New York Blood Center

The New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a community, nonprofit blood bank based in New York City.[1] Established in 1964 by Dr. Aaron Kellner,[2] NYBC supplies blood to approximately 200 hospitals in the Northeast United States.[3]

New York Blood Center
310 East 67th Street headquarters
Founded1964 (1964)
TypeBlood bank
131949477
Location
Coordinates40.7650502°N 73.9600540°W / 40.7650502; -73.9600540
Websitewww.nybloodcenter.org

In addition to serving the New York City metropolitan area, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in May 2014, NYBC merged its operations with Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City (CBC).[4] In February 2016, NYBC and CBC announced the creation of the Kansas City-based National Center for Blood Group Genomics, a new laboratory that will focus on precision testing of blood donor samples.[5]

NYBC maintains close relationships with both New York City's Police Department (NYPD) and Fire Department (FDNY). Among NYBC's largest donor groups is the NYPD, which donated more than 11,000 pints of blood through November 2015.[6] At the same time, the FDNY participates with NYBC in the "Be The Match Program" operated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).[7] More than 8,000 FDNY members are on the potential donor list, and 179 members have already given this life saving gift to those in need. FDNY members represent more than 10% of all NYBC bone marrow donors.[8] Each year, at an annual induction ceremony hosted by FDNY and NYBC at FDNY headquarters, donors and their recipients meet for the first time.[9] In 2016, Firefighter Mike Wilson was introduced to a recipient from Erie, Pennsylvania, who received his lifesaving bone marrow to treat her acute myeloid leukemia (AML), while Firefighter Frank Perdue met a recipient diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia, a rare chronic blood disorder.[10] In 2015, firefighter Michael McCauley of Staten Island met his recipient, a United States Marine Sergeant who saw combat in Iraq, and who was subsequently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Through FDNY’s participation in NYBC’s program, McCauley’s bone marrow is credited with saving the recipient's life.[11]

NYBC houses Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute and the Howard P. Milstein National Cord Blood Center, a public cord blood bank named after board member Howard Milstein. The National Cord Blood Program (NCBP), directed by Dr. Pablo Rubinstein, is the oldest and largest in the world.[12] In August 2015, the NCBP announced a new collaboration with the University of California, Davis Health System to manufacture specialized lines of highly adaptable stem cells for potential new therapies for diseases that include anemia, leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell disease and severe combined immunodeficiency.[13]

The Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) has been awarded grants to conduct research in such areas as epidemiology and the development of HIV self-testing interventions, cellular therapy and transfusion medicine, in vitro platelet production, blood genomics, immunology, the development of infectious disease screening techniques and preventions for diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

History

In 2013, LFKRI was awarded a Grand Challenges Explorations Grant from a grant initiative engaging field leaders in global health to bring progress to targeted world problems. The Grand Challenges Explorations Grant was launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2007.[21] The LFKRI used grant money to study the transmission of parasites from Filarial Worm larvae to humans in order to develop a preventative drug to kill mature worms and prevent parasitic infection.[22]

In 2014, the New York Blood Center's National Cord Blood Program (NCBP) at the Howard P. Milstein Cord Blood Center received the Prix Galien USA “Best Biotechnology Product” distinction for the development of HEMACORD, an innovative hematopoietic stem cell product and the first of its kind to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.[23]

In August 2016, NYBC also combined operations with Innovative Blood Resources, a blood center with operations in Minnesota and Nebraska.[24]

LFKRI also oversaw a clinical trial of Immucor’s PreciseType HEA test, resulting in the approval of the product by the FDA in October 2016.[25] The PreciseType HEA test screens blood donors for sickle cell trait (SCT), an inherited blood disorder that affects 1 million to 3 million Americans, including 8-10% of African Americans.[26] PreciseType HEA is the only FDA-approved molecular test that provides clinicians and blood banks with detailed genetic matching information. Through its work with cord blood, stem cells and sickle cell treatments, NYBC is a leader in precision medicine, which takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle to more accurately match treatments to individual patients.[27][28]

In 2020 New York Blood Center was the first blood center to collect convalescent blood plasma donations from people who have recovered from COVID-19 to treat other patients with advanced illness.[29] On March 27, 2020, the first unit of convalescent blood plasma was drawn.[30] In convalescent plasma treatment, the patient is transfused with the plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient with the goal of using the donor’s antibodies to help clear the virus more rapidly.[31]

