PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE GRAND ROUNDS

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

“Platelet Transfusions 2024, are we ready to chill?”

Moritz Stolla, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Member, Bloodworks Northwest Research Institute

Associate Medical Director, Swedish Medical Center, Blood Transfusion Service

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine - University of Washington 

Hosted by: Zbigniew M. Szczepiorkowski, MD., Ph.D.

Learning Outcome and Description

• Name the potential benefits and downsides of storing platelets at 4 degree C
• Outline the biology of the platelet cold-lesion
• Describe the role of platelet transfusion for the reversal of antiplatelet therapy
• Explore the role of lipids for platelet storage

Target Audience:  Dept. Faculty, Residents, Fellows, and Medical Students.

Bio

Dr. Stolla’s background encompasses platelet biology, transfusion medicine, and thrombosis/hemostasis. He completed medical school at the University of Munich in Germany and his doctoral thesis at the Department of Experimental Cardiology at the Technical University in Munich. After an internship in internal medicine at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar in Munich, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Wolfgang Bergmeier at the Cardeza Foundation, Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He then started his residency in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester, NY, followed by a clinical fellowship in the Harvard Joint Program for Transfusion Medicine in Boston, MA. Since 2016, he has been running his independent research program and is currently an Associate Member at the Bloodworks Northwest Research Institute and director of the platelet transfusion research laboratory.

His research interests include alternative platelet transfusion products, including cold-stored platelets (1-6 ºC), and how to improve their storage to maintain viability and function. Other research interests include predictors of bleeding, endothelial biology, and immune thrombocytopenias.  He has received numerous prestigious awards, including from the AABB Foundation, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Heart Association. His research is funded by the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Health. He is one of the leading investigators in basic, translational, and clinical platelet transfusion medicine.

In addition to his research, he is a practicing transfusion medicine physician and clinical pathologist. In this capacity, he is the director of Bloodworks Northwest's coagulation, platelet immunology, and red blood cell genomics labs. He holds academic appointments in the Department of Medicine / Hematology, the Department of Laboratory Medicine / Pathology at the University of Washington, and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle.