Organizational units
Sanquin consists of the following organizational units: the Blood Bank, Diagnostic Services B.V., Sanquin Innovation B.V. and Research and Labservices. All units are involved in their own way with blood transfusion, transfusion medicine and blood products. Sanquin works closely together with Prothya Biosolutions to provide medicines from plasma.
Blood Bank
Sanquin Blood Bank carries out a range of tasks, including recruiting donors (Sanquin.nl) and collecting the blood at the numerous donor centers around the country. After donation, the blood is tested and processed into red blood cell concentrates, blood platelets and plasma. These blood products are supplied directly to the various hospitals all over The Netherlands. The blood banks provide advice on use of these blood products and are involved in clinical research. Most of the plasma is not needed by hospitals and is sent directly to Prothya Biosolutions.
Diagnostic Services
Sanquin Diagnostic Services provides diagnostic services for blood transfusion and immunology (the study of the body’s defence mechanism). It also conducts genetic research in a number of areas, including blood groups and paternity issues. Diagnostic Services can perform all blood-related laboratory tests for hospitals, blood banks, institutes, obstetrics clinics, insurance companies and pharmaceutical organisations. Diagnostic Services is primarily called upon when complex specialist research is needed. Hospitals with insufficient capacity to carry out their own testing enlist the aid of Diagnostic Services. Diagnostic Services provides over more than 600 different diagnostic tests. More than half a million samples are tested each year.
Research and Labservices
Transfusion medicine is a constantly evolving field of research. Sanquin therefore has an extensive research program in the field of cellular blood products, plasma products and diagnostics, a large part of which is carried out by the Research division. Sanquin carries out both strategic and applied research. A broad range of studies in immunology, cell biology, blood-borne infectious diseases, haematology and blood transfusion medicine is conducted every year. New fields of research include stem cells and cellular immunetherapy. These studies are conducted in close collaboration with academic centres such as the Amsterdam University Medical Centre and the Leiden University Medical Centre, as well as non academic research centres in the Netherlands and abroad.
Sanquinnovate
To translate promising research ideas into concrete product or service development, we started a separate company: Sanquin Innovation B.V., also called Sanquinnovate. This company serves as a breeding ground for ideas for new products and services, in line with the medical needs we focus on. There are plenty of good ideas within Sanquin, but in the past these often did not receive the attention they deserved because other operations had priority. Within Sanquinnovate, the ideas are taken up across the divisions and developed further as a business case, and where necessary, with external partners. Contact: [email protected].
Prothya Biosolutions
We work together with Prothya Biosolutions to provide medicines from plasma. Prothya Biosolutions processes the plasma supplied by the blood banks into medicines for bleeding disorders, immunodeficiency disorders and critical care. Prothya Biosolutions is a major supplier of medicines for patients in the Netherlands.
