Scientific Aim

The Landsteiner Foundation for Blood Transfusion Research (LSBR) supports clinical and experimental scientific research in the field of blood, blood-forming tissue, blood products, and blood (related) diseases, provided that the research bears a relationship to the field of transfusion or transplantation of blood cells.

History

In 1948 the Dutch government, the Dutch Red Cross and the municipality of Amsterdam founded the Central Laboratory of the Blood Transfusion Service of the Netherlands Red Cross (CLB) and installed its supporting foundation the Stichting tot Instandhouding van het CLB (StICLB). For 50 years this foundation supported the activities of CLB, including research in the field of blood transfusion and the manufacturing of plasma products. Its board acted as the supervisory board of CLB.

In 1998 CLB merged with the 22 Dutch regional blood banks into a new foundation, i.e. Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation. The merger did not include StICLB, which needed to adapt its statutes to ensure that the (financial) assets of StICLB remained available for continued support of the research in the field of blood and blood transfusion in The Netherlands. The name of StICLB was changed to Landsteiner Stichting voor Bloedtransfusieresearch (LSBR). The LSBR is an independent foundation that uses the revenues of its assets to support research proposals from Sanquin and other Dutch institutes in the same field.

Article 3 of the LSBR statutes of 17 April 2015 specifies the objectives of LSBR:

  • to support scientific research, especially basic research, in blood transfusion and related subjects
  • to fulfill moral and social obligations, especially obligations originating from the history of the foundation
  • to manage the financial assets of the foundation.

The budget for research grants can fluctuate from year to year, depending on the investment results. On average the LSBR is able to support up to 7 projects each year. For the year 2021 LSBR had a budget of € 2.3 million enabling to support 5 projects out of the 20 full applications received.
Since 1999, LSBR has been reviewing and selecting project proposals on transfusion research and has been able to grant over 100 research projects so far.
For an overview of the projects till 2021, please see: list of LSBR projects