The WMDA meeting

focused on something we have all been missing for more than two years: Talking to each other in person. Of course, some scientific topics were discussed as well. Next to sessions about the challenges for registries and cord blood banks during the pandemic, one of the hot topics was the role of registries and especially the WMDA in matters of cellular therapies like CAR-T cells.

ASHI Meeting

The American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) is the foremost authority and leading educational resource in immunogenetics and histocompatibility in the US. At the meeting, a combination of communities from solid organ transplantation, stem cell transplantation, and service providers in these fields was found. Our favorite session was a workshop about the validation and quality control of HLA in software and general. Additionally, we learned a lot in a session about nanopore technology. Even the input from the community of solid organ transplantation helped us to understand their current challenges.

Last but not least The ONE Forum

The Forum of National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be the Match takes place every year in Minneapolis. After a short introduction from our hosts, session after session was full of general information about stem cell transplantation, the needs and requirements of transplantation centers, and networking. Of has been a fundamental part of this meeting as well. On the first evening, the CEO of NMDP/Be the Match, Amy Ronneberg, spoke about the current market situation for NMDP/Be the Match and the goals the registry has set to help patients in need even better.