UNLV's College of Sciences undergraduate council, in coordination with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), will conduct a bone marrow registration drive at UNLV on Feb. 28 and March 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the lobby of the Moyer Student Union.

At the heart of the drive is the need for minority donors. Minorities make up only 25 percent of all marrow donors, and ethnicity plays a major role in donor compatibility.

"It's a rare opportunity to be able to help people, and we wanted to jump at it," said Justin Smith, a UNLV biology student who chairs the 12 student committee responsible for the program. "UNLV is a great place to have a drive because most students are willing to help, and it's a very diverse campus."

The registration process is open to the public and free for all minority participants. All other participants will be charged $65 to cover the cost of tissue typing.

The process will consist of registrants filling out an information packet, followed by a short blood test to verify tissue type. Participants will then be placed on a registry that can be searched by physicians worldwide.

The registration drive, the first of its kind in the state, addresses a major need for bone marrow donors nationally. At any one time, more than 3,000 Americans are looking for a bone marrow donor, and 10 times that number are diagnosed every year with blood diseases that could be cured with a bone marrow transplant.

For more information about the drive, contact Justin Smith at 271-3932 or undergradcommittee@hotmail.com. Information on the bone marrow donor registry can be found online at <a href="http://www.marrow.org">www.marrow.org</a>.