Custer Receives 2017 Hemphill-Jordan Leadership Award

10/7/2017

Dr. Custer received the 2017 Hemphill-Jordan Leadership Award at the AABB annual meeting for his long-term contributions to blood safety research since 2003, and his significant influence in helping U.S. policy-makers revise and set blood donation regulations. Through his consistent willingness to lend expertise and mentorship to colleagues and peers around the world, Custer was a worthy recipient for the award that honors leaders in transfusion medicine and cellular therapy. 

[Image posted with permission from AABB]

ABC Newsletter on TACO Studies

7/21/2017

Edward Murphy, MD, MPH, and Nareg Roubinian, MD, MPHTM, have been leading the Severe Transfusion Reactions including Pulmonary Edema (STRIPE), as part of REDS-III. STRIPE, a case-control study, examines both transfusion and clinical data to better characterize risk factors and outcomes for Transfusion-Associated Circulatory Overload (TACO).   In addition, the STRIPE study includes biospecimen collection to allow study of cytokines and other biomarkers in the diagnosis and pathogenesis of TACO.

Hologic's Panther System at BSRI for HIV Research

7/21/2017

Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) today announced a collaboration to more precisely and efficiently measure the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) latent reservoir in clinical samples using the Panther system from Hologic, Inc. – a fully automated molecular diagnostics platform that provides test consolidation, random-access sample loading, and proven assay chemistry.

Abstinence, HIV And Blood Donation

1/12/2017

Dr. Brian Custer discusses why the one-year ban on sexually active gay men donating blood still exists.

US FDA Lifts Lifetime Ban on MSM Blood Donation

8/20/2016

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking for new scientific research as it reevaluates a controversial policy banning men from donating blood if they admit to having had sex with another man in the past year. Gay rights advocates say the rules are not based in science, but on decades of stigma regarding gay men and AIDS. NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano reports.

Sugar-binding Protein Galectin-9 Found to be a New Weapon to Cure HIV

7/13/2016

The ultimate impediment to a cure for HIV infection is the presence of latent, HIV-infected cells, which can reawaken and produce new virus when antiretroviral drug therapy is stopped. These latent, HIV-infected cells are untouched by antiretroviral therapy and are unseen by the immune system.