The Zurich Blood Transfusion Service SRK (ZHBSD) has been actively involved in research and development projects for many years. Its main areas of focus include:

• Diagnostics in immunohematology and genetics
• Establishment and further development of new blood products (e.g., ASAT)
• Blood supply for the treatment of patients
• Quality assurance
• Cell therapies

Founded in 1949, the Blood Transfusion Service, Swiss Red Cross, Zurich began supplying blood to Zurich hospitals from a small facility on Gassnerallee. In the early 1950s the Federal Council charged the Swiss Red Cross with organizing a cost-covering national blood donation service based on voluntary, unpaid donations, a mandate the Foundation has upheld ever since and continuously developed.

Today the Blood Transfusion Service, Swiss Red Cross, Zurich employs about 220 people at sites in Zurich, Schlieren, Winterthur, and Uster and processes around 50,000 donations annually, with strong focus on donor health and patient safety. The organisation is now a high‑tech transfusion‑medicine provider, research leader and specialist in rare blood types, and — together with partners in Graubünden, Eastern and Central Switzerland — supplies roughly 40% of the Swiss population.

Program

• Welcome, Fani Kalaitsidis, ZHBSD & Dr. Markus Rimann, Competence Center TEDD
• Buy Platelet Lysate now (hPL), Prof. Dimitrios Tsakiris, Head of Medical Department
• Serum Eye Drops - a new aspect in hemotherapy, Prof. Birgit Gathof, Head of Research & Development
• Insights into blood group diagnostis, Dr. Stefan Meyer, Head of Genetics Departement
• Site-Tour: Blood Collection Center Limmattal, Screening & Immunohematology-Labs, Production, Blood bank, By individual department heads
• Networking lunch