At-a-Glance:
| Company |
Sanguine Biosciences |
|---|
| Specialties |
Direct-to-donor biospecimen access |
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| Mission |
Sanguine Biosciences’ mission is to accelerate scientific discovery by connecting researchers directly with high-quality human biospecimens. |
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| Noteworthy |
The company offers both prospective collections and biospecimen inventory. |
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| Location |
San Diego, CA |
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| President and CEO |
Brian Neman |
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Sanguine Biosciences is dedicated to accelerating scientific discovery by simplifying researchers’ access to high-quality human biospecimens for translational research in therapeutics and diagnostics. Built on a direct-to-donor model, the company connects researchers with the biospecimens they need while making participation in medical research convenient and meaningful for donors.
Founded in 2010, Sanguine began with a simple but powerful mission: to make it easier for researchers to source the samples required for their studies while reducing the burden on patients willing to contribute to scientific progress. The inspiration behind the company is deeply personal for Brian Neman, CEO and Co-Founder, who was moved by the experience of watching a close friend battle multiple sclerosis at a young age and successfully build a nationwide advocacy community. Witnessing that effort highlighted the transformative power of engagement in advancing science and inspired a vision for Sanguine built on empathy and access.
The company started humbly, banking samples in a university laboratory and coordinating collections with a single mobile phlebotomist. Today, that same vision has grown into a national platform powered by more than 100 mobile phlebotomists and a network that spans at-home collections, apheresis sites, and partner clinical sites across the country.
At its core, Sanguine’s ambition is to create the easiest path for researchers to access the samples they need for translational research. By expanding its product offerings and increasing ready-to-ship inventory, the company aims to remove logistical barriers, reduce research timelines, and accelerate the entire discovery process. This focus informs Sanguine’s growth strategy, which includes partnering directly with clinical sites to access sample types that were not feasible through their traditional at-home donation model.
The range of biospecimens available through Sanguine is broad, encompassing healthy and disease-state samples. Its catalog includes whole blood, serum, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), leukopaks, and immune cell subsets, as well as more specialized materials such as synovial fluid, skin punch biopsies, stool, and urine. Collections can be prospective, tailored to meet the specific protocol needs of a study, or sourced from inventory for immediate use. What differentiates Sanguine further is the clinical verification of disease-state samples and the availability of supporting medical records.
A major driver of Sanguine’s growth has been its expansion beyond at-home collections to include apheresis sites and direct partnerships with clinical centers. These collaborations create opportunities to collect sample types that were previously difficult to obtain through traditional direct-to-donor methods. Such expansions have opened the door to clinically integrated collections, including treatment-naïve oncology samples, skin biopsies, and synovial fluid. By building these partnerships, Sanguine not only broadens its infrastructure but also enables researchers to access higher-value, more clinically relevant specimens that reflect real-world disease states.
Among the company’s recent initiatives, Sanguine has placed particular emphasis on growing its neurological disease programs. Recognizing the urgency of progress in areas such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, the company has expanded its neurological sample portfolio to better support research into these complex and debilitating conditions. To strengthen this offering further, Sanguine is adding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as a new sample type in its collections. This expansion will enable deeper, biomarker-driven insights—especially important as researchers seek to understand disease mechanisms and measure therapeutic response.
Sixteen years after its founding, Sanguine Biosciences continues to live by its founding principles. From a single lab and one mobile phlebotomist to a network of over 100 professionals serving a nationwide research community, the company has built a bridge between donors and scientists that is advancing translational research.