AABB Foundation Awards 2026 Cord Blood Research Grants

The AABB Foundation has awarded its 2026 Cord Blood Research Grants to three investigators studying cord blood and cord tissue-derived products and therapeutics. The funded projects address precision immunotherapy for acute leukemia, red blood cell products for preterm infants, and T-cell expansion following cord blood transplantation.

The 2026 grant recipients are:

Jesús Fernández Sojo, MD, PhD
Banc de Sang i Teixits
Project title: “CORD-VAX: A precision HLA-guided cord blood immunotherapy platform for high-risk acute leukemia.”

Natalie A. Drucker, MD, MS
McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
Project title: “Establishing a Supply of Umbilical Cord Red Blood Concentrate for Preterm Infants.”

Francesco Mazziotta, MD, PhD
University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
Project title: “Mechanism of graft-derived T-cell expansion after nonengrafting expanded cord blood progenitors.”

The recipients will present their funded research during the Cord Blood Connect Best Abstracts and Awards Session at the 2026 AABB Annual Meeting, which begins on Saturday in Atlanta.

The AABB Foundation thanks the individuals, companies and organizations who make it possible to fund promising researchers, including new supporters Cord Blood Registry by CooperSurgical, New England Cord Blood Bank, ViaCord from Revvity, and Christina Melief, PhD.