NBF Year in Review: In the Face of a Difficult Year, A Community Pulls Together

Despite a global pandemic that continues to impact all of us personally and professionally, the blood and biotherapies community persevered through adversity to serve patients and donors with the absolute best quality care in 2021. Throughout another difficult year, you continued to give generously to AABB’s National Blood Foundation (NBF). We are incredibly thankful for your commitment to our mission and the investment it makes in the future. What we accomplished in 2021 is because of your belief in our mission. We hope you will celebrate a few meaningful achievements with us. 

GRANT MAKING 

Since 1983, the NBF has funded more than 200 innovative scientists through our early-career Scientific Research Grant Program and has awarded more than $11 million in grant funding. This cornerstone program is an incredibly valuable resource to scientists in the early stages of their careers in blood and biotherapies. In 2021, the NBF funded six inspiring scientists from the University of California, San Francisco and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to Auburn University.

Highlighted Research from Prior NBF Grant Recipients: 

Without a doubt, there is science and recognition missing from this list. The scientists and research presented below is merely a snapshot of the contributions made every day by prior NBF grant recipients. Let’s celebrate the commendable work by so many advancing the field for tomorrow. 

• Stella T. Chou, MD, a 2018 NBF Hall of Fame Member, as part of a team of investigators from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, introduced two measures that successfully reduced the number of red cell units required by patients with sickle cell disease, who require chronic red cell exchange without compromising their pretransfusion hemoglobin percentage goals. The findings were published in Blood Advances in June. 
• Angelo D’Alessandro, PhD, a 2018 NBF Scholar, published a commentary in Blood on red blood cell storage lesion. In the commentary, D’Alessandro discussed findings that suggest a negative correlation between storage-induced microerythrocytes, which investigators determined represent about 24% of the entire RBC population in a unit by the end of its shelf life, and post-transfusion recovery. 
• Christopher D. Hillyer, MD, 2007 NBF Hall of Fame member, and Larry L. Luchsinger, PhD, a 2020 NBF early-career Scientific Research Grant recipient, published a research letter in Science on the probable efficacy of the three authorized COVID-19 vaccines against disease variants.
• Dr. Luchsinger was also awarded $2.5 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to complete a five-year research project entitled “Hormetric ER stress Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Function.”
• Eldad A. Hod, MD, a 2020 NBF Hall of Fame member, and David Roh, MD, a 2020 early-career Scientific Research Grant recipient, reported in Blood that transfusing ABO-incompatible platelets may result in lower platelet recovery and increased odds of mortality in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.
• Mobin Karimi, MD, PhD, 2018 NBF Scholar, published research in the journals Cancers and iScience. Karimi’s NBF-supported research investigated the separation of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) from graft-versus-tumor responses by modulation of T cell signaling pathways. 
• Nilam Mangalmurti, MD, a 2015 NBF Scholar, published research demonstrating that red blood cells are essential components of inflammatory responses in mammals. The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine. 
• Sandhya R. Panch, MBBS, PPHS, a 2019 NBF Scholar, published findings comparing the engraftment and clonality of macaque hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) expanded on human umbilical vein endothelial cells versus non-expanded cells in the journal Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Development. 
• Moritz Stolla, MD, PhD, a 2020 NBF Scholar, published research in Blood Advances that compared the function of cold-stored platelets and room temperature-stored platelets in vitro, in vivo and post-transfusion. 

PROGRAMS 

The NBF strives to promote industry dialogue to stimulate innovation and thought exchange among our key stakeholders: the leaders of the field. This year, the NBF offered opportunities to participate in education and leadership programming designed by your colleagues specifically for you. Thank you for being a part of the conversation!

R&D Summit 

The NBF R&D Summit was a three-part series focused on forward-thinking research discussions that can impact blood and biotherapies. Executives, senior leadership, researchers, and regulators throughout our community were invited to journey with us as we discover recent investments in innovation in the field. The second part of the program looked at a new generation of blood products and innovations in trauma situations. The third segment in the series discussed the greatest challenges facing the blood and biotherapies field and introduced innovations to address these challenges. 

Research Symposium 

The NBF Research Symposium showcased innovative research impacting transfusion medicine and biotherapies and was moderated by Jim Gorham, MD, PhD. In a series of short talks, NBF-supported investigators – including new members of NBF’s Hall of Fame, incoming NBF Scholars and the 2021 recipient of the NBF Award for Innovative Research – provided updates on their research programs.

THE FUTURE OF THE NBF

There was so much to celebrate in 2021, and with your continued support and involvement, there is even more to look forward to as the NBF enters its 40^th year. Right now, the AABB Board of Directors and Foundation leadership are laying the groundwork for an exciting step toward setting a course forward for the NBF and its signature programs to increase grant funding and expand the Foundation’s impact even further.

Last year, the AABB, NBF and NBFRET Boards, and other key opinion leaders, decided to combine NBF’s fundraising events with the NBFRET’s grantmaking activities in one new foundation. They also held key conversations with leaders of AABB, NBF and NBFRET, along with focus group discussions, to gain valuable feedback about the goals and purposes of this new entity.

Right on the heels of AABB’s new name and logo, the NBF will kick off its own rebranding activities in 2022. This reimagining process will include a deep dive into the Foundation’s strengths, the benefits of our programs and services, and the extent to which our current communication and messaging strategies are effective at telling the story of the impact of our work. It will also include an evaluation of the extensive member and customer surveys conducted as part of the reimagining process. Final recommendations will include brand positioning, and they may include potential revisions to the Foundation's name and logo. There is much more to come as we look forward to the Foundation’s next 40 years!