Vitalant Research Institute’s tradition of excellence in lifesaving research will continue under new leadership, as founder and Director Michael Busch, M.D., Ph.D., begins to wind down his storied career and transitions to a new role as director emeritus of Vitalant Research Institute while continuing as a vice president of research and scientific programs within Vitalant. After an extensive external and internal search, Brian Custer, Ph.D., M.P.H, was selected to lead the Research Institute as director and senior vice president of research and scientific programs with Vitalant.

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The International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated on Feb. 11, promotes full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, as well as honoring the achievements of women in the field.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Org (UNESCO0 Science Report, women account for only 33% of the world’s researchers¹. Here at Vitalant, women play vital roles across the organization, including at the Vitalant Research Institute.

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Each year, America’s Blood Centers (ABC) recognizes individuals, civic groups, media and corporations for their commitment to community and national blood programs through their Awards of Excellence program.

Vitalant has been recognized with two awards this year: The illustrious Thomas F. Zuck Lifetime Achievement Award for Dr. Michael P. Busch and Outstanding Public Relations Campaign for the COVID Rescue Team.
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The largest nationwide SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence survey, funded by the CDC and supported by 17 blood collection organizations representing blood donations from across all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, published its latest findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). More than 1.5 million samples from blood donations were tested over 11 months, estimating an 83.3% rate for combined infection- and vaccine-induced antibodies, among other observations.
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Vitalant is launching the Vitalant Innovation Center in Denver, Colorado, a key part of the Vitalant Research Institute. Vitalant is investing in the Innovation Center as part of its commitment to advancing the science of transfusion medicine. The center will provide scientific research and translational development expertise to design innovative processes for Vitalant and bring new products to the patients it serves.
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Blood collection organizations, testing laboratories and affiliated research institutes continue to play a critical role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and blood centers across the country are proud to be at the forefront. 

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Antibodies are one of the ways the human body fights infection from the coronavirus. Researchers believe testing for covid-19 antibodies can lead to possible treatments for the virus and help indicate when to reopen society.

We still don’t know how many people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Not only have countries struggled to roll out wide-scale testing for the virus, those efforts inevitably will miss people who have recovered from an infection. The best way to figure out how far and wide the virus has spread in a population is to look at blood. Antibodies, blood proteins that the immune system produces to attack pathogens, are viral fingerprints that remain long after infections are cleared. Sensitive tests can detect them even in people who never felt a single symptom of COVID-19.

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Blood tests for antibodies to the novel coronavirus will be “foundational, fundamental,” to sending Californians back to work, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday. But medical experts caution that there’s still a lot we don’t know about whether the tests are reliable enough to ensure people’s safety.

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People who have recovered from COVID-19 may have an outlet to help those ill with the disease caused by the new coronavirus: Donating their plasma.

In Arizona, a blood donation company, Vitalant (formerly United Blood Services), is starting to allow recovered patients to donate as part of a pilot program.

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In a new frontier to fight COVID-19, Bay Area researchers are racing to develop new blood tests that can not only help diagnose the disease, but could help determine whether people become immune after catching it and lay the groundwork for a vaccine.

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Vitalant Research Institute is pleased to announce that one of our lead investigators and vice president of research and scientific programs, Dr. Brian Custer, is being inducted into the National Blood Foundation’s (NBF) Hall of Fame.

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Earlier this summer, Pooja Bhardwaj, PhD, was awarded the Cynthia Bolovan-Fritts Research Excellence Award at the 9th annual Bay Area Symposium on Viruses held at UC Berkeley. The award is presented annually to an up-and-coming researcher with the best poster at the symposium.

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Bethesda, Md. – AABB announced today the names of the transfusion medicine and cellular therapy leaders who will be receiving the Association’s 2019 Memorial Awards. Award recipients will be recognized during the AABB Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Oct. 19-22.

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NHLBI of the NIH awarded VRI multiple seven-year contracts for the next evolution of Transfusion Medicine research that will be conducted under REDS. This is the fourth phase (REDS-IV-P) of funding for the REDS programs that VRI/BSRI has received from NHLBI since 1989, making the research institute a 30-year partner in the REDS project history.