract surfactant. One version of such surfactant, BLES®, is made in London and used by nearly all neonatal intensive care units in Canada and in many other countries. This research has saved the lives of premature babies around the world.
Western University
Founded in 1878, we deliver ‘The Western Experience’, an exemplary learning experience that engages the best and brightest people challenging them to meet ever-higher standards in the classroom and beyond.
We inform every dimension of a student – intellectual, social, cultural as well as physical. From our home in London, Ont., Canada, outward across every continent, Western prepares future leaders to succeed.
