In a refrigerated storage room at the BloodSource headquarters, lab technician Ian Martin processes a batch of blood collected from a recent blood drive. It’s a labor-intensive process that cannot be automated, and the blood bank processes more than 250,000 such units a year.

It’s a small amount compared to the volumes of blood managed by organizations like the Red Cross, but the work being done at BloodSource is highly specialized.

One of only 50 reference labs in the country, scientists and molecular pathologists at BloodSource comb through databases and test thousands of blood samples to find rare organ and tissue matches for high-risk medical patients around the world.

It’s expensive, and it’s time consuming, but it’s set BloodSource and its 513 employees apart at a time when community blood banks across the country are shuttering as a result of rising costs.

In addition to its niche laboratory work, BloodSource also ships blood to needy hospitals around the globe, including those in the U.S. impacted by crisis and natural disasters.

Bloody Business

Bloodsource specializes to stay on top

Back SNAP Feb 1, 2013 By Christine Calvin

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