Driving innovation in transfusion research

Dr Chloë George, Consultant Clinical Scientist and Head of Blood Component Development and Research at the Welsh Blood Service (WBS), has spent over 20 years working in transfusion medicine. In 2018, she became the first healthcare scientist in Wales to qualify as a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Transfusion and used the opportunity to establish the organisation’s first dedicated Blood Component Development and Research Laboratory.

What began with a small team with limited equipment has grown into a fully equipped facility with eight research staff, running multiple projects with national and international collaborators. Chloë’s team focuses on improving the safety and effectiveness of blood component treatments with a particular emphasis on cold-stored platelets (CSP) for use in cases of severe bleeding.

Traditional platelets require room temperature storage and monitoring, making them unsuitable for pre-hospital care. CSP, stored in a refrigerator, could be used in challenging environments such as air ambulances or military operations. Chloë’s collaboration with the Royal Navy and the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service in Wales has shown that CSP can be safely transported in existing blood transport systems without losing functionality. 

In 2025, Chloë received a Health and Care Research Wales Trials Development Award to have protected time to develop the design of the UK’s first randomised controlled trial of CSP use during an emergency medical treatment provided to injured patients before they reach the hospital. Supported by Swansea Trials Unit and mentored by Dr Kym Carter, Dr Shaun Harris and Dr Claire O'Neill she will design and lead Wales’s first clinical trial using CSP in pre-hospital trauma care.

This award provides Chloë with:

• protected time away from day-to-day clinical duties to focus on study development,
• networking opportunities through Faculty membership to connect her with other researchers across Wales to share expertise and work together.

Chloë has already secured over £220,000 in competitive grants, published nine peer-reviewed papers and influenced national and international transfusion policy through her role on the UK’s Special Advisory Committee for Blood Components and by providing research data to support a US Food and Drug Administration licence application for cold-stored platelets. The Trials Development Award will allow her to take the next step in Wales and move her research from laboratory to patients. Chloë said:

“This is my first opportunity to take our research from the lab into the clinical environment.

“It’s a huge step forward in translating our work into interventions that can save lives.”

If successful, the CSP trial could influence emergency care protocols across the UK and enhance military medicine by enabling platelets to be used outside hospital settings. For the military, it could provide a practical, portable solution for transfusion in combat environments. Ultimately, this could reduce deaths, shorten recovery times, and improve long-term outcomes for trauma patients and position Wales as a leader in blood component clinical research. 

Find about more about the Faculty.