Martin L Olsson is Professor of Transfusion Medicine at the Division of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine at Lund University, a Consultant at the Department of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, and Medical Director for the Nordic Reference Laboratory for Genetic Blood Group Analysis in Lund. In addition, Prof. Olsson is the current Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University. His international track record includes being a visiting scientist at the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory in Bristol, UK, in the mid-1990s. During 2003-2008 he was a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA. He also served a two-year term elected as President of the International Society of Blood Transfusion in 2018-2020.
The Transfusion Medicine research group - led by Prof. Olsson - studies the biology and formation of the red blood cell and its polymorphic surface molecules, specifically the role of blood groups in health and disease. This research is of particular importance, as blood transfusion is a crucial part of modern medicine and every year some 400,000 blood units from Swedish blood donors must end up in the right patient to avoid adverse events caused by blood group incompatibility. One of Olsson’s aims is to improve current blood selection practices and develop alternatives to traditional transfusion therapy, including culture of stem and progenitor cells to mature red cells.
Over the past twenty five years, Prof. Olsson’s research team has a strong track record in the discovery and characterization of blood groups, with their research resulting in DNA-based blood group typing tests being used in clinical practice worldwide. In addition, research in his group has laid the foundation for five new blood group systems so far.
The Transfusion Medicine group currently focuses on the discovery and molecular characterization of new blood groups and their function as regulators of hematopoiesis and hemostasis. In the Unravelling the Hidden Regulators of Erythropoiesis project, his group already collaborates and has grants together with SCC PIs Johan Flygare, Jenny Hansson and Kenichi Miharada.
Welcome to Lund Stem Cell Center Martin!