Our Facilities
Plasmapheresis
Apheresis is a medical technology used to extract plasma from the donor’s blood and return the other blood components to the donor’s blood stream. This enables the extraction of a greater quantity of plasma than through the traditional method of whole blood donation, in which blood is collected as one unit and later separated into components.
When making a plasmapheresis donation, the blood flows directly into a sterile single-use kit. Once there, the plasma is separated and extracted while the other blood components—red blood cells and platelets—are returned to the donor’s blood stream. Unlike whole blood donations, donors experience no red cell loss during this process, which reduces the delay between donations from three months to ten days.
When applied to clinical research, apheresis is a powerful technology and can be used to obtain large and frequent samples of plasma for the analysis of relevant fractions like complement, antibodies, etc.
Q&T Research has an apheresis unit with 2 devices, allowing up to 18 procedures per day.
CMI and PBMC
With a dedicated laboratory room, a laminar flow cabinet, nitrogen tank, ultra-low temperature freezers (-70 and -80 °C) and the expertise of 3 certified cell-mediated immunity technicians (CMI), Q&T Research is able to perform peripheral blood mononuclear cell manipulations (PBMC).
Q&T Research has conducted specialized projects, providing highly specific plasma derivatives, either following vaccinations or with healthy subjects identified with peculiar viral serotypes.