Primate research in Liberia

For a thirty-year period starting in the mid-1970s, the NYBC conducted research experiments on a group of chimpanzees in Liberia. At the time, such primate testing was considered a standard part of medical research and drug development, reaching its peak in the early 1970s.[32] After the studies were complete, NYBC moved the survivors onto six islands on the Farmington River.[33] According to The New York Times, an NYBC employee stated at the time that NYBC recognized a responsibility for the lifetime care of the chimps, but NYBC disputes this, stating that its employee's comment was not authorized. The Times also noted that the quote in question was published in an article seeking financial support from a foundation for the care of the chimpanzees.[34] The chimpanzees are owned by the Liberian government: NYBC voluntarily supported the chimps for seven years after its relationship with the Liberian government ended.[35] NYBC argues that it spent millions on the chimps since the mid-2000s and "repeatedly" reached out to the Liberian government and animal rights groups "in an attempt to assist in a long term solution" but was ignored.[36] In order to keep the chimps alive, locals who had been employed by NYBC to deliver food and water began to care for them on a volunteer basis. With virtually no resources and burdened by an Ebola outbreak, these volunteers kept the chimpanzees alive until a Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)-led coalition of over 30 animal conservation groups raised funds from the public to pay for the chimps' care on an emergency basis.[37]

According to NBC's Today Show, NYBC held discussion with HSUS that ended unsuccessfully in the summer of 2016, but NYBC is open to partnering with other organizations.[35] NYBC maintains they were confronted with requests that "have nothing to do with NYBC's original involvement in Liberia," which involved research "essential to the development of a hepatitis vaccine."[36]

In June 2015, activist groups in New York launched a campaign to demand that the NYBC reinstate funding for the chimpanzees.[38] The campaign consists of protests at the homes of board members and major donors who have refused to engage with the advocacy community. According to NBC News, the campaign has led to threats and social media campaigns that NYBC says have personally threatened their employees over the issue.[35] On March 31, 2016, Citigroup, a former NYBC donor, issued a public statement asserting that "the situation is not tolerable" and made a $50,000 contribution to HSUS.[39] On May 19, New York State Senator Tony Avella and New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal held a press conference at New York City Hall to demand that NYBC fulfill its promise to provide lifelong care for the chimpanzees.[40]

gollark: And it is bad and uncool because it is very verbose to do some things in.
gollark: Extra friction with creating types discourages good practice in the form of creating dedicated sensible types where necessary.
gollark: In Java if you want to declare a new type to store some data and have equality and hashing and whatnot, it's horrible and complex and you can't even do operator overloading.
gollark: I mean, in sane languages if you want to declare a new type you can do `data Bees = Bees Int String deriving (Show, Eq)` or whatever.
gollark: It's harder to understand if it's verbose and whatnot.

