Bringing Blood to Life

The Blood Project (TBP) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving medical knowledge about blood’s connection to human health, disease, and therapeutics.

TBP provides open-access, web-based, and expert-curated learning tools and resources designed to:

  • Increase clinicians’ hematological knowledge and foster critical thinking and investigational skills in medical practitioners beyond rote-memorized approaches to patient care.
  • Boost understanding of humanistic perspectives on blood and blood-related disorders that improve physicians’ well-being and patient outcomes.

Explore our latest e-Learning materials, find upcoming webinars and courses, or check out the The Blood Project’s podcast series, Talking About Blood.

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What’s New?

Infographics, microcourses, quizzes and more

DateEvent
September 8, 2023Did you know that William Hewson (1739-1774) was a fellow of the Royal Society?
August 17, 2023View Graphic on Morphological Classification of Anemia
August 16, 2024View Graphic on Classification of Microcytic Anemia
August 14, 2023View Trivia Quiz – It’s all in the %!!
August 13, 2023View Tweetorial on White Blood Cell Count and Differential
August 12, 2023View Graphic on TMA in Pregnancy
August 12. 2023View Crib Sheet on WBC differential counts
August 10, 2023View Tweetorial on HELLP
August 1, 2023See Q&A on Optimal Hct
July 17, 2023Read Poem by Kristin LaFollette on Hematology.
June 13, 2023See Tweetorial on Wilson Disease and Hematology.
June 11, 2023See Tweetorial on Pseudothrombocytopenia.
June 11, 2023See case on Erythromelalgia.
June 10, 2023See Tweetorial on Pancytopenia.
June 10, 2023See Graphic on Platelet Distribution Width.
June 6, 2023See Discussion on Döhle Bodies.
May 30, 2023See Discussion on poikilocytes.
May 22, 2023Try your hand at our new Art Interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
May 22, 2023Did you know that Wallace H Coulter (1913 – 2098) was an American electrical engineer?
May 16. 2023See Charlie Murphy’s Blood Vessel Glass Sculpture Series.
May 4, 2023See Infographic on splenomegaly.
May 4, 2023See Tweetorial on splenomegaly.
May 4, 2023Read Poem by Kristin LaFollette on Hematology.
May 2, 2023Did you know that some people “understood” genetics before scientists understood genetics?
May 2, 2023Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Breanne Fahs about menstruation.
April 17, 2023Read our new Infographic on hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).
April 16, 2023See Tweetorial on hematological manifestations of anorexia nervosa.
April 16, 2023See fourth Case in a new series on transfusion medicine, edited and written by Elena Nedelcu.
April 14, 2023See Unknown CBC.
April 10, 2023See Tweetorial on testosterone therapy and erythrocytosis.
April 6, 2023Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing David Biale about an historian’s perspective on beliefs about blood.
April 4, 2023Read Poem by Kristin LaFollette on Hematology.
March 22, 2023Try your hand at our new Art Interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
March 20, 2023Read Shaun McCann’s Essay “All that Glisters”.
March 7, 2023Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Charlie Murphy about art-science experiments.
February 17, 2023See Tweetorial on pseudohyperkalemia.
February 8, 2023See third Case in a new series on transfusion medicine, edited and written by Elena Nedelcu.
February 7, 2023Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Dr. Adir Shaolov about saying goodbye to patients.
February 3, 2023Read Poem by Kristin LaFollette on Hematology.
February 2, 2023See Tweetorial on smoking and leukocytosis.
January 31, 2023See Tweetorial on GI bleeding and blood urea nitrogen.
January 25, 2023New Case Study on a 29 year-old man with longstanding history of anemia and gallstones.
January 25, 2023Did you know that glass frogs can achieve transparency by hiding circulating erythrocytes when sleeping?
January 23, 2023Check out the second Case in a new series on transfusion medicine, edited and written by Elena Nedelcu.
January 23, 2023See Tweetorial on folate deficiency.
January 8, 2023Check out the first Case in a new series on transfusion medicine, edited and written by Elena Nedelcu.
January 8, 2023Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Dr. John Harvey about veterinary hematology.
January 6, 2023Read Poem by Kristin LaFollette on Hematology.
January 4, 2023New Case Study on a 60 yo F with anemia and thrombocytopenia.
December 21, 2022Read Breanne Fah’s Essay on The Menstruating Male Body.
December 10, 2022See Tweetorial on iron homeostasis in chronic kidney disease.
December 7, 2022See Tweetorial on platelet count ranges.
December 5, 2022Read about a Case of bicytopenia.
December 4, 2022Read about a Case of polycythemia.
December 2, 2022See Tweetorial on reticulocytes.
November 30, 2022See Tweetorial on the approach to the patient with polyclonal gammopathy.
November 27, 2022See Tweetorial on the hematological manifestations of thyroid disease.
