From the Central Office
The ISBT Blood Group Database – a truly global resource
In November 2025, the ISBT Working Party on Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology (RCI&BGT) launched the digital ISBT Blood Group Database comprising information on all blood group systems, including antigen data and comprehensive allele tables linking DNA variation to predicted phenotypes.
The many years of effort by representatives of the Working Party and ISBT to bring this project to life has paid off – an incredible ~62,000 individuals from 170 different countries have used the database over the last 12 months. Since the database launch, we have added 1 new blood group system (JAMA, see image on the bottom right), 3 new antigens and 120 new alleles in 10 blood group tables. Many of these new alleles were contributed by users around the world via the official allele submission platform.
Absolute number of individual visitors to the ISBT Blood Database between 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026. Out of the total 323,000 page views, the most visited allele tables were those of the RH, ABO and MNS system.
World map showing usage of the ISBT Blood Database per country. The most visitors came from the US, China, Germany, Philippines and Australia (top 5).
We are continuously working to improve the database and user experience and are grateful for the positive feedback and critical comments we have received from our community. How has the database helped you in your area of work? What’s your favourite part of the database? Do you have a suggestion for improvement? We’d love to hear from you at database@isbtweb.org.
Meet JAMA: the 49th ISBT blood group system
The Working Party on Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology ratified a new blood group system at the ISBT Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2026: JAMA is now recognised as the 49th ISBT blood group system. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which at least one new blood group system has been ratified by the Working Party at the ISBT June Congress.
Readers can access the publication “Identification of a novel high-prevalence red blood cell antigen on junctional adhesion molecule-A defines a new blood group system” in Vox Sanguinis at the link below.
