PROJECTS
RESPONSIBLE THERAPIES FOR BLOOD DISEASES
It is incredibly important to do research responsibly and to make sure that newly developed therapies for diseases benefit the patients and society in general. This project focuses on creating an ethical and social framework for the use of iPSC therapies to cure hereditary blood diseases that severely impact patients' lives, like sickle cell anemia and Diamond-Blackfan anemia.
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LEARN-DO
The ageing of the Dutch population and the shortage of plasma donors challenge us to design new long-term strategies to ensure a sufficient donor pool. In this study, we aim to understand how individuals learn to donate blood, test and develop interventions for raising awareness about blood and plasma donation and interventions aimed at recruiting young non-donors.
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS & DONOR BEHAVIOUR
How do social relations and social interactions affect blood and plasma donation behavior? This project aims to shed light on this question using longitudinal survey and register data from the Netherlands and Australia. For example, it examines how social contagion between donors, communication among donors, and the formation of blood donor groups affect donation behavior.
CULTURE &
BLOOD DONATION
Culture plays a key role in shaping people's beliefs, social norms and values. In order to devise effective strategies that promote real-world prosocial behaviors, such as blood donation, it is crucial to understand where cultural differences exist, and how these relate to people's motivation and behavior.
SOCIAL-MEDIA
​Sanquin uses social media to communicate with, recruit and retain donors. This is done to ensure that sufficient blood is available in the Netherlands. In this context, it is important to find out whether Sanquin's social media communication is successful in achieving this goal or not.
DONOR DEFERRAL
Sometimes we have to postpone a blood donation because the donor has for example low haemoglobin values or just got a tattoo. Unfortunately, some of the donors who are postponed do not return to donate again. Because such a delay is often experienced as annoying by donors on the spot, we are investigating whether offering an alternative good deed helps to reduce any disappointment and thus motivates donors to make a new attempt to donate next time.
PLASMA ONLY PLEASE
In September 2020, Sanquin opened a new donation centre in Utrecht called the Powerbank. This is a special donation centre where only plasma can be donated. With this centre's opening, Sanquin aims to collect plasma more efficiently and make the donation experience more pleasant for the donor. In the POP (Plasma only Please) project, we evaluate whether the Powerbank succeeds in achieving these goals.
DONOR CAREERS
This project focuses on the dynamic nature of blood donation. It investigates how individuals go through their blood donation careers by taking various factors into account such as socio-demographic characteristics, blood donor deferrals, satisfaction with the blood bank and the donor's motivation to give blood.
BLOOD DONATION BEYOND THE WEST
What factors (actors, institutions, policies, and crises) facilitate Lebanon’s progression towards voluntary and non-remunerated blood donations, and what factors hinder it? This project offers a rich account of theory-grounded work with a multi-actor (blood donors, healthcare professionals, family members of patients, non-medical staff), multi-level (macro-, meso- and micro-levels) and multi-method (qualitative network analysis, semi-structured interviews, document analysis, ethnographic observations) approach to analyzing Lebanon’s progression towards a voluntary and non-remunerated blood donation system.
A BETTER MATCH OF DONOR BLOOD FOR SICKLE CELL DISEASE PATIENTS
Blood transfusions carry the risk of alloimmunization, an immune reaction that can be life-threatening. Optimal matching of donor and recipient blood groups is essential to prevent alloimmunization. In the Dutch population, alloimmunization has an incidence of 2-5% , but the issue is much bigger in ethnic minorities. Particularly those of African descent, due to red blood cell antigen mismatches. It is curcial to adress the ethnic mismatch between Caucasian donors and African descent recipients, especially given the shortage of donors from ethnic minority groups.
FUNDING BODIES
