New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe) will be attending the AABB Annual Meeting from October 3 to 5, 2020. To reduce the spread of COVID-19, AABB has decided that this year’s conference will be completely virtual after carefully considering all the available options.
Despite the change in format, this highly anticipated event will still offer plenty of networking and educational opportunities for those involved in transfusion medicine and biotherapies. AABB has implemented a virtual platform to create an innovative learning environment that combines intuitive navigation with reliable functionality.
Events to Expect at AABB 2020
The 2020 AABB Annual Meeting will provide exciting, robust engagement opportunities. These events fall into the general categories of science and innovation workshops, continuing education (CE) classes, exhibits and networking opportunities — with CE credit available for some sessions. The virtual exhibit hall will feature many industry partners showcasing their latest products and services. A virtual networking lounge will allow you to chat with other attendees and speakers. Attendees can also schedule appointments to meet with subject matter experts.
Attendees will have the best opportunity to meet and network with other attendees during the live sessions since this is when most attendees will be online. Exhibitors will also be at their booths and available for live chatting during these hours. AABB will also archive most of the material for later viewing. Additionally, their virtual platform will provide attendees with many ways to connect with colleagues throughout the Annual Meeting, including discussions with authors and speakers from different organizations.
NYBCe at AABB 2020
NYBCe will have 55 representatives at the AABB 2020 Virtual Meeting. These individuals will comprise 11 speakers, 45 authors, and nine program chairs who will participate in 13 oral abstract sessions, 20 posters presentations, seven CE classes, and five on-demand sessions.
If you are wondering who will be representing NYBCe at AABB 2020, then here is your chance for an early preview.
One of this year’s representatives is Larry Luchsinger, Ph.D., an Assistant Member of the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, the Director of the New York Blood Center (NYBC) Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Bank, and a founding member of the COVID-19 Research Repository. Dr. Luchsinger will be a speaker and the program chair in CE session AM20-12 titled “Mechanisms and Technologies towards Expanding Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Transplantation.” This session will discuss the molecular biology of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which researchers could leverage to improve the strategies for maintaining functional HSCs in vitro. Overcoming this strategy is critical for using HSCs to treat hematological disease and malignancies effectively. This session will also examine the mechanisms for harnessing the capacity of HSCs to maintain blood cell lineage output. Dr. Luchsinger is also the program chair of session AM20-18, “Mechanisms of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Towards Rejuvenation of the Aging Hematopoietic System.”
Program chair Alexandra Jimenez, M.D., of NYBC, will be hosting the AM20-16 Oral Abstract Session on Donors/Collections. This session will discuss several topics, including the FDA’s new model for platelet apheresis and the challenges of alternative gender classifications. It will also include an analysis of ferritin levels in stored RBCs and the convalescent plasma donor population at NYBC.
Nancy L Van Buren, M.D. of Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), a division of NYBCe, will be the program chair for session AM20-23, entitled “Does Assessing Vital Signs Contribute to Blood Donation Safety?” This session will explore the requirements for vital signs to determine donor eligibility in the US. It will also discuss the experiences of other countries on donor safety after changing vital signs requirements. Dr. Van Buren is also an author of two abstracts: “P-BB-21 – Educational Information Provided with Discount Coupon for Iron Supplements Encourages Coupon Redemption…..Maybe” and “OA2-AM20-16 – Optimizing the Blood Donation Experience: Confronting the Challenges of Gender Identification.”
These individuals represent a fraction of the subject matter experts that will be representing NYBCe at AABB 2020. Visit NYBCe’s website to view the 2020 Session Schedule and the Oral Abstract Schedule.
Connect With NYBCe at the AABB 2020 Virtual Meeting
Engaging with these subject matter experts isn’t the only way to interact with NYBCe at AABB 2020. Over the past few weeks, the organization has been publishing additional resources for you to download. For example, NYBCe has already published an archive of presentations and posters from the AABB 2019 conference in San Antonio, Texas.
AABB 2020 is only a few weeks away, but NYBCe will post more resources on its website soon. Fill out this form to sign up for AABB 2020 alerts to be one of the first to access these materials as soon as they’re posted. If you haven’t registered for the AABB 2020 Virtual Meeting, then remember to do.