November 23, 2022See Tweetorial on positive and negative acute phase proteins (reactants)/
November 20, 2022See Tweetorial on the hematologic manifestations of liver disease.
November 17, 2022See Tweetorial on the effects of alcohol on the hematological system.
November 14, 2022See Tweetorial on whether to obtain iron indices from fasting blood sample.
November 14, 2022New Case Study on a 32 year-old woman with elevated serum transferrin saturation.
November 11, 2022New Case Study on a 60 year-old man with an mean cell volume 55 fL.
November 11, 2022New Case Study on a 53 year-old man with microcytic anemia.
November 10, 2022Read about a patient’s experience with MGUS.
November 10, 2022Read about a patient’s experience with essential thrombocythemia.
November 10, 2022New Case Study on 38 year-old woman with microcytosis.
November 10, 2022New Case Study on a 34 year-old man with hematocrit 57%
November 10 2022Read Poem by Kristin LaFollette on Hematology.
November 9, 2022New Case Study on 52 year-old woman with Hb 2.0 g/dL.
November 2, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Dr. Bill Detrich on the remarkable adaptations of the bloodless Antarctic icefish.
October 31, 2022See Tweetorial on Duffy-Null Associated Neutrophil Count (DANC).
October 29, 2022See Tweetorial on hematological manifestations of SLE.
October 27, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing John Edgar Browning about human vampires.
October 25, 2022See Tweetorial on HbA1c.
October 21, 2022Read Poem by RJ Arkhipov related to blood and intimacy.
October 21, 2022Read Poem by RJ Arkhipov related to blood and stigma.
October 21, 2022Read David Biale’s Essay on Blood as a Central Symbol in Jewish Culture.
October 21, 2022Try your hand at our new Art Interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
October 21, 2022Did you know that John Polidori MD (1795-1821), an Italian educated in the UK, wrote the story ‘The Vampire’?
October 10, 2022See Tweetorial on first description of sickle cell disease.
October 6, 2022Read our new Essay on Blood in Sports Drug Testing by Prof. Mario Thevis and colleagues.
October 3, 2022See Tweetorial on space anemia.
September 27, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Guy Trudel about blood in space.
September 19, 2022Check out our new series, TBP Journal Club, edited by Brian Carney.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 34 year-old woman with sickle cell disease and pain crisis.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 24 year old woman with sickle cell disease and shortness of breath.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 72 year-old woman with Hct 61%.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 54 year-old man with macrocytosis (MCV 122 fL).
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 47 year-old outpatient woman with leukocytosis.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 65 year-old woman with positive hemolytic markers.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 66 year-old man with left thigh bleed and elevated PT and aPTT.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 56 year-old woman with nephrotic range proteinuria and an elevated PT and aPTT.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 65-year-old man with sudden onset swelling of arms, found to have an elevated aPTT.
September 12, 2022New Case Study on 67 year-old man with postoperative bleeding and an elevated aPTT.
September 7, 2022See Tweetorial on Zieve syndrome.
September 6, 2022See Tweetorial on Gaïsbock syndrome.
September 2, 2022See Tweetorial on Metaphors and blood.
September 2, 2022See Tweetorial on Spur vs. Burr cells.
September 2, 2022See Tweetorial on Hemolytic markers.
September 2, 2022See Tweetorial on Spun Hct.
September 2, 2022See Tweetorial on Fish-shaped red blood cells.
August 31, 2022See Tweetorial on Classical Hematology – What’s in a Name?
August 31, 2022See Tweetorial on Schistocytes.
August 8, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Mark Hay about cooking with blood.
August 4, 2022Read David Biale’s Essay on getting bad news.
August 4, 2022Read David Biale’s interview with Avi Rechtman Essay on spiritual caregiving in an Israeli hematology ward.
August 1, 2022Try your hand at our new Art Interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
August 1, 2022Did you know that Pythagoras (570-495 AD) was aware of the dangers of ‘favism’?
July 3, 2022Read our new Infographic on the red cell distribution width (RDW).
June 27, 2022Read our new Infographic on the direct antiglobulin test (DAT).
June 25, 2022450 new questions/answers have been added to Blood FAQs.
June 25, 2022Read our new Infographic on schistocytes.
June 23, 2022See new Case Study on a 68 year-old woman presenting with postoperative thrombocytosis.
June 21, 2022Did you know that cryo-EM has been used to uncover the molecular basis of prothrombin activation?
June 8, 2022See new Case Study on a 77 year-old woman presenting to the emergency room with thrombocytopenia in the setting of infection.
