Donor Testing Laboratory

The Rhode Island Blood Center's Donor Screening Laboratory is among New England's Premier donor screening laboratories, earning a reputation for quality results and outstanding customer service.

The Rhode Island Blood Center Donor Screening Laboratory performs all initial screening tests mandated by federal regulatory agencies using state of the art instrumentation.

Since its inception, the laboratory has continued to expand its services.

  • In 1991, the Rhode Island Blood Center's Donor Testing Laboratory began donor screening for the Blood Center's Marrow Donor Program, a regional branch of the National Marrow Donor Program. Shortly thereafter we began accepting donor samples from New England hospitals in need of Infectious Disease testing.
  • A Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT) laboratory was built at our Providence facility in 2004. We are still the only NAT lab providing donor screening in New England.
  • We are experienced with donor testing for Stem Cell, Bone Marrow, and Reproductive Tissue (HCT/P) donors and recipients, including Singlet NAT testing.

What we have to offer our Clients:

State of the Art Instrumentation

Novartis Tigris Procleix Nucleic Acid Amplification (NAT) Testing
  • Hepatitis C
  • HIV-1
  • Hepatitis B
  • West Nile Virus
  • performed in Pools of 8-16 or in Singlet
  • All of the Procleix assays are FDA licensed for both whole blood and HCT/P donors.

Abbott Prism (Chemiluminescent Assays) Viral Marker Screening
  • Hepatitis B core Antibody
  • Hepatitis B Surface Antigen
  • Hepatitis C Antibody
  • HIV-1,2 Antibody, including Group O
  • HTLV-I,II Antibody
  • Microparticle matrix increases assay sensitivity and chemiluminescent detection decreases susceptibility to temperature and pH fluctuations resulting in less false positive results. This reduces reactivity rates, decreasing the number of component discards and donor deferrals.
  • HBcore Assay has decreased Reactive Rates by 50 percent.
  • HBsAg assay meets FDA Lower Limit Detection Capability allowing clients to reinstate donors who were positive on Ortho's System 3 EIA assay.

Beckman Coulter PK Instrumentation
  • Blood Cell Grouping
  • Syphilis Antibody Screens
  • CMV Antibody Screens

BioRad Tango
  • Atypical RBC Antibody Screens

Duplicate Tigris, Beckman Coulter PK, Tango and Prism instruments in full operation in our Providence facility minimize downtime and maximize rapid turnaround times for all client testing.

Outstanding Customer Service

A Client Services Representative with a Master's Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science and over 28 years of laboratory experience is on staff Monday through Friday providing a single point of contact for all client needs.

Our Medical Director is available for assistance with clinical interpretation of test results and donor management issues.

Flexible test menus allow clients to choose their own testing required for their donors, including confirmatory and supplemental testing as well as donor re-entry protocols. We do not dictate testing requirements to our clients.

Highly Competent Testing Staff yielding Quality Results

All testing staff are licensed by the State of Rhode Island.

To be eligible for licensure, an individual must have a Bachelor or Associate's Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science, Biology, Chemistry, or Physical Science, and be certified by ASCP. Complete at least 30 hours of continuing education every two years.

Rhode Island Blood Center and its Laboratories are licensed by the Federal Drug Administration under License #1786 to collect, prepare, store, distribute, and test blood components. We are accredited by CLIA (#41D0670559) and AABB and Licensed by the State of Rhode Island, License #LCI00150.

The Donor Testing Laboratory participates in College of American Pathologist (CAP) and NY Department of Health Proficiency Surveys.

Ease of Specimen Transportation

Providence, Rhode Island is a transportation hub that is readily accessible by land or air. Transportation of specimens to Rhode Island Blood Center is less weather dependent and more budget conscious than shipping samples outside of New England.

Due to our business relationship with several local courier services, we offer extremely low rates for shipping donor samples to us. We arrange and manage the courier pickup schedule and bill you directly from Rhode Island Blood Center. We pass our volume discounts to you.

Web Assisted Result Retrieval

Availability of Network Transfer of Results via FTP files, delivering test results to a folder developed and maintained by client's IT department. Results can be automatically populated into client’s donor records, eliminating the need for manual entry of results. Assistance for development provided by Rhode Island Blood Center IT and Laboratory personnel.

For more information about our services and testing contact one of our representatives.