Opening of the Anthony Nolan Cell Collection Centre
In September 2025, the Anthony Nolan Cell Collection Centre (ANCCC) welcomed its first donors, marking the opening of England’s first centre dedicated to collecting donor cells for stem cell transplants.
Based at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, the centre was created to help address the shortage of dedicated cell collection facilities across the UK. It allows us to collect crucial stem cells from donors at a time that meets the needs of the patient, while giving donors the best possible experience.
Now, one year on, we’re looking back at what the centre has achieved so far, and how it is helping us improve the experience of stem cell donation for both donors and patients.
The impact of our donors
Between September 2025 and August 2026, 266 donors donated their stem cells at the ANCCC.
Their donations have already made a huge difference to patients across the UK and in 24 countries around the world, including as far afield as Australia!
Of these donors, 232 donated their stem cells for a patient in need, while 33 donated for medical research. These research donations are helping scientists develop new therapies that could benefit countless patients in the future.
Whilst donating stem cells for a patient in need, 99 donors at the ANCCC also chose to take part in Anthony Nolan’s Patient/Donor Programme. This programme of scientific research looks into pairs of donors and patients and seeks to discover important factors in each donor/patient pair that can be linked to the chance of a successful transplant.
The programme has been running for more than 30 years. During this time, thousands of blood samples have been collected, helping researchers discover the importance of an additional gene in transplant matching and confirm the benefits of younger donors in the UK.
None of this research would be possible without donors choosing to take part. By making it easier for donors to contribute to research, the ANCCC could help us learn even more about what makes a successful transplant – and how we can give more patients a second chance at life.
Improving the donor experience
Having our own dedicated cell collection centre has given us a unique opportunity to carry out research focused on improving the donor experience – making donation easier and faster, while still ensuring lifesaving cells reach patients at the right time.
Around 30% of adults donating peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) to an unrelated patient need to return to their donation clinic for a second day, to make sure enough cells are collected for a successful transplant.
It can be difficult to predict in advance which donors will need two days. In the UK, this means that all donors are currently booked for two days, however, this also means that many second-day appointments aren’t needed.
Our clinical research team, led by Dr Tania Dexter, saw an opportunity to change this. They developed a predictive model based on five characteristics, to estimate how likely a donor is to need a second day of collection. The model has been used at the ANCCC, with the aim of reducing unnecessary second-day bookings, saving time for donors and helping the centre make better use of its collection appointments.
Recent analysis of data from 461 donors between 2024 and 2026 has confirmed how effective the model is, reducing the number of donors with wasted second day appointments by approximately half.
This is just one example of how having a dedicated collection centre is helping us put the donor experience at the heart of our research. By learning more about what affects donation, we can look for new ways to make the process as straightforward as possible for donors, while continuing to give patients the best chance of receiving the cells they need.
Getting cells to patients when they need them
The opening of the ANCCC created 1,300 additional donation slots each year. Alongside donor-focused research, such as the predictive model, these extra appointments are helping us get stem cells to patients faster, at the time they need them most.
Before the ANCCC opened, just 1 in 5 patients (20%) received their stem cells when they needed them. Since the centre opened, this has increased to 31%.
It’s incredible to look back and see everything we’ve achieved in just one year of opening the ANCCC. None of what we do would be possible without the incredible people who selflessly donate their stem cells – whether for a patient in need or for research to help develop new therapies.
I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in the next year, always searching for ways to make sure donors have the best possible experience, while ensuring patients receive their stem cells when they need them.
Elizabeth King, head of operational services at the ANCCC