News & Events | Blood Center Researcher Awarded Grant from National Institutes of Health

Grant will allow lab to retain and attract new researchers to continue encouraging new research into rare bleeding disorders

NOVEMBER 3, 2003, SEATTLE — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded Puget Sound Blood Center Senior Investigator, Jonathan G. Drachman, M.D., a $1 million grant to study rare platelet disorders. The four-year endowment will ensure that the researcher, a University of Washington assistant professor of medicine, is able to continue his study into the causes of inherited thrombocytopenia, a little-known platelet disease that results in bleeding disorders in humans. Currently, Dr. Drachman’s laboratory has garnered four active grants from the NIH as well as funding from the American Society of Hematology and the Doris Duke Foundation to support his research.

Obtaining a grant from the NIH is extremely competitive and is based on peer review of the proposal, the quality of the science and promise of the findings. Of the total grant requests submitted to the NIH from investigator-generated requests, approximately 25 percent of these are awarded.

Dr. Drachman, who is also director of the Blood Center’s Cord Blood Program and an award-winning researcher, has dedicated his laboratory to focus on uncovering the genetic and biochemical processes that regulate platelet production by the bone marrow. Of particular note is the laboratory’s isolation of a new gene responsible for the inherited condition. The information gathered on this mutated gene holds keys that may help researchers better understand how platelets are produced and what happens when there is a problem with that gene.

“The NIH award is an exciting development for our laboratory,” said Dr. Drachman. “The research has the potential to give us greater insight into stimulating platelet production. Years from now, this may allow doctors to regulate the rate of platelet production for therapeutic purposes -- for patients with bleeding disorders, those receiving transplants or people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Our findings may also help researchers develop sophisticated medical therapies or medicines for people with bleeding disorders, blood cancers or other diseases.”

Dr. Drachman will be presenting his recent findings on Nov. 13 during the “New Investigator Science in Medicine Lecture” series at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The lecture, entitled “Src Kinases in Megakaryocyte Development” will be open to all faculty, staff and students from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Hogness Auditorium in the Health Sciences Building. Those interested in attending should contact Vee White at veewhite@u.washington.edu.

As an internationally recognized research organization, Puget Sound Blood Center has played a role in many medical advances related to blood and tissue transplantation. It is though grants, such as that awarded by the NIH, which help the Blood Center contribute to evolving medical knowledge and provide a body of findings that can impact future research.

“The Blood Center is internationally recognized for its contributions to the advancement of blood and tissue research,” said Sherrill Slichter, M.D., executive vice president of research at Puget Sound Blood Center. “As we expand our research program at the Blood Center to drive further advances, grants, such as those from the NIH, will play a significant role in the process.”

About The Puget Sound Blood Center
Internationally recognized for groundbreaking research in transfusion and transplantation medicine, the nonprofit Puget Sound Blood Center is the resource for patients in Western Washington who need blood, tissue and specialized laboratory services. Founded in 1944, the Blood Center has a long and unique tradition of blending community volunteerism, medical science and research to improve patients’ lives. The Blood Center, which serves patients in more than 70 hospitals and clinics in 14 counties with blood services, provides tissue and transplantation support to 185 hospitals across the Northwest.