June 4, 2022Check out our new Case Study on a 68 year-old man with new onset thrombocytopenia in hospital.
May 29, 2022Check out our new Case Study on a 56 year-old man who presents with anemia, thrombocytopenia, and mental status changes.
May 18, 2022Read our new Infographic on thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA).
May 18, 2022Did you know that that James Blundell, an English obstetrician, carried out the first human-to-human blood transfusion in the early 19th century?
May 18, 2022Try your hand at our new Art Interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
May 16, 2022Read our new Infographic on pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD).
May 16, 2022Read our new Infographic on immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).
May 13, 2022Did you know that anemia was first named as a clinical entity in 1807?
May 12, 2022Try your hand at “Name That Cell” quiz!
May 11, 2022Peripheral Smears of elliptocytes posted.
May 11, 2022Check out Peripheral Smears from a patient with cold agglutinin disease.
May 11, 2022Check out Peripheral Smears from a patient with warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
May 11, 2022Check out Peripheral Smears from a patient with pyruvate kinase deficiency.
May 9, 2022Read our new Infographic on acquired von Willebrand syndrome.
May 9, 2022Read Brenda Moore-McCann’s Essay on Seeing Red!
May 8, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Isaac Odame about sickle cell disease.
May 8, 2022See our new Infographic on thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).
May 5, 2022Check out our new section on Blood Cells in 3D.
May 1, 2022Read our new Infographic on factor V deficiency.
April 21, 2022Read Mark Hay’s Essay on how the art and science of cooking with blood.
April 21, 2022Read Chuck Barde’s Essay on blood meat.
April 19, 2022See our new Infographic on iron deficiency anemia.
April 19, 2022See our new Infographic on acute phase reactants.
April 19, 2022See our new Infographic on hereditary spherocytosis.
April 19, 2022See our new Infographic on superficial vein thrombosis.
April 18, 2022Read David Biale’s Essay on how cancer makes us human.
April 18, 2022See our new Infographic on vaso-occlusive crisis.
April 18, 2022See our new Infographic on acute chest syndrome.
April 17, 2022See our new Infographic on spur cell anemia.
April 17, 2022See our new Infographic on polycythemia vera.
April 17, 2022See our new Infographic on anemia.
April 17, 2022See our new Infographic on the complete blood count.
April 17, 2022See our new Infographic on erythrocytosis.
April 15, 2022Did you know that Alfred Donné (1801-1878) invented photomicrography?
April 15, 2022See our new Infographic on pernicious anemia.
April 10, 2022Read the Poem, Miracle, by Seamus Heaney.
April 10, 2022See our new Infographic on the red cell acanthocyte.
April 10, 2022Check out our new Infographic on serum ferritin.
April 10, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Melissa Ilardo about her research on breath-holding sea nomads.
April 10, 2022Do you know the origin of the expression: “thinking outside the box”?
April 10, 2022Try your hand at our new Art Interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
April 5, 2022Did you know that the first xenograft in the western world was carried out in Ireland in the 8th century?
April 5, 2022Did you know that the experimental transmission of malaria by mosquitos was first demonstrated in birds in India in 1898 by Sir Ronald Ross? 
March 2, 2022Did you know that the first scientific connoisseur of art was a physician?
Feb 19, 2022Did you know Rosalind Franklin produced the first clear X-ray images of crystallized DNA?
Feb 19, 2022Check out Shaun McCann’s Essay on Serendipity in Medicine and Wine.
Feb 15, 2022We are proud to announce that David Biale, a member of the Board of Advisors, has been selected as Chairman, Humanities Subcommittee.
Feb 15, 2022Did you know that bleeding corpses were once used to solve murders?
Feb 3, 2022Read a new collection of Poems by Kristin LaFollette, an award winning poet who has written extensively about blood.
Feb 3, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Jean Wang, a clinician-scientist who collects stamps and uses them to tell stories about the blood.
Jan 24, 2022Read an Essay by Brenda Moore-McCann and Shaun Richard McCann on the importance of the environment to hospitalized patients.
Jan 22, 2022We welcome Kristin LaFollette and Noga Arikha as members of the Board of Advisors.
Jan 10, 2022Did you know that blood has led the way toward regenerative medicine?
Jan 9, 2022Did you know that Denis Burkitt, of Burkitt lymphoma fame, was a one-eyed Irish doctor?
Jan 8, 2022Did you know that blood comes in all kinds of colors besides red?
Jan 6, 2022Read an Essay by Stephen Stearns, a renowned evolutionary biologist, on how evolutionary insights bring added value to medicine by connecting ideas, inspiring insights, or improving clinical outcomes.
Jan, 4, 2022Listen to new Talking about Blood Podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Parul Bhargava about the role of hematopathologist in patient care.
