You've probably heard of our supplier, UK-based Research Donors, which provides high-quality human blood products. But are you aware of all the services available to customise these blood products to your needs?

With Research Donors, you have the option to customise the donor, the sample format and the delivery time. “Right Donor, Right Sample, Right Time", find out more about the wide range of personalised services offered by Research Donors in this article.

Research Donors

The London-based company specialises in the distribution of fresh, highly characterised human blood products including whole blood, plasma, serum, buffy coats, PBMCs and leukopaks. Research Donors is committed to ethical standards and only collects samples for commercial biomedical and animal research and genetic analysis with explicit consent.

The right donor

Your research requires many carefully controlled inputs, and some of the most important variables to consider are the donors from whom biosamples are taken. With us, you can select the ideal donor from a large pool of over 3000 healthy and drug-free donors. Alternatively, we offer you the option of targeted donor recruitment according to your specific requirements. You can choose from the following characteristics, among others:

  • Age
  • Sex assigned at birth
  • Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type
  • Previous viral infections (including CMV and EBV)
  • Blood group
  • Rhesus status
  • Behaviour/habits, e.g. smoker
  • Ethnicity

Our pool contains only healthy donors who are not being treated with medication, so that these samples can be used in your research studies without potential complications that could arise from the presence of diseases or bioactive substances such as prescription drugs.

When obtaining biospecimens from public blood collection organisations, you have no control over this important factor, and even common drugs such as ibuprofen, antihistamines, steroids and vaccines can have significant effects on immune cell function, which could affect your research.

The right sample

To best meet the requirements of your research project, we offer a wide range of volumes and formats for our blood samples. Whole blood is supplied either in bags or in a variety of anticoagulant and other specialised collection tubes.

Specify the requirements with the following characteristics:

  • Type of sample
  • Collection format: tubes/bags/specific collection devices
  • Anticoagulants: CDP, K2 EDTA, K3 EDTA, Li-Heparin, Na-Heparin, Sodium Citrate, Streck CFD, Acid Citrate Dextrose A, Silicone-coated tube (serum only)
  • Required volume (depending on product type)
  • Delivery at: Ambient temperature, refrigerated or frozen
  • Your own collection and processing protocols, if required

For the processing of blood samples after collection, Research Donors has its own laboratory on site, which is accredited according to ISO 9001:2015. All blood samples are tested for HIV, hepatitis B & C and syphilis and must be confirmed as negative before they are processed in the laboratory or passed on to clients. Although researchers must always assume that blood samples may be infectious, our 'test before release' policy is a useful assurance that samples arriving at your laboratory have been tested for infectious agents.

At the right time

Fresh blood products are dispatched by 5pm the day after the sample is taken. If you need your samples earlier, you can use our special point-to-point delivery service with guaranteed delivery by 12 noon. Please note that separate shipping costs apply for both shipping options.

Fresh samples must usually be ordered approximately 1 week prior to delivery (exact timing to be confirmed).

You can also select frozen blood products and make a reservation via the Research Donors online stock management system. You will then receive an offer from us, including the transport costs. The respective products remain reserved for you for one week without obligation.

You can find overall 9,000 products in the following categories: