Dr. Aaron Farnsworth

Research Scientist

Leading a research team in method development for the quality assessment of viral vaccines.

Current research and/or projects

Developing  tools for the quality control of vaccines and biotherapeutics.

Research and/or project statements

  • Developing new methods for the potency determination of inactivated influenza vaccines and inactivated polio vaccines
  • Investigating the shelf-life stability of monovalent and trivalent inactivated influenza vaccines
  • Participation in international proficiency testing of genomic techniques for the detection of Parvovirus B19 in plasma-derived health products

Professional activities / interests

  • Health Canada Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) working group: Expert Advisory Committee on Blood, Cells, Tissues and Organs
  • Health Canada Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate representative to the Standarisation of Genome Amplification Techniques (SoGAT) Blood Virology group

Education and awards

  • 2013 Health Products and Food Branch Associate Deputy Minister Award for Excellence: New Public Servant.
  • 2005 Ph.D. Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)
  • 1998 B.Sc. Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia (UBC)

Key publications

1: Doyle TM, Jaentschke B, Van Domselaar G, Hashem AM, Farnsworth A, Forbes NE,Li C, Wang J, He R, Brown EG, Li X. The universal epitope of influenza a viral neuraminidase fundamentally contributes to enzyme activity and viral replication. J Biol Chem. 2013 Jun 21;288(25):18283-9.

2: Hashem AM, Gravel C, Farnsworth A, Zou W, Lemieux M, Xu K, Li C, Wang J,Goneau MF, Merziotis M, He R, Gilbert M, Li X. A novel synthetic receptor-based immunoassay for influenza vaccine quantification. PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e55428.

3: Bliu A, Lemieux M, Li C, Li X, Wang J, Farnsworth A. Modifying the thermostability of inactivated influenza vaccines. Vaccine. 2012 Aug 10;30(37):5506-11.

4: Creskey MC, Li C, Wang J, Girard M, Lorbetskie B, Gravel C, Farnsworth A, Li X, Smith DG, Cyr TD. Simultaneous quantification of the viral antigens hemagglutinin and neuraminidase in influenza vaccines by LC-MSE. Vaccine. 2012 Jul 6;30(32):4762-70.

5: Russell MS, Li C, Larocque L, Wang J, Farnsworth A, He R, Li X. Rapid and accurate determination of the potency of varicella vaccine by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Vaccine. 2011 Nov 3;29(47):8490-5.

6: Farnsworth A, Cyr TD, Li C, Wang J, Li X. Antigenic stability of H1N1 pandemic vaccines correlates with vaccine strain. Vaccine. 2011 Feb 11;29(8):1529-33.

7: Farnsworth A, Flaman AS, Prasad SS, Gravel C, Williams A, Yauk CL, Li X. Acetaminophen modulates the transcriptional response to recombinant interferon-beta. PLoS One. 2010 Jun 9;5(6):e11031.

8: Hashem AM, Flaman AS, Farnsworth A, Brown EG, Van Domselaar G, He R, Li X. Aurintricarboxylic acid is a potent inhibitor of influenza A and B virus neuraminidases. PLoS One. 2009 Dec 17;4(12):e8350.

9: Chun S, Li C, Van Domselaar G, Wang J, Farnsworth A, Cui X, Rode H, Cyr TD, He R, Li X. Universal antibodies and their applications to the quantitative determination of virtually all subtypes of the influenza A viral hemagglutinins. Vaccine. 2008 Nov 11;26(48):6068-76.