Dec. 31, 2022Read about William Harvey’s own ‘blood project’ in this new Essay by William Aird.
Dec 14, 2021Did you know that the Antarctic icefish is the only vertebrate known to lack red blood cells and hemoglobin? Such a cool creature, and one that teaches us about first principles in oxygen delivery!
Dec 13, 2021Did you know that Ibn al-Nafis described the pulmonary circulation many centuries before William Harvey?
Dec 11, 2021Try your hand at our new art interpretation exercise, brought to you by Brenda Moore-McCann.
Dec 11, 2021 Did you know that bovine babesiosis (Texas cattle fever) was the first disease definitively shown to be transmitted by an arthropod?
Dec 11, 2021Did you know that William Harvey (1578-1657), the discoverer of the circulation, favored – against Aristotle – the priority and supremacy of blood above all else? 
Dec 8, 2021Watch part 1 of our online seminar with William Aird on the basics of the complete blood count.
Dec 7, 2021Watch part 2 of our online seminar with Richard Schwartzstein explaining the why’s and how’s of oxygen and carbon dioxide binding to hemoglobin.
Dec 5, 2021Did you know that Louis Pasteur was an artist?
Dec 5, 2021Listen to new Talking about Blood podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing John Holcomb about his experience as a trauma surgeon on the battlefield.
Nov 21, 2021Did you know that the complexity of the clotting cascade is a rallying cry for the Creationist movement?
Nov 16, 2010Did you know that camel red cells have evolved to withstand hemolysis when dehydrated animals drink up to 50 liters in less than 5 min?
Nov 14, 2021Listen to new Talking about Blood podcast episode with Helen Osborne interviewing Shaun McCann about his experience as a physician dealing with personal illness.
Nov 14, 2021Did you know that the red blood cell is a miniature fermenter? Just one small step from making alcohol!
Nov 11, 2021Watch part 1 of our new online seminar with Richard Schwartzstein explaining the why’s and how’s of oxygen and carbon dioxide binding to hemoglobin.
Nov 11, 2021Test your observational skills with Brenda Moore-McCann’s new art interpretation exercise.
Nov 11, 2021Did you know that sweet clover disease in bleeding cattle led to the discovery of vitamin K antagonists? John Harvey, our veterinarian hematologist, fills us in.
Nov 7, 2021 New case study on a “platelet millionaire” published.
Nov 7, 2021Infographic on approach to the patient with thrombocytosis posted.
Nov 4, 2021Infographic on DIC posted.
Nov 4, 2021New case study on a patient presenting to the emergency room with hypotension and thrombocytopenia.
Nov 1, 2021Infographic on approach to thrombocytopenia published.
Nov 1, 2021Peripheral smear findings associated with iron deficiency anemia posted.
Nov 1, 2021 New infographic on heparin-induced thrombocytopenia posted.
Nov 1, 2021Case study on postoperative thrombocytopenia posted.
Oct 31, 2021New essay by Shaun McCann posted on changing views of blood since the Enlightenment.
Oct 30, 2021Did you know that all the great discoveries in hematology before the middle of the 20th century were made by non-hematologists? William Aird makes the case that we should not think of these pioneers as “one of us”.
Oct 29, 2021Read about the history of the Barr body in a new John Harvey Did you Know post.
Oct 25, 2021 New essay published by the Editor of the Humanities section, Charles Bardes, on the meaning of blood and related words.
Oct 25, 2021New case study published on a patient with mental status changes, thrombocytopenia and anemia.
Oct 24, 2021 New essay published by William Aird on evolutionary medicine and blood.
Oct 21, 2021We have started a new category of learning called Did You Know? Here we introduce interesting, fun facts about the blood from different perspectives, including comparative biology, evolutionary medicine and history of medicine. Check out our first entry!
Oct 21, 2021Addition of a new quiz, focused on clinical prediction rules.
Oct 12, 2021A 3rd dropdown filter option has been added to the Topics page. Not only can you choose according to subject area and platform, but also by level of difficulty.
Oct 12, 2021Addition of peripheral smears on sickle cell disease.
Oct 12, 2021New Case Study on a patient with thrombocytopenia published.
Oct 4-12, 2021 Addition of 240 new FAQs, and referencing of all answers to FAQs where appropriate.
Oct 4, 2021TBP launch

Events / Courses

Courses and seminars in microscopy, CBC interpretation, poetry and more.

Recent and Upcoming Events

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Sponsors and Partners

We are proud to have the following as sponsors and content partners:


Academic Medical Center Sponsors:
  • University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) 
  • The University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC)
  • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso)
Industry Sponsors (unrestricted educational grants):
  • Agios

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