BioIVT Opens New, Larger UK Blood Donor Center on Imperial College London’s White City Campus
BioIVT’s new blood donor center is located in White City, a biotech hub, together with cell therapy, gene therapy, and pharmaceutical companies
BioIVT, a leading provider of research models and services for drug and diagnostic development, today announced that it has moved its London, UK blood donor center from Park Royal to Scale Space White City located on Imperial College London’s White City Campus. Scale Space is a collaboration between Imperial College London and UK builder Blenheim Calcot. BioIVT’s new donor center is four times larger than its previous facility.
“We are responding to a rapidly growing demand from clients in the UK and Europe for fresh biological material, which is an integral component in their cell and gene therapy development and in vitro diagnostics (IVD) research,” said Kelly Sapsford, BioIVT VP, Donor Center Operations, EU. “Our new facility will be more accessible and have longer hours, increasing both our pool of potential donors and our collection capacity.” BioIVT has seven global blood donor centers and supports the work of about 30,000 researchers worldwide.
BioIVT’s expanded London facility will allow it to continue to supply UK and EU clients with fresh blood, leukopaks and other biofluids within hours of collection. It will also enable the company to provide on-site immune cell isolations, point-of-care testing services, and cryopreservation capabilities.
Leukopaks, which contain concentrated white blood cells, are used to help identify promising new drug candidates, assess toxicity levels, and conduct stem cell and gene therapy research. They are particularly useful for researchers who need to obtain large numbers of leukocytes from a single donor.
BioIVT blood products can be supplied with specific clinical data, such as donor age, ethnicity, gender, BMI, and smoking status. Its leukopaks are also human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and cytomegalovirus typed. HLA typing is used to match patients and donors for bone marrow or cord blood transplants. FC receptors play an important role in antibody-dependent immune responses.
All BioIVT blood collections are conducted under institutional review board (IRB) oversight, and according to Human Tissue Act (HTA) guidelines, and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.
About BioIVT
BioIVT is a leading global provider of research models and value-added research services for drug discovery and development. We specialize in control and disease-state biospecimens including human and animal tissues, cell products, blood and other biofluids. Our unmatched portfolio of clinical specimens directly supports precision medicine research and the effort to improve patient outcomes by coupling comprehensive clinical data with donor samples. And as the premier supplier of hepatic products, including hepatocytes and subcellular fractions, BioIVT enables scientists to better understand the pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism of newly discovered compounds and their effects on disease processes. By combining our technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and unparalleled access to biological specimens, BioIVT serves the research community as a trusted partner in elevating science. For more information, please visit www.bioivt.com or follow the company on Twitter @BioIVT.