April 19, 2013 at 11:16 am
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Sarah C.P. Williams, Staff Writer for the department of Communications & Public Affairs at the Stanford School of Medicine
One day in 2011, an ambulance pulled up to the Stanford emergency room and paramedics unloaded a man in his 30s who had crashed his motorcycle. He was in critical condition: Tests showed dangerously low blood pressure, indicating that around 40 percent of his blood was lost. And an ultrasound revealed that the blood was collecting in his belly, suggesting that one or more of his abdominal organs was the source of the blood loss.
April 17, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Jerry Neece, SBC Platelet Donor
All the way through school, my teachers and parents always called me a "late bloomer." While my friends got good grades, were accepted into good colleges, and excelled in other pursuits, I was always one of the last ones to "get it".
April 11, 2013 at 11:33 am
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Jessica Shugart, Staff Writer for the department of Communications & Public Affairs at the Stanford School of Medicine
Most donors give blood only a few times a year, if that. But for Linda Johnson, it's a routine part of life. On this fall day in 2012, Johnson reclines in a comfy chair at the Stanford Blood Center, wrapped in a soft, powder-blue blanket, while two pints of blood drain from a vein in her arm. Right next to her, a machine snatches the tiny cell fragments called platelets from her blood and returns the rest of the fluid back into her vein. She's a very familiar face here: This is her 561st donation.
April 9, 2013 at 1:40 pm
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By John Sanford, Managing Editor for the department of Communications & Public Affairs at the Stanford School of Medicine
I awoke close to midnight. It was the middle of August, in 1992, and the windows were open in the room of the Paris hostel where I was staying. The air was warm and still. My chest felt moist with - sweat? I touched the substance with an index finger and pressed it to my thumb. It felt tacky. Blood!
April 3, 2013 at 8:00 am
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Ruthann Richter, Director of Media Relations for the department of Communications & Public Affairs at the Stanford School of Medicine
Ed Engleman, MD, Stanford Blood Center's director, strode briskly into the large lecture hall at UC-San Francisco, eager to describe the screening test he and his colleagues had just developed - a test they thought could help save the nation's blood supply from a looming threat.
March 28, 2013 at 11:01 am
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Julie Peachey, Social Media Manager, Stanford Blood Center
Since 2009, student leaders nationwide have been participating in the National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge to promote civic engagement in honor of the Latino American civil rights activist.
March 26, 2013 at 11:19 am
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Harpreet Sandhu, SBC Administrator
I am delighted to share with you a link to the latest edition of Stanford Medicine Magazine, which focuses on blood. We had the pleasure of working with the School of Medicine Office of Communication & Public Affairs to produce this special edition, in the hope that it would help raise awareness about the importance of donating blood and our unique mission.
March 21, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Published by Stanford Blood Center
Stephen Quake, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Stanford University, will be speaking at our Café Scientifique series on Thursday, March 28 at 7 p.m.
Topic of Discussion
We are living in the genome age, where the productivity of DNA sequencers is advancing faster than Moore's Law. Dr. Quake will describe one contribution of biophysics to this field - the development of the first single molecule DNA sequencer. He will then go on to discuss several applications of high throughput DNA sequencing in medicine, ranging from non-invasive diagnostics to the first clinically annotated human genome.
March 19, 2013 at 10:53 am
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Billie Rubin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center
Certain patients receiving blood transfusions require specific compatibility testing beyond the ABO type and Rh factor that we commonly hear about, (A+, A-, B+, etc.). This is typically the case with those who have been transfused many times, such as sickle-cell anemia patients.
March 11, 2013 at 2:20 pm
Published by Stanford Blood Center
By Jill Clardy, Stanford Blood Center blood donor
I was always terribly afraid of needles. But in the mid-1990's when my friend Evelyn was diagnosed with leukemia and needed apheresis donors, I went with a group of coworkers to the Welch Road facility to donate and be tested as a potential donor. Though I was not able to donate for her, I realized that my fear of needles was completely unfounded, and have been donating regularly ever since.
