Patients with sickle cell disease are increasingly becoming eligible for transplantation as the techniques of stem cell transplantation continue to improve, leading to less morbidity and mortality. However, the availability of a matched donor still remains one of the main obstacles. Given the inherited nature of this disease, many HLA-matched siblings of patients with sickle cell disease have sickle cell trait. Therefore, patients with sickle cell trait presumably have been used as donors for patients with sickle cell disease. However, there are no published data on whether special manipulations are required for the maintenance and storage of stem cells collected from patients with sickle cell trait. The effects of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF)-induced stem cell mobilization in these patients are also not known. Also, due to the potential of HbS gellation in red cells, the freezing of stem cells derived from individuals with sickle cell trait may require a more stringent red cell removal than is normally performed. We would like to evaluate these issues using volunteers with sickle cell trait prior to beginning our own transplant protocol for sickle cell disease.