By Victoria Somerville, Marketing Manager Exciting news! As of August 24, we are officially able to offer our dedicated plasma and platelet donors extra points for our Donor Loyalty Store based on the amount of pints given during a single...
By Lorna Tolentino, Flow Cytometry Lab Manager Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are a category of white blood cells that are of particular interest to researchers because of their unique structure. White blood cells can be broken down into two...
By Tamara Vayntrub, Project Manager, HLA Lab SBC’s Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory (HLA Lab) is a leader in the field of transplantation and genetics. The HLA Lab supports patients by using state-of-the-art technology to perform solid organ and bone marrow...
Explaining the MSM Deferral Due to FDA policies, men who have had sex with another man* in the past year will be deferred from donation for three months due to an increased risk of acquiring HIV infection. Note that this...
Anyone who has ever lived in or visited another country may have different deferral periods – this will all be reviewed in the donor screening process. Below are a few examples of common travel deferrals. If you have questions about...
By Harpreet Sandhu, CEO/Executive Director While it may be hard to believe, we are now in month five of shelter in place. These past months have been anything but easy, but despite this turmoil, it is extremely heartening and inspiring...
By Marcelo Fernández-Viña, PhD, D (ABHI), Medical Director of SBC’s Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory (HLA Lab) A few months ago for national Donate Life Month, we shared information on our SBC blog (HemoBLOGin) about organ donation and the critical role...
By Marino Bozic, Research Customer Relations Manager When Governor Gavin Newsom issued a shelter-in-place order for California on March 19, the Research Customer Relations department had no playbook for how to handle a research program during a pandemic. The first...
By Rick Singer, guest blogger and COVID-19 convalescent plasma donor I know we’re all feeling it. I know we’re all cooped up, messed up and uptight. But I am also painfully aware that, as worn out as we all are...
By Harpreet Sandhu, Executive Director For the last three months or so, our world here in the Bay Area has been colored completely by COVID-19. We have all had to make adjustments, make sacrifices and work as a team to...