February 2024

ASHI provides financial support for you to hold a local HLA meeting. The main goal of this effort is to engage technologists in inter-laboratory learning activities. ASHI will provide up to $1,500 in reimbursement to assist with local meeting planning and conduct.

Click here to submit your online funding application before March 1, 2024.

The application is also available in our handbook. The ASHI Local HLA meeting handbook has all the tools you'll need to organize your meeting. This will help guide you from start to finish!

As we plan the 50th ASHIversary, we’re taking a look back in time. Send us your photos from previous ASHI Meetings and we’ll post them on our social media pages as part of our new Throwback Thursday marketing campaign. Send your pictures to info@ashi-hla.org and be sure to include the location and year of the meeting.

Speaker

Harry Pickering, PhD

UCLA Health

Join us this Thursday for a webinar on "Big Data Visualization: Practical tools for analyzing multi-dimensional immunological datasets".

Big Data is rapidly becoming a more common, and often expected, part of modern human immunology research. Many tools exist for analyzing Big Data, but they often require users to have previous experience with bioinformatics and specific coding languages. This webinar will introduce a few easily accessible and more user friendly tools for visualizing common forms of Big Data to help researchers with variable or limited bioinformatics experience take greater control of their own analysis.

Hosted by the Educational Initiatives Committee

Speaker

Gonca E. Karahan, PhD

In allogeneic transplantation, genetic disparities between patient and donor may lead to cellular and humoral immune responses mediated by both naïve and memory alloreactive cells of the adaptive immune system. The presentation will address:



1) Alloreactive T and B-cells: A detailed exploration of alloreactive T and B-cells, with a special emphasis on memory compartment.

2) Vitro Assays: Insights into in vitro assays designed to detect alloreactive cells and their role in allograft rejection.

Continuing education credits are available for both webinars. The webinars will be recorded and placed on ASHI University following the event.

2024 Shipping Schedule

The 2024 ASHI PT shipping schedule for the first half of 2024 is below. The full schedule, along with other important PT information, is posted on the PT page of the ASHI website. As a reminder, this year the EMO survey will be the first survey to ship in 2024.

Survey 1 Ship Dates

EMO-1 3/5/2024

HT-1     4/9/2024

AC-1*   5/7/2024    (*AO modules – sera-only modules - will ship a day earlier than the AC.)

2024 PT Webinar on New Software

At the end of February, the PT Committee will present a PT webinar on entering EMO results into the new software. Additional information will be provided via email.

Coffee & Compatibility

New segment on Coffee & Compatibility

The ASHI podcast is adding a new segment to focus on Technologist Excellence to highlight technologists that are going above and beyond daily lab tasks by performing outstanding HLA work and leading initiatives to further the field. Submit your suggestions to info@ashi-hla.org with Tech Excellence in the subject line and tell us how your suggested guest is impacting the HLA field. If selected, the podcast host will contact the guest and schedule a virtual interview that will be aired on a future episode of the podcast. 

Call for ASHI Award Nominations

Each year the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) sponsors several awards to recognize scientific accomplishments and contributions to the fields of histocompatibility and immunogenetics as well as service to the Society. ASHI is currently accepting nominations for the following awards:

• J. Marilyn MacQueen Rising Star Award
• Distinguished Service Award
• Bernard Amos Distinguished Scientist Award
• Rose Payne Award
• Outstanding Technologist Award

Send nominations and supporting information to Katherine Giovetsis. The nomination deadline for all ASHI awards is May 17, 2024. To view former award winners, please click here.

More information to come about three special scientific awards:

• Early Career Investigator Award
• Innovation Scholarship Awards
• Michael Schmiederer Research Science Award

"Our laboratory recently had a couple of unsuccessful PT results – our commissioner told us that “enhanced Proficiency Testing” is required – what exactly does that entail?"

Click here to view the Accreditation Review Board's response.

Would you like to be featured as our next ASHI Member or Volunteer Spotlight? Click the links below to answer a few questions about your member/volunteer experience. For more information, or if you would like to nominate someone to be highlighted as our next spotlight, contact Cathy Landolt at clandolt@ashi-hla.org.