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While reading one of the threads today it got me thinking, does the University of Michigan still hold their annual Blood Bank Symposium the last of May or early June? It's been a very long time since I was able to attend but for quite some time I was able to convince the powers to be to allow me to attend every other year. Every year was a little too much to hope for. I learned a great deal, met many terrific people, and made a number of friends. I was able to meet and learn from a few of the greats in the blood bank world at the time. I certainly hope it has carried on and is still avai

Depends on the beer . My Belhaven Black better not be ice cold.

Quite right John. In the UK, we ALWAYS test the previous sample with the latest sample (unless there is a legitimate reason why the previous sample is not available - sample too small, freezer broke down, Malcolm dropped it, etc!). This test is essential in my book, as antigen expression can vary hugely from one donor to another, resulting in either a falsely high titre or a falsely low titre - and either can be dangerous.

My brother lives in Ann Arbor so I went one year and stayed with him. It was a great learning opportunity.

OK i dont really understand this, but i asked for more specifics - and our backup computers are evidently attached to the network but in a weird limited fashion where they get a solitary incoming dump every four hours, of BB data, but otherwise do not receive network activity, and have no "outgoing" channel. when we were hacked, one was due for a dump and got hacked, the other was instantly quarantined off-line and so had almost all (except the last few hours worth) of BB data. also was just told it is also now stashed in some quarantined part of the cloud? this is waaaay over my head in

Just a thought, I have not seen anyone mention in this thread, testing the current sample in parallel with the previous sample. We would start with the very first sample and freeze what was left after the initial titration. We would then thaw and run it in parallel with the next sample. This was an attempt to mitigate the, hopefully, minor differences in technique between techs and give us an accurate picture of any increase in antibody levels.

I had a corporate transfusion service medical director who was uncomfortable with the term "CMV safe" so we were required to use the phrase "CMV risk reduced"! I know it doesn't add anything to the discussion but when I read Ann's post the memory made me smile at the lengths some folks would go.

Thanks all - that's what I suspected. My patient's antibody is still reacting fairly strong in solid phase, so I'm relying on crossmatch for Cob donors. Think I"ll freeze some plasma for screening purposes in case his titer drops.

I concur! This was a great symposium. The SBB program I attended sent us to Ann Arbor in 97' and I arranged to go back nearly every year up to 2013 or 2014. We came away with new ideas and confidence in our job. Plus, the Weber Inn was a great place to stay. On the down side listening to John Judd talk about warm beer was not fun. Beer should be drunk ice cold.