The BTRU in Donor Health and Genomics aims to establish a world-leading, cross-disciplinary unit that addresses major questions about the health of blood donors and produces evidence-based strategies to enhance donor safety while ensuring sustainability of blood supply.
Balancing a secure blood supply with maintaining donor health. Every blood donation removes 200-250mg of iron from the body. There is considerable individual variation in iron stores, dietary intake, and efficiency of absorption. If iron is not fully replaced, then donors’ iron stores become progressively depleted, leading to iron deficiency or the development of iron-deficiency anaemia, which may result in adverse health consequences and temporary rejection from giving further donations (“deferral”). Such deferral may de-motivate individuals from future donations and directly or indirectly increase the cost of collecting blood. NHSBT estimates that 5% of regular donors cannot be accepted because of failure to meet the pre-donation haemoglobin levels required to give blood. This figure is nearer to 10% in female donors younger than 30 years. Hence, our research aims to integrate genomic and other factors associated with capacity to give blood in evidence-based strategies to prevent deferral.
Research Project: Discovering blood group type
Defining the risks and any benefits associated with iron depletion. Iron deficiency has been associated with reduced well-being and cardiometabolic disorders (e.g. reduced physical activity) and neurocognitive disorders (e.g. reduced cognitive function, restless legs syndrome). Conversely, there are suggestions that repeated blood donation and/or lower iron stores may protect against cardiometabolic diseases (e.g. coronary disease, type 2 diabetes). However, the causal consequences of iron depletion and repeated blood donation remain largely uncertain and our research therefore aims to identify and understand molecular and biological determinants of potential adverse consequences of donation.
Research Project: The biology of fainting
Research Project: The importance of balancing iron
Research Project: Physical activity and regular blood donation
Research Project: Restless Legs Syndrome
Moving towards a more personalised (stratified) blood service. In the longer term, ageing populations will demand more blood transfusions, but the blood supply may be limited by difficulties in attracting and retaining a decreasing pool of younger donors. A more personalised approach to donation could help ensure both donor health and the blood supply. For example, it may be that some donors should give blood less frequently, whereas other donors can give blood more frequently, based on a number of factors including, gender, weight, level of iron stores and genetics. We therefore aim to conduct research to identify, characterise and exploit biomarkers in personalising donation strategies to maximise donor health and the blood supply.
Research Project: Understanding Donor Characteristics