The aim of Platelet and Granulocyte Immunobiology Working Party is to enable collaborations in platelet and granulocyte immunobiology by bringing together members working in a diagnostic, research and/or clinical laboratory setting.
Chairperson and committee
Chairs: Maria Therese Ahlen (Norway), platelet immunobiology and Petter Höglund (Sweden), granulocyte immunobiology
Vice chairs: Gerald Bertrand (France) and Elyse Moritz (Brazil)
Educational coordinators: Lilach Bonstein (Israel) and Günalp Uzun (Germany)
Nomenclature Committee (platelets/granulocytes):
Gerard Bertrand (France), Maria Therese Ahlen (Norway), Brian Curtis (USA), Ulrich Sachs (Germany), Wenjie Xia (China) Elyse Moritz (Brazil), Marlies Schoenbacher (Austria), John-Paul Tung (Australia), Torsten J Schulze
Workshop Committee: Maria Therese Ahlen (Norway), Petter Höglund (Sweden), Nurul Munira Yahya (Malaysia), Pawinee Kupatawintu (Thailand), NelsonTsuno (Japan), Elyse Moritz (Brasil), Daisuke Takahashi (Japan)
Membership
The Platelet and Granulocyte Immunobiology Working Party (PGIWP) has 64 members representing 30 countries. There are 31 Platelet Laboratories and 16 Granulocyte Laboratories registered in the Core Laboratory Group of the WP. No new lab applications in 2025. Most laboratories are registered for both platelet and granulocyte immunobiology activities. Members range from clinical staff responsible for performing laboratory testing to scientists active in platelet or granulocyte research.
Meetings
The merged PGIWP was formed at a joint business meeting between the previous working parties PIWP and GIWP on May 31st, 2025, at the 35th Regional ISBT Congress, Milan, Italy. Following this meeting, a vote was conducted and two new co-chairs were elected: Maria Therese Ahlen (Norway) and Petter Höglund (Sweden).
The next larger meeting was organized by the co-chairs on December 14, 2025, to discuss and approve the the updated Terms-of-reference (ToR) of the PGIWP as well as to discuss the planned activities for 2026.
Prior to the meeting on December 14, the executive committee (co-chairs and vice co-chairs) conducted virtual meetings (on October 7 and November 24) to work on the new ToR as well as planning the first WP member meeting.
The two co-chairs had several working meetings on WP activity and the ToR and conducted several meetings together with ISBT office regarding organization, member lists, budgets, activities and congress WP activities.
Co-chair Maria Therese Ahlen participated at the ISAC meeting on Jan 28, 2026.
Meeting Summaries
May 31, 2025, Milan, Italy. Joint business meeting PGIWP
- Hybrid
- Forms for merged WP, forms for election of co-chairs, activities.
- Procedure for election and ideas for future activities.
December 14, 2025. Business meeting PGIWP
- Virtual
- ToR, future activities
- Approval of the ToR
October 7 and November 24, 2025. Executive committee meetings
- Virtual
- Preparations of ToR, planning of activities at ISBT Kuala Lumpur
- ToR document, clearer idea of ISBT activities.
Activities during the period
Activities during the period has focused on performing a successful merger of the Platelet Immunobiology WP (PIWP) and the Granulocyte Immunobiology WP (GIWP). This became a reality in Q4 of 2025, after the election of new co-chairs for the joint Platelet and Granulocyte Immunobiology Working Party (PGIWP) and the approach of the new Terms-of-Reference (ToR) for the new WP.
Activities of the co-chairs and executive committee includes establishment of the ToR, including setting the organization with two sub-committees: Nomenclature sub-committee and Workshop sub-committee.
Revision of member lists in line with retirement and replacements were performed, PGIWP webpages have been updated, a new application form for the PGIWP has been created and a budget plan for the next budget year was made. In addition, planning for several activities at ISBT 2026 in Kuala Lumpur took some of the time. The activities from this meeting will be reported next year.
The virtual kick-off PGIWP online WP meeting in December 2025 was well attended.
A survey among the platelet laboratories in the Core Laboratory Group on autoantibody testing and challenges with lack of reagent availability was performed. Dialogue with academic and industry partners was initiated.
Between November 2025 until March 2026, the International Platelet Immunology Workshop (IPIW) 2026 has been planned. The samples for this workshop were sent out in March 2026 to 31 platelet laboratories world-wide. This outcome will be discussed at ISBT Kuala Lumpur, and the results will be reported in next year’s annual report.
Major Projects and Initiatives
- Scientific / Technical Progress. No activities in this category can be reported this year.
- Collaboration and Partnerships. Formation of the new PGIWP has been the entire focus this year. Discussions with two other WP, the BTB and red cell nomenclature, have been initiated to prepare for future activities on harmonizing nomenclature and identifying common ground for future joint activities.
- Education and Outreach. The web pages, member lists and application forms have been updated.
- Training / Workshops / Events. The international platelet workshop (PIWP) has been initiated but is not ready yet. Plans for two workshops (one wet and one dry) at ISBT Kuala Lumpur is planned. The PGIWP had a business meeting at ISBT Milan.
- Other Activities. No other activities.
Challenges and Opportunities
The PGIWP has been restructured as a joint Working Party during the period and aims to boost activity with the sub-committees. There have been some challenges of administrative nature, but overall, the merger has been very well received by the members.
We have an ongoing long-term goal of harmonizing the platelet and granulocyte antigen nomenclature to the red blood cell nomenclature, which most likely will present some challenges, but this will be reported next year.
Summary
The merger of the two previous working parties into PGIWP has been successful, and we approach the coming year with confidence. Many activities are planned for the next financial year, such as two workshops at ISBT Kuala Lumpur and future-looking work with harmonizing HPA and HNA nomenclature with the red cell nomenclature and a projected inclusion of the HPA and HNA nomenclature in the red cell nomenclature database.
