Belonging to the Brethren of Blood: An Autobiography

I was born in Halmstad, Sweden, in 1926. I began medical school in Lund and continued in Stockholm where I received an MD degree in 1951. I had training in surgery, internal medicine, clinical bacteriology, transfusion medicine, and blood group serology. I worked at the Karolinska Hospital and State Institute for Blood Group Serology, Stockholm, from 1952 to 1960. I obtained my PhD in immunology, Uppsala University, in 1962. I became the Blood Bank Director at the University Hospital, Uppsala, from 1960 to 1989, and professor and scientific consultant from 1989 onward. My research student at the blood bank, S Gunnar O. Johansson detected the first immunoglobulin E myeloma and characterized immunoglobulin E together with H Bennich. My main scientific interests include improvements of red blood cell and platelet preservation. In clinical transfusion medicine, I contributed to the use of adenine (acid-citrate-dextrose-adenine), additive solutions (saline-adenine-glucose-mannitol and platelet additive solution I), and improved component preparation techniques (“bottom-and-top” technique, Opti System). I was the Secretary General for the 12th Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion, Stockholm, 1964. I was a member of the Executive Council of the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and later became the Vice President and President (1969 to 1978). Fellow Royal Society of Sciences, Uppsala. Awards received included the Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award of AABB (1986) and the James Blundell Award of BBTS (1993).