Provided herein are materials and methods for the preparation of blood products. In one aspect, provided herein is a composition including platelets or platelet derivatives and an aqueous medium, wherein the aqueous medium has a protein concentration less than 50% of the protein concentration of donor apheresis plasma.

The present application provides a semi-permeable hydrogel composition comprising an alginate matrix that is covalently crosslinked in its periphery to a multi-armed water soluble polymer, along with related methods and uses thereof.

The present invention provides a method for determining the prognosis of cancer in a subject. The method comprises measuring the amount of megakaryocytes in a sample from the subject. Usually, the sample is a blood sample. The method may also comprise measuring the number of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the sample, and in some embodiments a comparison of the number of megakaryocytes and CTCs in the sample. The present invention also provides methods of treatment for cancer in a patient for whom a poor prognosis is predicted using a method of prognosis of the invention.

Inhibition of the VIP signaling pathway with VIP antagonist is contemplated. In certain embodiments, the disclosure relates to methods of enhancing the immune response to a cell therapy comprising administering a VIP antagonist to a subject in combination with a cell. In certain embodiments, the subject is diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma. In certain embodiments, the cell is a blood cell, bone marrow cell, leukocyte, T-cell, natural killer cell, a hematopoietic stem cell, a G-CSF mobilized or non-mobilized blood mononuclear cell.

The present invention relates to compositions of extracellular vesicles (EVs) which are characterized by a strong proangiogenic activity and are effective in the therapeutic treatment of ischemic diseases and ischemic injuries or in wound healing. The extracellular vesicles (EVs) suitable for use in the compositions of the invention are either derived from a blood component or are selected by means of a potency test for pro-angiogenesis. Also disclosed is a method of manufacturing a pharmaceutical preparation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) characterized by a strong proangiogenic activity.

Chimeric transmembrane immunoreceptors (CAR) targeted to PSCA are described.

The present invention relates to apparatuses for use in electrophoretic separation of macromolecules and/or cells, and in which circulating buffer streams are not required for the electrophoretic separation of macromolecules and/or cells. In certain embodiments, the electrophoretic apparatus disclosed herein comprise a sample chamber and a harvest chamber separated by a size-exclusion membrane; non-circulating buffer chambers flanking each respective sample chamber and harvest chamber, wherein each buffer chamber is separated from each respective sample chamber and harvest chamber by an ion-permeable membrane (restriction membrane), and wherein the buffer chambers are sealed and contain a buffer solution; and an electrode positioned in each buffer chamber. Also disclosed are related methods of using the electrophoretic apparatus disclosed herein.

The present disclosure generally relates to, inter alia, a class of chimeric switch receptors containing an endodomain of an IL-9 receptor, engineered to modulate transcriptional regulation in a ligand-dependent manner. The disclosure also provides compositions and methods useful for producing such receptors, nucleic acids encoding same, host cells genetically modified with the nucleic acids, as well as methods for modulating gene expression, modulating an activity of a cell, and/or for the treatment of various health conditions or diseases.

The present disclosure provides dry and liquid compositions that include canine platelets and/or canine platelet-derived substances in dried form or rehydrated form from a dried form of canine platelets and/or canine platelet-derived substances, as well as processes for preparing such compositions. The disclosure also provides processes for making the compositions and methods of using the compositions for therapeutic, prophylactic, diagnostic, and research purposes, and kits comprising the compositions.

A blood component separation device for separating a plurality of blood components from blood sampled from a blood donor, and collecting platelets, includes: an operation unit that calculates a predicted platelet recovery rate from a hematocrit value of the blood and a platelet concentration of the blood, and calculates a recommended processing amount of the blood recommended for collecting a target number of units of platelets on the basis of the calculated predicted platelet recovery rate, wherein the operating unit sets the predicted platelet recovery rate calculated from any the hematocrit value and any the platelet concentration to be smaller by a predetermined value a when the blood donor is female than that when the blood donor is male.