ABSTRACT

The Consortium for Blood Group Genes is a worldwide organization whose goal is to have a vehicle to interact, establish guidelines, operate a profi ciency program, and provide education for laboratories involved in DNA and RNA testing for the prediction of blood group, platelet, and neutrophil antigens. Currently, the consortium operates with representatives from Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Membership is voluntary with the expectation that members actively contribute to discussions involving blood group genetics. This year witnessed a change in the standing committee membership and the institution of a representative for the human platelet antigens group. Looking forward, the consortium sees challenges for the nomenclature of blood group alleles and user-required specifi cations for laboratory information systems to store genotype information.