Hemostasis Today
NewsFeed
Headlines Hematology Health Medicine VTE ASH Plasma Donation
July, 2026
July 2026
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
Jukka Partanen: How Blood Donation Selection Shapes the Human Genome Landscape
Jukka Partanen/photo:bgc.io
Jun 10, 2026, 04:15

Jukka Partanen: How Blood Donation Selection Shapes the Human Genome Landscape

Jukka Partanen, Research Professor At Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, shared on LinkedIn about a recent article he and his colleagues co-authored, published in European Journal of Human Genetics, adding:

”Are blood donors a random sample from the general population, or a selected one?

Both the criteria set by blood establishments for blood donor and donor’s self-assessment (feeling fit enought to donate blood) results in a repeated selection of individual who regularly donate blood.

This is called the healthy donor effect.

We compared the genome profiles of regular blood donors of the Blood Service Biobank in Finland with other Finnish population cohorts in FinnGen and found that the healthy donor effect indeed is visible at the genome level, too.

Genetic risk variants to many common diseases had lower frequences in regular blood donors – something we must remember when applying blood donor genome data as a reference.”

Title: Genome-wide association study identifies protective genetic factors in active blood donors against multiple diseases

Authors: Jonna Clancy, Jarkko Toivonen, Jouni Lauronen, Jukka Partanen, Mikko Arvas, Jarmo Ritari

Jukka Partanen: How Blood Donation Selection Shapes the Human Genome Landscape

Stay updated on all scientific advances with Hemostasis Today.

Blood Service Biobank European Journal of Human Genetics FinnGen Health Hematology Hemostasis Hemostasis News Hemostasis Today Jarkko Toivonen Jarmo Ritari Jonna Clancy Jouni Lauronen Jukka Partanen Medicine Mikko Arvas Transfusion Medicine
NewsFeed