BGC participation at the 38th ISBT Congress in Barcelona

At the end of June 2024, the BGC participated in the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) Congress in Barcelona, which brought together haematology and blood transfusion specialists from around the world.

The event featured presentations and poster exhibitions of the latest research in the field, and offered a great opportunity for BGC members to talk about their research using the Axiom™ BloodGenomiX array and how others could use the new research equipment and software.

Presentations delivered by BGC members at the Congress include:

- New horizons in blood group genomics and regulatory mechanisms by Jennifer Martin, Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge and NHS Blood and Transplant

- A comparative study of current blood matching guidelines and optimised algorithmic allocations to achieve a healthier future by Orod Razeghi, Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge and NHS Blood and Transplant

- The new ISBT database for blood group alleles by Nick Gleadall, Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge and NHS Blood and Transplant

Posters presented by BGC members at the Congress include:

- Identification of High-Frequency Antigen-negative blood donors using the Universal Blood Donor Typing genotyping array by Lianne Koets, Sanquin, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Download poster here) (Download summary here)

- The universal blood donor typing array for large-scale genotyping of red cell, platelet and leukocyte antigens shows high concordance with test-of-record in an international multi-ethnic donor cohort by Barbera Veldhuisen, Sanquin, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Download summary here)

Alongside participation in the main conference, the BGC hosted its own Fringe Session inside the convention centre to make further presentations on the new Axiom™ BloodGenomiX technology.

The programme for the BGC event included the following presentations:

- BGC welcome and progress to date, Ellen van der Schoot, Sanquin, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Download slides here)

- Axiom Technology and Genotype calling by Carmelo Laudanna, Thermo Fisher (Download slides here)

- Multi-Centre Validation Study of the BGC Array by Barbera Veldhuisen (Download slides here)

- HLA & HPA typing with the BGC Array by Andrea Harmer, NHS Blood and Transplant (Download slides here)

- High Frequency Antigens and High Demand Phenotypes by Lianne Koets, Sanquin (Download slides here)

- Donor Health and Product Quality by Nick Gleadall, Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge and NHS Blood and Transplant

- NGS to resolve complex structural variants by Olga Shamardina, University of Cambridge and NHS Blood and Transplant (Download slides here)

- Implementing the BGC Array Test in the NHS by Sara Trompeter, University College London Hospitals and NHS Blood and Transplant (Download slides here)