The Blood Service Research Fund awards grants for donor research and the development of treatments for serious illnesses

The Research Fund of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service (FRCBS) awards grants to scientific research that supports the implementation of the Blood Service’s research strategy; that is, research and development concerning the Blood Service’s current and future products and services.

In 2024, the Research Fund received a total of 52 applications, a record number in the fund’s four-year history. Awareness of the Blood Service’s Research Fund is clearly growing among researchers.

Early on during the application period, the Research Fund announced it would be awarding this year’s grants to studies focused on either strengthening blood donation and the blood supply chain in a changing environment, or alternatively on wide-reaching and multidisciplinary research on blood, cell and organ donors and donation. The majority of the grants, €305,000, was allocated to such studies.

A three-year research project led by Lotta Joutsi-Korhonen on the need for and availability of blood products matched precisely by blood group received a grant of €95,000. The study will be conducted at the HUS Diagnostic Center in collaboration with the Blood Service. In addition to the common ABO and Rh blood groups, there are more than 300 other blood groups. The study investigates how these less common blood groups should be considered in the blood supply chain in order to prevent immunisations caused by rare blood groups in patients. The results will help to design more extensive blood typing and appropriately increase diversity.

A study on donor motivations led by Anne Birgitta Pessi at the University of Helsinki received a grant of €80,000 from the Research Fund. The two-year project explores motivating factors among blood and tissue donors pertaining to social norms, wellbeing, and meaningful experiences. Understanding factors that motivate donation and changes to them is important in order to safeguard the continuity of blood donation, among other things.

A research project led by Esa Pitkänen, Vilja Pietiäinen and Lassi Paavolainen at the Finnish Molecular Medicine Institute (FIMM) combines computer vision technology with the extensive molecular profiling of immune system cells in the blood. The goal is to understand the causes of the differences between individuals in drug responses and whether these differences can be predicted using computer vision. In particular, the study will utilise blood donor cell samples from blood donors who have given consent to the Blood Service Biobank, and is part of a large-scale FinnGen research project. The research project received €80,000 in funding.

Decisions on research grants are made by the Blood Service’s Board of Directors based on a proposal by the Research Fund’s Evaluation Committee. Evaluations consider not only the level of research, but also how the research aligns with the objectives of the Blood Service’s research strategy.

The Research Fund’s Evaluation Committee comprises Professor Satu Mustjoki (University of Helsinki, Chair), Professor Maija Itälä-Remes (Turku University Hospital), Professor Kim Vettenranta (University of Helsinki and HUS), Dr. Mindy Goldman (Canadian Blood Services, Canada) and Dr. Katja van den Hurk (Sanquin, the Netherlands). Research professor Jukka Partanen from the Blood Service acted as secretary of the Evaluation Committee. The Committee’s two-year term comes to an end in 2024.

2024 grants by field of research

(applicant, organisation, project, amount of grant, and timeframe for the research project)

Donor research, a total of €305,000:

Transplantation and tissue matching research, a total of €75,000:

Research into new cell therapies, a total of €110,000:

Blood cell vesicle study, 10,000 euros: