This project is an exciting search for the holy grail of anti-D donor research: identifying the “secret sauce” in a person’s immune response that makes them produce an anti-D immune response.
Did you know that blood types go beyond A, B, and O? In fact, there are over 350 different blood types, and some of those are more common in people with particular ethnic ancestry.
I couldn’t provide a sample when I was at a donor centre and now I can’t donate, can I still be part of the study?Yes. The blood samples are just one part of the study.
People with Hereditary haemochromatosis (HHC) who donate at Lifeblood reported that they feel more like donors than patients. This suggests that Lifeblood could change the way we communicate with them, as we currently communicate with them as “patients”. They did not know much about plasma and had mixed views on being able to donate plasma.
One of the easiest ways to help meet demand is to encourage those who already donate to give blood more often. But what would it take to encourage regular blood donation?
Why don’t we pay donors?
What does it mean to find out you’re rare? Lifeblood researchers set out to explore the experience of donors learning of their rare blood type: what it means for them, their donation behaviour and perspectives on the communications received.
Lifeblood researchers, with the help of a small number of very dedicated donors, were able to contribute to some amazing work on novel COVID-19 therapies being conducted by Associate Professor Emily Blyth and her team in the Westmead T-Cell Therapies Group (WTCG) at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.