LAB Description

The Victorian Transplantation and Immunogenetic Service (VTIS) laboratory is a Victorian State Service and is a member of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service National Transplant Services group of laboratories which also includes laboratories in Adelaide (SA) and Sydney (NSW).

The VTIS laboratory was established to provide three basic services :

• An HLA typing and antibody testing facility for all the transplant centres located in the major Victorian public hospitals. The service therefore covers a range of transplant services including renal, pancreas, cardiac, lung ,liver and bone marrow. VTIS is also an active contributor both in terms of recruitment and testing for the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) and the Southern Consortium Cord Blood Bank. As part of the laboratory’s pivotal and committed role in transplantation it is contracted by the ABMDR to house the Bone Marrow Transplantation Donor and Recipient Cell and DNA Repository which is a valuable international research facility.


• VTIS offers a comprehensive HLA and Immunogenetic typing service for a range of diseases with established HLA associations. These diseases include ankylosing spondylitis ,narcolepsy, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and haemachromatosis . As part of VTIS’s ongoing commitment to immunogenetic based disease studies it has been selected as the central hub laboratory for the Asia Pacific Region of the worldwide Type 1 Diabetes Genetic Consortium run from Wake Forest University , USA.


• VTIS also houses the Leucocyte Reference Service which provides platelet, neutrophil and granulocyte genetic typing and antibody detection in relation to platelet refractoriness and foeto-maternal autoimmune

The VTIS laboratory is continually exploring ways of expanding the current testing repertoire available and is either the leader or partner in several transplant and immunogenetic based research studies, the ultimate aim of which is to translate our findings into the clinical testing arena.

The VTIS laboratory holds accreditation with the following scientific and standards organisations: