New & Emerging Organisations
How to list donors and cord blood units – information for new & emerging registries and cord blood banks
A registry is an organisation responsible for coordination of the search for hematopoietic stem cells from donors (including cord blood) unrelated to the potential recipient.
- The patient registry or requesting registry is the registry that acts on behalf of their transplant centres.
- The donor registry or providing registry is the registry that provides the hematopoietic stem cell product.
Setting up a registry or a public cord blood bank can be challenging. Review the menu to the right for a proven step-wise plan that will get you started on this life-saving journey.
Step 1: Become an individual member and read the WMDA Handbook
Step 2: Share information about your registry
After filling in the checklist, you can send the form to the WMDA office by mail (mail@wmda.info). The WMDA office team will review it and provide you with information on the next steps.
Step 3: Global Registration Identifier Donors (GRID)
The purpose of the GRID is to:
- Reduce the risk of mis-identification of hematopoietic stem cell donors, due to the lack of global uniqueness of identifiers;
- Provide a standard eye-readable format for the donor identifier that can be used by humans;
- Provide a standard machine-readable format for the donor identifier that can be used by computer systems;
- Provide a check sum for transcription control;
- Provide consistent documentation;
- Improve traceability of donors.
All organisations involved in the process of recruiting, facilitating and providing haematopoietic stem cells from volunteer donors have implemented GRID. Established systems such as ISBT-128 or Single European code (SEC), which standardize the terminology, identification, coding and labelling of medical products of human origin, serve as the basis for GRID. WMDA has established a partnership with the International Council for Commonality in Blood Bank Automation (ICCBBA) to manage and maintain the GRID.
Quick links:
What is GRID?
- Publication explaining GRID: Global Registration Identifier for Donors (GRID) of Hematopoietic Stem Cells: Road to Automation and Safety
Technical details about GRID:
- Technical documentation: ION database and GRID rules
- Technical documentation: GRID Calculator
Operational tools:
- List of Issuing Organisation Numbers (ION)
- GRID Checksum Calculator
- How to work with GRID in excel
- Template: Global Registration Identifier for Donors (GRID) – implementation plan
Step 4: Connect with international registries
- Publish your operational and regulatory information.
- Write an article for Stem Cell Matters to introduce your registry
- Come to the WMDA meetings and ask for a timeslot for a presentation
Step 5: Provide a test file
Step 6: Apply for FULL (organisation) membership
- After sending the criteria to list donors form, signing the data use agreement, sending a test file to WMDA and uploading the operational information, you can inform the WMDA office that your organisation is ready to start listing donors and/or cord blood units. You can then formally apply to the WMDA Board for a ‘FULL’ WMDA organisation membership.
- Send your official application to the WMDA Board via email: mail@wmda.info.
- The WMDA Board will review your application.
- If your application is approved by the WMDA Board, your donors/cord blood units will become visible in WSMS.
- You will receive an annual invoice from WMDA.
Find the pricelist here.
Recommendation 1: View the recorded meeting about WMDA's services to support starting organisations
Recommendation 2: Consult the new & emerging registries
Should you wish consultation from this group, you can send a message by mail to: mail@wmda.info. Please clearly state what kind of help or information you seek.