Studies in membrane biology and hemoglobinopathies have been the center of my research at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute since 1985. We have defined several factors and proteins involved in the maintenance of the lipid bilayer organization of red blood cell membranes, and have defined how alterations, in part induced by oxidant stress, lead to pathology in sickle cell disease and thalassemia. My laboratory serves as a central laboratory for the analysis of blood components in translational research studies in hemoglobinopathies, as part of the reference laboratory for hemoglobinopathies in California. Starting 1/1/2021, the RBC lab was integrated in the hematology division at UCSF and continues to provide support for several NIH and industry sponsored research studies and clinical trials. Work with the mechanical engineering department at UC Berkeley has provided novel technology to characterize individual cells in heterogeneous populations. The establishment of the first sibling cord blood program in the US, translated into the invention of a novel and highly efficient way to collect cord blood and subsequent studies that established the human term placenta as a rich source of hematopoietic and multipotent stem cells.

RBC lab
The RBC lab at UCSF builds on a decades long experience defining blood physiology in basic, translational and clinical studies. Our highly experienced staff partners with academia and industry to evaluate approaches aimed to improve the quality of life of patients with abnormalities in blood and blood cell physiology.
The RBC lab provide detailed assessment of
-Hematology blood cell characteristics
-Plasma factors including hemostasis and inflammatory determinants
-RBC Oxygen affinity assessment
-Hemoglobin and globin HPLC
-Microcalorimetric protein-protein interactions
-Flowcytometry and Image Flowcytometry
-Ektacytometric RBC deformability