AABB Foundation Congratulates Scholar Recipients

AABB and the AABB Foundation are pleased to announce seven deserving scientists who have achieved AABB Foundation Scholar recognition: Susan R. Conway, MD (Children’s Research Institute); Mark Lee, MD, PhD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital); Yunfeng Liu, PhD (New York Blood Center); Panagiotis Mistriotis, PhD (Auburn University); Jansen Seheult, MB BCh BAO, MSc, MS, MD (Mayo Clinic); Kim Vanuytsel, PhD (Boston Medical Center); and Patricia Zerra, MD (Emory University). The AABB Foundation Scholar designation is awarded for successfully conducting and completing an AABB Foundation early-career scientific research grant.

“Congratulations to this year’s scholars for the outstanding research they’ve completed,” said AABB Foundation president Richard Schäfer, MD, FRSB. “Their work exemplifies the curiosity, dedication and scientific rigor that drive progress in our field. I believe this is just the beginning of careers filled with impactful contributions to transfusion medicine and biotherapies.”

The AABB Foundation Scholars will be honored at the 2025 AABB Annual Meeting for their completed research in the following areas:

• Harnessing the naïve T-cell compartment to generate multi-antigen-specific SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells (Conway).
• Identification of T cell epitopes in hemophilia patients with inhibitors using next-generation mapping technologies (Lee).
• Mechanisms of interferon activation and mononuclear phagocyte expansion in sickle cell disease (Liu).
• Eliminating senescent bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells using microfluidics (Mistriotis).
• A Stochastic, Multicompartment, Dynamic Model of Hemostasis and Oxygenation During Trauma Resuscitation: Building a Platform for in Silico Trials of Transfusion Strategies (Seheult)
• Validation of a potential curative gene editing approach across the diverse sickle cell disease patient population using induced pluripotent stem cells (Vanuytsel).
• Mechanisms underlying factor VIII-specific CD4 T cell activation in mice with hemophilia A (Zerra).

On average, scholars publish 20 peer-reviewed articles within three years of completing their AABB Foundation grant term and frequently go on to receive prestigious federal awards, including NIH R01 and K-series grants. AABB will feature this year’s scholars in the August issue of AABB News.

Foundation Partners Make Research Success Possible

With generous financial support from individuals and institutional partners, the AABB Foundation can provide career development and recognition opportunities like the AABB Foundation Scholars Program.

The institutions recognized among AABB Foundation’s funding partners include the American Red Cross, Blood Centers of America, Canadian Blood Services, Coastal Blood Foundation, Fresenius Kabi, New York Blood Center, QuidelOrtho, Roche, Santa Barbara Foundation (Tri-Counties Blood Bank Fund), Terumo Blood & Cell Technologies, Topeka Community Foundation (Kansas Blood Service Fund) and Vitalant.

To date, the AABB Foundation has awarded more than $12 million in grants to support the research of more than 200 scientists, many of whom have gone on to become expert leaders in the blood and biotherapies field. For more information about the AABB Foundation and grant funding opportunities, visit aabb.org/foundation.