Tag: Blood

Blood transfusion in sub-Saharan Africa: 200 years on

200 years on from the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion, this procedure has revolutionised patient care. However, there is still work to be done in sub-Saharan Africa, as Professor Kathryn Maitland explains.

Each year, around 2.5 million units of blood are transfused in the UK – that’s enough to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools! Since James Blundell performed the first successful human blood transfusion in 1818, this life-saving medical intervention has made many advances to ensure its accessed throughout the world. An important part of this is ensuring that any health system has adequate supplies of quality-assured and safe blood for transfusion through national and regional blood transfusion services (BTS). (more…)

Death of a cell: the vital process of tidying up cell debris to prevent blood clots

In this post, Dr Anusha Seneviratne breaks down the conundrum of cell death and how this process protects our bodies from blood clots.

Your cells die every day. Don’t worry, your body is protecting itself. In a process known as apoptosis or programmed cell death, cells that are no longer needed commit suicide. Some cells are only required for a short time, they may be infected by a virus or develop harmful cancerous mutations. Cell death is also an essential part of development from an embryo. For example, mouse paws begin as spade-like structures and only form the individual digits as the cells in between die. During apoptosis the cells fragment into smaller apoptotic bodies, and their cell surface is flipped open to display lipid molecules called phosphatidylserines, which act as an ‘eat me’ signal to recruit cells called macrophages to engulf them, before their contents spill out and damage the surrounding tissue. This is a process known as efferocytosis. (more…)

Blood Cancer Awareness Month: all roads lead to EVI1

PhD student Philippa May reflects on being a scientist in the field blood cancer, from working in a leukaemia diagnostic laboratory to a research laboratory. 

For the last 10 years I have been a clinical scientist in genetics working across various London NHS Trusts. Whilst I loved diagnostics, last year I left my job to complete my PhD. I worked in a part of life sciences called cytogenetics. This meant when a patient was diagnosed with blood cancer, I would analyse their chromosomes – the structures into which DNA is organised – from their blood or bone marrow to look for specific abnormalities. For some patients, this can lead to a definitive diagnosis. For others a refined prognosis, and in some, it’s simply a way of monitoring how well the patient’s leukaemia is responding to their treatment. (more…)

How does the charity Leuka support blood cancer research at Imperial?

In this post, four Imperial researchers write about the different ways in which Leuka has supported their work at the College.

Leuka is a charity that supports life-saving research into the causes and treatment of leukaemia and other blood cancers. Funding from dedicated charities such as Leuka provides an important source of support which enables high-quality research programmes here at Imperial to develop and progress. (more…)