Week 3- Maggie Elpers

This week I spent time in clinic with Dr. Hsu and in the hospital blood bank/lab. In clinic, I was able to observe autologous stem cell collections and T-cell collections from patients. Collections from these patients take anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours and can last over multiple days depending on the number of cells needed. After the cells are collected they are taken down to the cellular therapy lab (part of the blood bank), and tests are done to assess cell number, viability, etc. before they are frozen and sent for further processing such as purification. For CAR-T production, the cells are shipped to an external company after being frozen and then sent back in 2-3 weeks. Also in the clinic, Dr. Hsu saw multiple patients with AML who were 100-180 days post stem cell transplant. Multiple patients had the same symptoms such as significant weight loss due to low appetite that is likely the side effect of being on so many medications. These patients are also being monitored for graft vs host disease (GVHD) and on immunosuppressive medications, but after 180 days the patients can be taken off immunosuppressive meds slowly because the risk for GVHD decreases. We also saw a patient who previously had AML and was coming in for a 2-year post-transplant bone marrow biopsy.  

I also spent time in the hospital blood bank/ laboratory area with Dr. Robert DeSimone who is the director of transfusion medicine. This lab provides blood products including red blood cell products, platelets, and plasma to the entire hospital. I was able to see the lab area/equipment where all the blood samples get typed and tested for antibodies in the blood. Dr. DeSimone along with the residents and fellow explained how they go about giving blood products for patients and what protocols/criteria they follow when administering blood products for certain scenarios. It was really cool seeing how these processes work. 

Outside of clinical shadowing, I have been spending some time in Dr. Juan Cubillos-Ruiz’s lab learning how to isolate immune cells from mice and other protocols related to immune cells that will help my research in Ithaca. 



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