The blood bank processes all donated blood into components that are acceptable for transfusion. They also perform compatibility testing, antibody identification, transfusion reaction evaluations and provide specialized blood components for transfusion. Specialized components include irradiated products, granulocytes, washed red cells, washed platelets, and reconstituted blood. The lab is able to identify compatible blood through a variety of complex testing procedures that determine the specificity of antibodies that a patient may have. The blood bank is registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and accredited by AABB and the Collage of Clinical Pathologists (CAP).
Tissue and Cellular Therapies
University of Iowa Health Care DeGowin Blood Center’s Tissue and Cellular Therapies is comprised of two distinct sections. The Cellular Therapy Laboratory provides processing and cryopreservation, and distribution of cord blood, peripheral blood, bone marrow and mononuclear cells for patients receiving autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or other cellular therapies. The Tissue Bank manages human tissue required for many surgical procedures and provides traceability of the tissue from source to implantation.
Cellular Therapy Laboratory
The Cellular Therapy Lab provides services primarily for the Adult and Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Programs in which approximately 200 transplants are performed each year. This Lab also prepares cellular therapy products collected at UI Health Care, as an NMDP collection and apheresis center, for transport to other institutions. The Cellular Therapy Lab participates in both institutional and multi-center study protocols. Processing performed in this laboratory is done under cGMP and cGTP guidelines to provide high quality, viable, and aseptic products that help ensure timely engraftment or treatment.
Procedures performed in the Cellular Therapy Lab include:
Product preparation for transport to other institutions
Product distribution
The DeGowin Blood Center Tissue and Cellular Therapies Laboratory is accredited by the Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and is registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is also accredited with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).
Tissue Bank
The Tissue Bank maintains an inventory of a variety of human tissue required for surgical procedures such as skin grafting, bone and joint reconstruction, cornea transplant, and cardiac valve replacement, performed at UI Health Care. The Tissue Bank is also responsible for ordering tissue from vendors, storing the tissue under appropriate conditions, tracking the tissue to final disposition, and managing any tissue recalls or product complaints that may arise. In addition, the Tissue Bank stores organ donor vessels as well as autologous bone, parathyroid, and skin for the surgical services.
The Tissue Bank is accredited by AABB and the College of American Pathologists (CAP).