References
  1. "Healthcare Providers and Services Company Overview of New York Blood Center, Inc". Bloomberg. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. "Aaron Kellner, 78, Who Created A Blood-Supply Network, Is Dead". New York Times. 12 December 1992. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  3. Hartocollis, Anemona (January 28, 2015). "New York Blood Donations Are Sought After Storm Disrupts Giving". New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  4. Bavley, Alan (12 May 2014). "Community Blood Center of KC to merge with New York counterpart". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  5. Grote, Dora (5 February 2016). "Be positive: National blood center lands in KC". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  6. Parascandola, Rocco (30 December 2015). "NYPD cops put the blood in "blood, sweat and tears"". Daily News New York. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  7. "About Be The Match". Be The Match. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  8. FDNY Press Office (29 April 2016). "Fire Commissioner and New York Blood Center Honor FDNY Bone Marrow Donors". Fire Department City of New York. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. CBS New York (29 January 2014). "FDNY Honors Life-Saving Bone Marrow Donors". CBS New York. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  10. Daily News (29 April 2016). "Bone marrow recipients to meet FDNY donors". Daily News. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  11. Staten Island Advance (4 March 2015). "Staten Island firefighter helps save a stranger's life by donating his bone marrow". silive.com. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  12. Rubin, Rita (13 July 2005). "Young lives get a fighting chance". Retrieved 26 August 2016 – via USA Today.
  13. Special to The Enterprise (15 July 2016). "Cord blood's promise: UCD labs are helping harness valuable inventory". The Davis enterprise. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  14. Lee, Steve (17 September 2014). "New York Blood Center receives $2 million in NIDA funding to develop HIV self-testing intervention". LGBT Weekly. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  15. Acton, Ashton (2013). "Lindsley F Kimball Research Institute, New York City: Correlates of Unprotected Vaginal or Anal Intercourse with Women Among Substance-Using Men Who Have Sex with Men". HIV/AIDS: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional: 2013 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. ISBN 9781481665360 – via Google Books.
  16. Acton, Ashton (2013). "Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York City: Interactions between different generation HIV-1 fusion inhibitors and the putative mechanism underlying the synergistic anti-HIV-1 effect resulting from their combination". Sexually Transmitted Diseases - Advances in Research and Application: 2013 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. ISBN 9781481680141 – via Google Books.
  17. Chustecka, Zosia (10 November 2014). "Cord Blood: From Medical Waste to Award-winning Product". MedScape Medical News. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  18. Acton, Ashton (2013). "Lindsley F Kimball Research Institute, New York City: Optimizing megakaryocyte polyploidization by targeting multiple pathways of cytokinesis". Bone Marrow Cells - Advances in Research Application: 2013 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. ISBN 9781481698047 – via Google Books.
  19. Liu, Phillip Z.; Huang, Cheng-Han (2000). "Blood Group Antigens: Molecular Biology, Functions, and Clinical Applications". Seminars in Hematology. Elsevier. 37 (2): 150–165. doi:10.1016/S0037-1963(00)90040-4.
  20. Acton, Ashton (2011). "Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York City: Recombinant receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV spike protein expressed in mammalian, insect and E. coli cells elicits potent neutralizing antibody and protective immunity". Immunoproteins: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. ISBN 9781464922534 – via Google Books.
  21. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "New Grants Initiative to Spur Innovative Research in Global Health". Gates Foundation. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  22. "New York Blood Center's Research Institute Receives Grand Challenges Explorations Grant For Groundbreaking Research in Global Health and Development". Bio-Medicine. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  23. Chustecka, Zosia (10 November 2014). "Cord Blood: From Medical Waste to Award-winning Product". Medscape Medical News. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  24. "Biz buzz for Aug. 8". Duluth News Tribune. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  25. "FDA approves Immucor's PreciseType® HEA Test to be used for screening blood donors for Sickle Cell Trait (SCT)". Nasdaq. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  26. "Sickle Cell Trait". American Society of Hematology. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  27. Semedo, Daniela (8 November 2016). "FDA Approves Immucor's PreciseType HEA Test to Screen for Sickle Cell Trait". Sickle Cell Anemia News. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  28. "What is precision medicine?". NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine: Genetics Home Reference. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  29. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/blood-centers-will-collect-plasma-covid-19-survivors-bid-treatment-n1174011
  30. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/health/plasma-coronavirus-treatment.html
  31. Marano, Giuseppe; Vaglio, Stefania; Pupella, Simonetta; Facco, Giuseppina; Catalano, Liviana; Liumbruno, Giancarlo M.; Grazzini, Giuliano (2016). "Convalescent plasma: new evidence for an old therapeutic tool?". Blood Transfusion. 14 (2): 152–157. doi:10.2450/2015.0131-15. PMC 4781783. PMID 26674811.
  32. Rowan, A.N.; Loew, F.M. (2001). "Animal research: A review of developments, 1950-2000". In Salem, D.J.; Rowan, A.N. (eds.). The state of the animals 2001. Washington, DC: Humane Society Press. pp. 111–120.
  33. McAfee, Melonyce. "Chimps in need after U.S. organization withdraws care". CNN.
  34. Gorman, James (28 May 2015). "Chimpanzees in Liberia, Used in New York Blood Center Research, Face Uncertain Future". Retrieved 20 October 2016 – via The New York Times.
  35. Simmons, Keir (5 September 2016). "Rescuers help abandoned chimps used in medical experiments". Retrieved 20 October 2016 – via Today.
  36. Christie, Megan (30 September 2016). "Lab Chimps 'Abandoned' on African Island, Activists Say". Retrieved 20 October 2016 – via abc News.
  37. Gorman, James (28 May 2015). "Chimpanzees in Liberia, Used in New York Blood Center Research, Face Uncertain Future" – via NYTimes.com.
  38. "Video: Animal Rights Activists Stage Disruption Inside New York Blood Center". Their Turn. 4 June 2015.
  39. Skyler, Ed (2016-03-31). "Our Statement on the Care of Chimpanzees in Liberia". Blog.Citigroup.com.
  40. "Protesters rally for chimpanzees in Liberia". WNYW.
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