Frequently Asked Questions

DKMS stands for ‘Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei’, or German Bone Marrow Donor Center. But as we grew internationally and extended our mission to include Germany, the United States, Poland, the United Kingdom, Chile, India, and South Africa, we moved to give ourselves a standard identity. In 2016 we decided to use the same name everywhere – DKMS – to make us identifiable as a single organization that operates under a single name.

DKMS is an international nonprofit organization committed to the fight against blood cancer. Our mission is to give as many patients as possible a second chance at life.

We are always looking for the best possible people to join our team! Get inspired by doing something that really matters and join our team of dedicated, caring people at DKMS. Every day, we help save lives by adding more potential donors to the bone marrow registry and connecting patients in need of a transplant with matching donors who can make it happen. Globally, we've registered more than 12.5 million potential donors, and more than 120,000 of these have gone on to donate to patients. You'll be part of a growing international nonprofit where creativity, initiative, compassion, collaboration, and strategic thinking are rewarded as we work together to expand our reach, recruit more donors and help save more lives.

To achieve our goal worldwide, we are always happy to welcome committed and qualified people with personality. Our company is diverse, as are the job and career opportunities that await you at DKMS! You can find information about the application process and our current job offers on our German, American, Indian, Polish, British, Chilean and African career portals.

DKMS offers a wide range of job opportunities at its various sites across the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Poland, Chile, and South Africa. We need employees for various medical positions, such as medical laboratory assistants, biologists, and doctors, but also for a host of other positions that require only basic medical knowledge. In addition, we need qualified staff for our IT, accounting, administration, marketing, fundraising & events, and press departments.

Since 2011, DKMS has been offering traineeships for various professions as well.

Every human life counts, everywhere in the world. The DKMS wants to give all people, in their own country, but also in other countries, new hope for life, because blood cancer knows no borders. An international system of solidary exchange ensures that the search for stem cell donations across national borders works. So far, we have provided more than 120,000 second chances at life in around 60 countries. DKMS accounts for around 35 percent of stem cell donations worldwide.

To save as many lives as possible, we run our own donor centers in seven countries: Chile, Germany, India, Poland, South Africa, UK and USA.

Based in Dresden, Germany the DKMS Life Science Lab GmbH (LSL) is one of the world's largest and most advanced genotyping laboratories focusing on high-resolution HLA typing for stem cell donor registers. Over 100,000 donor samples a month can be analysed there.

From the outset, LSL has aimed to incorporate the latest scientific findings and developments into the standard typing process. This has led to the typing profile being extended beyond the standard HLA characteristics to include numerous additional parameters (e.g. ABO, RhD, CCR5, KIR, HLA-E, MICA/B, and CMV IgG).

When fast action is needed, this is the best and quickest way to check whether – and how well – a potential blood stem cell donor matches a blood cancer patient. Thanks to our high-quality typing, search times have decreased, while the chances of a successful transplant have increased.

The DKMS Life Science Lab employs cutting-edge biotechnology procedures. In 2013, for instance, it was the first HLA-typing laboratory in the world to introduce the new NGS technology (Next Generation Sequencing), for high-throughput typing. Today, well over a million potential blood stem cell donors a year are typed using this procedure.

Attached to the DKMS Life Science Lab are a clinical laboratory for patient-based typing or confirmatory typing (CT), and a clinical search unit accredited by the ZKRD (German National Bone Marrow Donor Registry). For more information please visit www.dkms-lab.de

You can generally still use swabs for up to two years as long as they are still sealed in their original packaging. The precise expiry date can be found on the back of the packaging. However, if the package has been opened or the expiry date has passed, a new swab kit can be requested. Once you have done your cheek swabs it is always best if we receive your swabs within 2 to 3 weeks.

HLA characteristics are the most important factor in identifying a matching donor. In order for a stem cell transplantation to have the highest chance of success, ideally 10 out of 10 relevant HLA characteristics should match between the patient and the donor. If a patient is fortunate enough to have several matches, other factors will be analyzed to find the optimal match. This is why we test more than 10 HLA characteristics. As part of the initial typing, we also tissue type for further parameters that could prove advantageous, either now or in the future, such as the entire KIR receptor family, MICA/B, CCR5, HLA-DPB1, HLA-E, HLA-DQA1, HLA-DPA1, HLA-DRB3/4/5 and the ABO and Rh blood groups. In addition, our donors are also tested for cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common herpes virus. All of these markers are currently typed at high-resolution when someone registers as a donor.

At DKMS, we use cutting-edge science to continuously expand the typing profiles of donors and to meet or define state-of-the-art standards in technology and medicine. That way, we ensure constant enhancements and even more precision in donor selection. All of these quality improvements are crucial for the benefit of patients.

All the samples we receive are typed at the DKMS Life Science Lab located in Dresden, Germany. The lab is a world leader in HLA diagnostics and accredited to international standards. In 2013, the DKMS Life Science Lab became the first HLA-typing lab in the world to introduce the new sequencing technology NGS (Next Generation Sequencing), for high-parallel, high-throughput typing.

'Blood cancer' is the umbrella term used for a variety of malignant diseases of the blood-forming (hematopoietic) system. A distinction is made between two kinds, depending on how they originated: leukemias and lymphomas. Leukemias begin in the bone marrow, whereas lymphomas start in the lymphatic system. All blood cancers involve the degeneration of certain blood cells, which multiply uncontrollably and suppress the healthy blood-forming system. This prevents the blood from performing vital functions, such as fighting infections, transporting oxygen or stopping bleeding. The three most common forms of blood cancer are: Leukemias, Lymphomas, and Myelomas (a kind of lymphoma).

Tissue characteristics vary from person to person – but they are also different between ethnicities. So when it comes to finding a matching donor, a person’s ethnic background is important. Blood cancer, on the other hand, can happen to anyone. So we need as many people as possible with the widest possible variety of genetic characteristics to register in our database. A donor with the same ethnic background as a patient may be a better match than one who comes from an entirely different background.

If you register with DKMS as a potential blood stem cell donor, one of the questions we ask you will be about your etnic background. This information allows us to better organize our database. This could make it easier and faster for doctors to search for a matching donor for their patient.

For blood stem cell transplants, what matters is not so much the same blood group but the best possible match between the tissue characteristics from the donor and patient. A perfect match is very complicated to find and much like looking for a needle in a haystack. When blood stem cells are transplanted, the recipient acquires the same blood group as the donor.

At most, your blood group would be an additional factor in your selection.

HLA stands for human leucocyte antigen. HLA typing is a kind of genetic test used to identify certain individual variations in a person's immune system. Tissue typing is a procedure in which the tissues of a prospective donor and recipient are tested for compatibility prior to transplantation. Mismatched donor and recipient tissues can lead to rejection of the tissues.

Once registered, you will remain in the database, and your pseudonymized details will be made available for national and global searches. They will remain available until you reach your 61st birthday at which point your data will be removed from the database. You can also choose to be taken off the database at any time.

This means it is not necessary to register for a second time, or with another donor centre. We, and each of these organizations, list the relevant information of our donors with the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA), so registering again would lead to duplication, confusion and additional costs.

If any of your personal details change (if you change your address, for example) please let us know so that we can update our database and reach you as quickly as possible if you are found to be a match for a patient.