While working on the cover story for our Spring 2022 Immune Matters Magazine, we had a chance to film Quinn Bui, Clinical Laboratory Processing Technician at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI). Quinn walked us through how blood donations are processed for scientific research. This video begins right as the blood has been received from the donor and ends with the processed blood being tucked away in the 80 freezer.

In 2020 alone, nearly half of the studies published by LJI researchers relied on human blood samples. Through blood, they witnessed the immune system’s battle against SARSCoV2 and the power of COVID19 vaccines. Through blood, they tracked responses to yellow fever and dengue virus. They even uncovered potential drivers of heart disease.

Blood has many ingredients, and most LJI scientists aren’t interested in the red stuff. Immunologists here focus on white blood cells, also called leukocytes, which include T cells, B cells, macrophages, and other key immune cells. Find these leukocytes, and you’ll uncover clues to how immune cells do their jobs.

Read the cover story https://www.lji.org/newsevents/news/...

Learn how you can contribute to LJI’s clinical studies https://www.lji.org/research/research...