July marks Cord Blood Awareness Month in certain places around the world. In homage to this important campaign we collected a few related stories from the RED archives and share a bit more information about why Cord Blood matters. Cord blood stem cells can be used in the treatment of more than 80 different diseases and disorders. By donating their baby’s cord blood, parents have the power to help patients living with diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, and sickle cell disease. Researchers continue to explore the possibilities of using cord blood in many other treatments. At

500 transplants made possible thanks to the selflessness of living organ donors and kidney paired exchange

Every day in Canada, more than 4,600 people are waiting for news that a donor has been found. Everad Tilokee shares his transplant journey during National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week.

As medical director stem cells at Canadian Blood Services, a scientist in the Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research at The Ottawa Hospital and associate professor at the University of Ottawa, Dr. David Allan possesses a wealth of knowledge about clinical practice and research directions in blood- and bone marrow-based cellular therapies. He is also the current recipient of Canadian Blood Services’ Kenneth J. Fyke Award, which supports health services and policy research to promote the development of evidence-based Canadian practices and policies in transfusion, blood stem cell transplantation

A searchable database showcasing our funded research projects has just been launched on blood.ca. Together with our publications database, research highlights, links to this blog, research units and other news, you’ll discover a comprehensive knowledge hub for the transfusion and transplantation community.

The Stem Cell Club is just one of many successful and impactful projects funded by the BloodTechNet competition. Do you work in transfusion or transplantation medicine? Got a bright idea on how to share knowledge? Apply for funding to bring it to life.

The R.E.D. blog launched in February 2016 and we’ve published 47 articles that have attracted a combined total of 37,000 readers. We hope you’ve enjoyed them.

Communicating science is an important part of the job for anyone involved in clinical research, whether it takes place face-to-face with the patient, a donor or the wider scientific community. Unfortunately, outreach like this can seem a daunting prospect to the lab scientist and practitioner; it is often easier to hide behind the bench or the stethoscope.

Canadian Blood Services staff part of a team of experts who organized the first international leadership workshop on organ donation and transplantation in Beijing, China.

Throughout pregnancy, the umbilical cord nourishes the unborn baby with blood rich in nutrients and oxygen. The blood that remains in the cord and placenta after birth is full of stem cells. These cells are like the blood-forming stem cells that can be collected from the bone marrow or circulating blood of adults. Transplantation with blood-forming stem cells can help save the lives of people with blood cancers or diseases like aplastic anemia. For these transplants to be successful, the donor must be very carefully matched with the recipient. Even with a registry of diverse donors like