Turning Apheresis Trash into Research Treasure: Building Cost‑effective Human Cell Resources for the Research and Biotech Communities

Proposed Session Description: Apheresis centers are under increasing financial and operational pressure, while investigators face escalating costs and limited access to high-quality human primary cells needed for cell-based models that are rapidly replacing animal testing in drug development. This session will show how apheresis “waste” (platelet collection collars/tubing, HPC/MNC collars/tubing, and cellular therapy lab remnants) can be transformed into a sustainable institutional resource that both supports research and helps offset apheresis program costs through structured cost-recovery mechanisms. Using collaborative effort between the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Apheresis Research Core, and BWH Crimson Core as a case study, speakers will describe how routine apheresis waste products can be naturally enriched for CD34+ cells, and can be used to isolate platelets, T cells, B cells, monocytes, NK cells, and other PBMC subsets, and how these materials can be routed to investigators, both internal and external. Particular emphasis will be placed on the scarcity of sickle cell disease (SCD) CD34+ cells—where commercial sources are essentially nonexistent or prohibitively expensive—and how leveraging therapeutic apheresis waste and research leukapheresis can unlock otherwise impossible studies in beta hemoglobinopathies. The speakers will highlight important limitations of commercial products, where most offerings are cryopreserved cells; robust fresh options generally require purchasing high-cost leukapaks from vendors, yet freeze–thaw cycles can impair viability, differentiation potential, and functional readouts in vitro, making locally sourced fresh cells from apheresis centers both scientifically superior and markedly more cost effective. Participants will learn practical frameworks for consent language, IRB engagement, internal vs external distribution (ISA/MTA/DUA), team structure, fee schedules, and how to build a cost recovery–based infrastructure that strengthens the apheresis service while advancing institutional research priorities and promoting biotherapeutic development with biotech partners. The session will also briefly address special considerations for obtaining consented donor leukapheresis/leukopak collections for research.